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When it comes to religion and politics...nothing is surprising anymore. Both are filled with some strange stuff. And a lot people in the US seem to take political party affiliations as serious as their religion. They believe whatever is thrown at them...or feel like government is such a mighty higher power that there's no way to challenge it.
I think that people forget that belonging to a specific religion, like a political party is a choice.
Religious organizations seem to forget that. I see their role as teaching a belief(s)- not governing people's lives. Religious organizations can't enforce their moral teachings or any other aspect of their tenets. People are attracted to beliefs and they participate with others who share the same attraction. It's up to the individual to be a living example of their beliefs, which reflect the teachings that they choose to expose themselves to. And when they do so - it should be in such a way that they don't infringe on the rights of others while they pursue getting their needs and wants met.
But, I think it's clear that there are a lot of religious organization that are hell bent on government from the pulpit. And people who choose to be governed in that manner will be conflicted with the actions and policies of a publicly elected government.
I think its pretty damn sad that a substantial number of people can't see the dangers of mixing religion and politics.
When it hurts hard enough and long enough people will stop mixing the two...maybe.
Turn on ANY brand of political machine - and it automatically goes to the "SPIN and LIE CYCLE"
Ah, Serbia = acerbia = acerbic = caustic wit? I thought Mr. Remington would have toyed with that one.
I will not lye to you, I missed it, but I did not miss:
That's what I'm talkin' about!
You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the old model obsolete. R. Buckminster Fuller
Then there's this side of it, where trying to be respectful of everyone's beliefs (as Austin implies) is spun into evilness incarnate. Crazy bastids.
Quote
Here's some background those befuddled Democrats need to know: One of the most robust and effective conspiracy theories on the right, the notion that "secularism" – or, just as often, "Secular Humanism" – is a religion is meant to be taken entirely literally: right wingers genuinely believe it refers to an actually existing religious practice. How do conservatives know? Because, they say, the Supreme Court said so.
You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the old model obsolete. R. Buckminster Fuller
Then there's this side of it, where trying to be respectful of everyone's beliefs (as Austin implies) is spun into evilness incarnate. Crazy bastids.
Quote
Here's some background those befuddled Democrats need to know: One of the most robust and effective conspiracy theories on the right, the notion that "secularism" – or, just as often, "Secular Humanism" – is a religion is meant to be taken entirely literally: right wingers genuinely believe it refers to an actually existing religious practice. How do conservatives know? Because, they say, the Supreme Court said so.
i think "phony" is a misnomer. while there certainly is nothing to "war" over, far too many folks who identify with the conservative christian movement - yes, it's a movement, reflective of a theological system that can be traced back to the early-to-mid-20th century - well they believe that indeed there is a war and while you and i will agree there really isn't, they do. and since they do, well they wage "war" against it and therefore create discord where none is needed. reason is absent from their doctrines, replaced by emotional rhetoric that speaks to their desire to be right in all things biblical. it's a dangerous mix that has, i am sure we would all agree, spawned far too much pain over the last 2000 years, or so.
sure, you can talk to god, but if you don't listen then what's the use? so, onward through the fog!
Then there's this side of it, where trying to be respectful of everyone's beliefs (as Austin implies) is spun into evilness incarnate. Crazy bastids.
I think it is not good to be respectful of everybody's beliefs -- for example, the beliefs of Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin. I would put the beliefs of many religious zealots in the same category -- and, for that matter, those Americans whose beliefs are drawn subconsciously from the tendentious babble of television and other organs of the American Brainwashing Machine.
Of course, noomie, what I said was not that all beliefs deserve respect (that's a different subject) - what I said is that the crazy bastids spin respectfulness, as shown by secular humanists towards Conservative Christians, into a manifestation of evil.
That comment was related to the article I previously linked to, kapeesh?
You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the old model obsolete. R. Buckminster Fuller