This is not in essay form, so no guff about my wandering thoughts.
Religion…and Politics. Two things we aren’t supposed to talk about in polite company. And funnily enough two things that are merging. And, frankly, it pisses me off.
I’m a Christian. I’m not going to maintain that I am a particularly GOOD Christian, but I do all right. I say this so that my upcoming complaints about the Christian Right (as in wing, not correctness) won’t seem like the ranting of some upset Atheist. They will instead be the ranting of someone who supposedly has the same belief system as the people being ranted against.
Now, let me throw out a book: Golden Compass. In the books, apparently the ‘good guys’ kill god. I thought about it, and it seems to me that the real issue to the author wasn’t the notion of god, but of god and his followers forcing things on those around them. And frankly, I can’t blame him for hating it. Because I would too!
But, for me, God doesn’t force anything on me. I am free to ignore Him or try and follow. So, that’s cool in my book. And then I read the Bible. Nowhere in there does it say ANYTHING about forcing others to follow God. It may say to lead them to God, but it never says to FORCE them.
So we come to religion and politics. In this country, religion is playing a BIG role. Pastors are telling their members who and what to vote for. And Sghoul don’t play that. And I really feel that God doesn’t either. See, if He wanted everyone to act a certain way, He would have simply built us that way. He never asked us to enforce His rules. And He pretty much told us flat out NOT to judge people who don’t follow the rules. AND he said to love your neighbor. Not ‘Love thy neighbor unless they are a certain race or sexual orientation’.
I am basically tired of seeing freedoms go away so that Christians (and other religions I am sure) can feel like they are doing what’s right. But I don’t think they are. It just doesn’t seem like the right thing when you force it. Sure there are certain things, like theft and murder, that you have to punish to protect people. But stopping gay people from marrying…how exactly does that help anyone?
Most of all, just because a candidate says they are Christian….well, so what? Bush is Christian, and tons of people hate him. Clinton was a Christian and he had an affair in the white house and lied about it. Folks, your belief system does not necessarily dictate how good a person you are.
In summation, quit voting your faith. Quit pushing causes that take away freedoms simply because they go against your beliefs. You wanna help people? Take the time and money you have spent to stop abortion or gays and spend it on the poor and homeless. I read about this guy…he never said much about gays or abortion or porn or violent media. But he sure spent a good deal of time serving others and hanging with the needy. Maybe you could read about him yourself…
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8 comments:
Good points, I couldn't agree more. Don't we have a separation of church and state anyways? Maybe it's time we split them up again.
Sadly, that separation simply means that the government won't officially choose a religion. It doesn't mean politicians can't pander...which i wish it did!
I am tired of being embarrased to be a Christian and feeling like I have to follow any reference to my spirituality with an disclaimer that I am not crazy, I am just someone who enjoys having a spiritual aspect to my life. I don't want to make anyone else do it, I still think evolution happened, and I think it is possible to be against abortion and still pro-choice. It amazes me that there are people out there with such a black-and-white perspective on religion.
People have black-and-white perspectives on religion because organized religion is taught in black and whites.
Religion has always been a divider and an excuse to justify your political agenda. Why was Jesus killed? Not because some prophecy said so, but because he was a political threat to the ruling roman in power and the people were getting uppity.
Sghoul, religion and politics have always been in bed together. If that weren't true then we wouldn't have "In God we Trust" on our money. We wouldn't swear on a bible/koran/etc. in a court of law.
If you want to clean up organized religion and help curb the abuses of HIS/HER name remove the tax exempt status for religious organizations. The number of churches (especially mega churches) would dwindle over night.
Religion is just another social control mechanism.
And the reason you are embarressed to be associated with Christianity (or certain aspects of it) is because you are a free thinker. You think for yourself (mostly). Which is interesting because did you really need a book to tell you this was wrong or that was right? I know I don't.
"God" gave us Free Will and religion took that away.
There's other guys who spoke of peace and enlightenment and attuning yourself to the world around you (ie God) and Christianity/Judism/Islam had nothing to do with it. Check out Buddha/Confusius . They had some interesting thoughts on life and reasons why we are here and it nothing to do with fear mongering or guilt of inherited sin from long dead ancestors.
I'm not partial to their non-violence part as a course of life because I think - as Malcom Reynolds would say "If someone tries to kill you, you try to kill them right back." If not free thinking, conscientious people would be simply wiped out by non-thinking drones taking cues from ancient texts and political/power hungry "leaders".
Wasn't it Chris Rock's character Rufus who said in Dogma something about religion has it wrong, faith is what it's all about?
History has shown religon and politics do not mix well, in fact it often leads to suffering by the masses or flat out death.
The whole point is this:
1. Faith is personal and about who or what you choose to believe/follow.
2. No one, no church, and no government has the right to dictate what you believe.
3. Religion needs to worry about guiding its followers (hence the term followers) and quit driving them from behind like some sort of task master.
4. Government is there to address the issues too large to be handled on a more local level and to ensure freedom. Government enacts and enforces laws for the people as chosen by the people. However, given religious freedom and the seperation of church and state, how then can government, in good conscience, get involved on a moral or religious basis? Anyone?
Because even secular governments are made up of people with religious influences.
Policy can not be seperated from religious opinions if the people making the laws have religious upbringings and convictions tied to a particular faith.
Separation of church/state is a concept meant to prevent the most blatant aspects of governance by religion but can not prevent subtle, well adjusted positions of religious opinion from becoming public law or policy on a larger scale. Especially if leaders who are elected on a local stage move upward to state and national positions through religious local supporters.
The influences of personal religious beliefs can not be erased from political policy through this simple declaration of seperation - just as racial intergration while on paper was fair - in practice was still being carried out by racists, prejudiced, backward people.
Yep, yep, yep. The anti-abortion railing is particularly repugnant. When was the last time you saw people rallying on behalf of abused or neglected children? Wouldn't it make more sense to put that energy into the "already born"? I consider myself a Christian. I think Jesus is fantastic. But I have nothing in common with the people who are yelling the loudest about putting God back into schools/politics/discos, etc.
I saw this headline today, and it made me think of your post.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/us/15cnd-scene.html?ref=us
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