A Match Made Where?

My idea of "big government" is probably bigger than Andrew Sullivan’s. Politically, I’m somewhere to the left of him. But he understands what happens when religion and government mix and it isn’t pretty:

It’s a match made in heaven. There is, however, a serious point here. America’s long experience of religion as essentially suspicious of government power is an anomaly in the Western world. For much of European history, religion and government have always been interwoven. And as European governments have grown, European faith has withered. As a Catholic growing up in a country where the state church was Protestant, and where I attended Anglican services and listened to the Book of Common Prayer as an integral part of receiving a government-financed education, I saw this first hand. And, as an immigrant, I found America’s religious life a contrasting marvel. In America, faith seemed unconstrained by the compromises of government power and enmeshment, more alive because it was less enfeebled by the temptations of Caesar. 

It makes me shudder to think of a Catholic boy being forced by the government to say protestant prayers. It violates all that is holy, but then I’m an American. We are famous for thinking that–or we once were.

Pleasing God with Forced Prayer

DaveScot over at the UncomonDesign blog recently embarrassed himself by posting an internet hoax as if it were true. Since it smeared the ACLU, I’m sure Dave didn’t see any value in checking the post for accuracy. RedSonja2000 enjoys the creation/evolution debate but that isn’t the focus of this blog. What I found interesting is DaveScot’s reply to one commentor who had remarked (in part):

I can never quite understand why forced prayer is so desirable. Certainly it pleases the person doing the forcing, but I can’t imagine that it would please God.

DaveScot replied: The problem is that a student can’t lead a voluntary prayer at a football game or graduation ceremony because just hearing it might offend some poor sensitive thing that has to endure the horror of listening to it. I say it’s too bad. Hearing isn’t saying. They can cover their ears, not bow their heads, keep their mouths shut, or whatever. The real crime is denying the students who DO want to participate in the prayer. Evidently they don’t have any rights. The constitution guarantees freedom of religion not freedom from religion. I suggest you read it if you don’t believe me.

DaveScot apparently would be quite pleased with forced prayer if the mean ole ACLU didn’t prevent it. It’s astonishing that he thinks God would be pleased with it. The fact that he immediately shut down debate right after he made his comment, though, seems to indicate a guilty conscience (and prevented RedSonja2000 from throwing her sword in the mix!)

Telling Lies for God

Over at Pharyngula PZ Meyers is reporting that Christianists are sending their book America, Return to God using his name. He says "Someone is apparently putting my name and email address in the order form as the friendly donor . . ."

America, Return to God  details the depraved and immoral nature of our society. Yet telling lies while disseminating this book seems to not be immoral at all. "Telling Lies for God" generally is applied to creationists but the Christianists apparently also think God won’t mind if they lie as long as God benefits. Once you have become one of the Godly you can eliminate any of the 10 Commandments that you find inconvenient. Makes you wonder if "thou shalt not bear fallse witness" is one of those laws of "mere men" that got slipped into the original 9 later on. Maybe Satan wrote that commandment and it’s only meant to ensnare us.

Maybe we should read the book and find out what the Theology of Lies is all about.

A Look at Life under Christianist Domination

If you are the slightest bit curious what life might be like if radical Right Wing gets a hold of the government, then this article will give you a window into their world:

Debating The Fundamentals

Patrick Henry University, which in spite of its small size, supplies the largest numbers of interns to the White House, has just lost 5 professors. One was fired and the rest resigned due to the suffocating restrictions placed on their academic freedom. These guys are not raving Marxist liberals. They are deeply conservative Christians. But they were too liberal for the Christianists. This school focuses its mission on grooming people for government service.

The student code of conduct includes punishable behaviors such as holding hands, drinking when not under the supervision of their parents, restrictions on movie viewing and strict curfews. They even keep an eye on which church you go to on Sunday. Not whether, which. 

The article includes this astounding quote from Michael Ferris, the college president
It is a challenge to stand for both Christ and for liberty [but] you can be robustly for Christ and for liberty.

The statement drips with irony. The school, as described in the article is so suffocating and the strictures on conformity so rigidly enforced it makes sharia law sound like a free ride.

The idea of personal liberty is just new age, postmodern claptrap. Freedom is slavery.

Thanks to Andrew Sullivan at the Daily Dish for the tip.

Let’s post the Golden Rule

Judge Moore & Co. are hot to post the 10 Commandments in government venues in order to perpetuate the falsehood that they have the force of law. I have yet to hear of a Christianist who wants to post the Sermon on the Mount. Certainly I have never heard of a movement to post The Golden Rule.

This article is a breath of Fresh Air:
Let’s post the Golden Rule

Before you go embracing my idea, understand: The Golden Rule is contrary to most teachings in most Christian churches and certainly in politics and business.

. . .

The Golden Rule is so simple that it can be learned in less than a minute. The major problem is that, like the Ten Commandments, it is not practiced in real life by the vast majority of people.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you? What kind of Commie nonsense is that?

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Respect and Tolerance Defeated

This is from a little email newsletter that I get: WHAT’S NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 12 May 06 Washington, DC

1. PRAY FOR CONGRESS: IN EVERY WAR, BOTH SIDES PRAY FOR VICTORY.
Yesterday, the House passed a $513B defense authorization bill.
The bill included language allowing military chaplains to pray
“according to the dictates of the chaplain’s own conscience.”
Current rules call for nonsectarian prayers, or a moment of
silence, at mandatory public gatherings. Focus on the Family,
The Christian Coalition, and other evangelical Christian groups
had urged the President to issue an executive order guaranteeing
the right of chaplains to pray in the name of Jesus. When Bush
failed to act, Republicans on Armed Services added the provision
to the defense authorization bill. An amendment offered in
committee by Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY), calling on chaplains to
show “sensitivity, respect and tolerance for all faiths,” was
defeated on a party-line vote. Rules did not allow floor debate.

So much for respecting the religious sensibilities of our troops.

Christian Terrorists

I found this over at the Daily Kos.

It seems that a young woman by the name of Ava Lowery, a 15-year-old from Alabama has been getting death threats for a powerful video she produced called “WWJD” (What Would Jesus Do), a powerful animation that features a soundtrack of a child singing “Jesus loves me, this I know” while one picture after another of a wounded, bloody, or screaming Iraqi child fills the screen. The video ends with quotations from Beatitudes, including, “Blessed are they who mourn” and “Blessed are the meek” and “Blessed are the merciful” and “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

Lowery began producing her own videos for her web site in July of 2005 and has thus far made 70 of them. Not everyone agrees with her, as you might figure, especially the terrorist wing of the Republican party. You see, Ava has been receiving vile death threats.
more…

Don’t click on the link unless you have a strong stomach for bad language. It’s not just the extreme violence against a 15 year old girl that is so vile. It’s the sick, twisted sexual threats that are so appalling.

The Christianist rationalization is that “real Christians wouldn’t behave like that.” They seem to believe that you aren’t a Christian while you do bad things and then become a Christian again when you stop. It’s like being a vegetarian except at meal time.

I’ve never been able to find out if right wingers get these kinds of ugly threats from left-wingers. The fact that I’ve had such difficulty finding it out probably means the answer is “no.”

Christianism

Andrew Sullivan over at the Daily Dish has been fielding feedback on his recent essay “The Problem with Christianism” which I heartily recommend.

In one of his feedback letters I found this paragraph which I could have written myself:

Moreover, the Christianists keep moving the goalposts so far to the right that the distinction between Christians and Christianists is far more persuasive now than in even the recent past. Leading theocon Robert P. George, for example, believes not just that all abortion, including that caused by rape and incest, should be illegal; he believes that a microscopic zygote is morally indistinguishable from a fully-grown adult. Many Christianists therefore now believe that many forms of contraception are the moral equivalent of abortion; and many leading Christianists are moving fast toward banning contraception altogether. (For an important glimpse into the growing radicalism of Christianism on the question of contraception, check out this essay in the New York Times Magazine). Rick Santorum supports laws that would allow the cops to enter a gay couple’s bedroom and arrest them for private, adult, consensual sex; Robert George has no problem in theory with making non-procreative sex illegal (his sole problem is that it would be hard to police such a law). Other Christianists are opposing an HPV vaccine that could prevent 90 percent of cervical cancer in women, because it might lower the risks of extra-marital sex. They seek not merely to oppose marriage rights for gay couples – but to strip gay couples of all rights in the federal constitution. In Virginia, Christianists have made even private legal contracts between two members of the same gender illegal. They support keeping people in persistent vegetative states alive indefinitely through feeding tubes – for decades, if necessary – even if the individual herself has a living will begging to be allowed to die in peace. They have contempt for federalism, believing that the federal government should over-ride state laws and even families in enforcing religious dogma. Remember Terri Schiavo?

Christianists find the concept of personal liberty to be blasphemy. Not just wrong, but a sin against God.

There is a Christianist teaching that all human beings are evil and can only be saved by God. If all human beings are evil then they can safely be treated as if they were evil. If YOU are saved by God already, that makes any kind of oppression you can think of just an act of service to God. Neat, huh? If you are one of God’s saved people then you are without limits.

Few people want to do bad things. They want to get along and have everyone like them. That makes them careful with the feelings of others and they are happy to extend rights to others because that means they have those rights themselves. It’s a better deal than being bad to other people.

But some people still want to do bad things to others. They are addicted to power and control. The Christianist construct is perfectly tailor-made for such people and naturally they gravitate to it. A Christian who merely wants to live a Christ-like life will be attracted to the Presbyterian church or United Church of Christ. Someone who lusts for power over others will gravitate to Coral Ridge or Focus on the Family.

Frankly, the concept of personal liberty is absent from the Bible. But people who consider it to be important, have no problem deriving it from Christianity. It gets filed under Matthew 7:12.

It’s All About Control

Andrew Sullivan over at the Daily Dish reports on new statistics regarding unintended pregnancy.

So the Catholic church’s ban on all contraception (even if it would prevent AIDS) and the now-fashionable emphasis on abstinence in sex education may have contributed to more abortions in this country than would otherwise be the case. Once again, as in their opposition to an HPV vaccine, the pro-life movement turns out to risk being pro-death in practice. A comprehensive strategy to reduce abortions would not be obsessively focused on criminalizing it altogether, as the theocons want. It would center on a massive effort to get contraception out to sexually active women, especially the poor and black who may not be able to force their sexual partners to use condoms. It would provide Plan B over the counter, no questions asked. Then you need a much more ambitious adoption program, that includes all potential adopters, i.e. gay and lesbian parents as well. Many on the religious right would rather see abortion rates rise or stay stable than concede on these issues. Which reveals what really motivates them: a hostility to sexual freedom as much as a desire to protect life.

Trust me, the Christian Right has no desire at all to protect life. It is all about control. It doesn’t matter what lies are told. It doesn’t matter who is hurt or who dies. The ideology is paramount above everything else. They would cheerfully perform abortions themselves if it meant the promotion of their ideology. Their opposition to abortion is just eyewash intended to fool the gullible who can be persuaded to forgo personal liberty if they are shown a few crocodile tears. Weep for the “preborn” and let and let the Christianists run your life.