By Jonathan Bert
The Extreme Moderate
September 22, 2008
Assaults on the separation of church and state are continually being made by the extreme right, and has been a cornerstone of Republican support since the Reagan administration. This matter is an important issue now that we have a Vice Presidential candidate that was picked largely for her appeal to the extreme religious right.
Hey, all of you flag raisers out there; separation of church and state created this great country! Ever hear of the Pilgrims? Probably the most famous of the early settlers from Europe. They were Christians! Fleeing other Christians! How about the Spanish Inquisition? Some of the most horrible torture devices of history were created by the Catholic Church. There is a reason that the time religion ruled Europe is known as the Dark Ages. Religion in power has never ever been a good idea. Holy Crusades. Those were a good idea. Not. Christian lunatics attacking Muslim lunatics. There are still some nasty grudges being held. You can’t even say crusade in the wrong company. Now most of the countries that are giving us problems are ruled or influenced by religious lunatics. Holding a holy grudge.
There are six billion people on this planet, with six billion religious philosophies. Christians, Jews, Muslims. They all worship the God of Abraham. Why can’t they get along? Because everybody has a snobbery about their beliefs, and even small differences in opinion is a sign of ignorance. Or evil. Label someone as evil and they are dead meat. Ask any drowned witch. Religion in power has always resulted in bloodshed and sorrow.
Who’s religion do you want to rule the country? Why yours, of course. What if someone with a different philosophy took over? Maybe a little different, maybe a lot different. The country still will not be run the way you want it. What if they want you to think just like them? And you don’t want to think just like them? Bloodshed and sorrow.
Power corrupts. Look at how many TV evangelists turn out to be nothing but con artists. Which one do you trust enough to run the country? Yeah, right. There is a sucker born every minute, and all you have to do is thump on a Bible and utter the name of God, cash just comes rolling in. It’s so easy. A very attractive racket. Attractive to anyone with a silver tongue and a taste for easy money. What kind of people do the gullible suckers that buy this snake oil launch into power? Example #1: George W. Bush. If that isn’t enough to scare you, what will? Sarah Palin, Maybe?
Studying polling, it appears most moderates in this country are Christian, and there are moderate members of other major religions. There are even moderate Muslims. However, few moderates appear to make strict, literal interpretations of their holy writings. Many moderate Christians also believe in evolution. If you have all of time in the Universe, why create the Universe in a week? But to people who aren’t so rational, we had dinosaurs roamin’ around just a few years ago. Sarah Palin is one of them. How would you like somebody that backward to be the next President after the next? John McCain is 72 and has severe health issues. McCain disgraced himself, doing exactly what he has accused others of doing, putting winning the election above what is good for the country. A man who once was a favorite among moderates just made himself Public Enemy #1. Once a believer in the Constitution, he now believes Karl Rove.
Democrats also make their assaults on the Constitution, with attacks on gun rights and free speech, but those aren’t likely to get anybody burned at the stake.
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3 comments:
As a non religious person, I really
don't care what people's religious
beliefs are. I really don't care
if a town puts up a Christmas tree
and nativity. In fact, they are
kinda pretty. Throw in a Menorah,
I don't care. Buddha, Christna, or
Muslim---doesn't bother or offend
me.
Screw with my guns or speech---
that's important.
I will not be voting Democrat this
year!
Actually, they're called the "Dark Ages" because most common English history parrots 17th-19th century Protestant propaganda. Historians typically restrict the term to the 1-2 centuries immediately following the fall of the Roman Empire. Much of the Middle Ages, especially the 12th-14th centuries, had periods of great development in art, literature, philosophy, technology, law, and economics, including the English common law tradition. The tendency toward absolute monarchy began in the 16th cent.
As for the Spanish Inquisition, it used torture only in a minority of the cases - standard procedure at the time in secular jurisprudence - and it was not of the gory, iron maiden variety, but typically hanging people from their arms for brief periods. The ecclesiastical courts were known for their relative mildness, so that some Spanish criminals would deliberately feign heresy in order to get their case moved out of secular court.
There were mixed reasons for the Crusades - they were not purely religious wars, but came about in the first instance because of the incursion of Turks in formerly Arab and Greek territory. Muslims considered them as little more than border wars in the great caliphate at the time. The myth of the crusade grew in the 19th century, when, resentful of European imperialism, Muslim authors looked back at the Crusades as a precursor of this aggression. Prior to that period, however, they weren't to upset about it.
Other than those caveats, your basic point still holds, though the demonization of institutionalized religion is a bit overwrought. However, many of the worst abuses of state power, in imperialist and totalitarian forms, came about in the increasingly secular 19th-20th centuries. The real danger is absolute political power in a centralized state, regardless of who wields it, religious or secular, monarchic or democratic.
Very appropriate comments. What has always fascinated me is how left wing folks seem to know the dark side of the history of religion, all of them, and that the right wind folks seem to not know the history or simply ignore it. It's absolutely fascinating. I don't know if you happen to see Bill Maher on Conan O'Brien on Tuesday evening. He basically suggested that religion was the biggest hoax ever played on people, and that people were afraid to admit it. There was virtually no laughter in the audience.
I've always said that religion serves the purposes of the people who subscribe to it. It's fascinating stuff.
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