Saturday, March 22, 2008
Freedom for me, but not for thee
Here in the Phoenix metro area, there have been a number of incidents where Christian school groups have fallen afoul of school policy for harassing gay and lesbian students. The extreme-right state legislature has felt the pain of these gay-bashers-for-Jeezus, and responded with legislation to give Christianity (especially of the fundagelical flavor) even more special powers and privileges than it already has.
Rather disgustingly in my view, the theocrats are framing the issue as one of "persecution of Christians" by those who are trying to protect the Constitutional rights of minority groups, and the local newspaper (fondly known as the "Arizona Repulsive") is mindlessly regurgitating the dominionist claptrap about helping "religious students fight back against public-school teachers and administrators who recoil at the mention of God in the classroom." Oh please!
I'm constantly amazed that the more powerful the Christian theocrats get, and the more they tighten their stranglehold on every corner of society, the more they rant and whine about being persecuted victims of a vast atheist conspiracy of evil judges and school administrators. Rather tellingly, on the same day that the above-linked article appeared, one of the Repulsive's columnists wrote in the print edition about growing up in a small town of less than 1,000 people, which had six churches. I read somewhere that something like 95% of the US population lives within walking distance of one or more churches.
Let's face it, religion is everywhere. It is ubiquitous. The theocrats can't see it because they are so used to it. Which is something I have to live with - people have the right to believe whatever they want, however bizarre, deluded and even loathsome it may be. But the US Constitution is very clear: there is to be no established, officially sanctioned religion. No church is to have special status or receive special favors or privileges at taxpayer expense. No church may use the coercive power of the state over any other church, or over those who belong to no church.
The Constitution is like the boy with his finger in the dike, trying to hold back a flood of theocracy. And it's driving the theocrats berserk. Seeking control over others, using the power of the state to dictate what others believe, who they worship and who they sleep with, is as instinctive to them as breathing. Whenever their dominionist agenda is thwarted, to even the slightest degree, they start bawling about persecution - and brainwashing their children with their laughable but dangerous persecution complex.
If these demented lunatics had a single functioning neuron between the lot of them, they would realize that (a) freedom of religion and freedom from religion are one and the same, and (b) freedom of religion protects them as well as those they despise as Hell-bound heathens and idolaters, i.e. anyone who comes up with a slightly different figure for how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.
If we declare Christianity the official national religion of the US, as the theocrats are demanding, which sect of Christianity wins? Which version of the Ten Commandments - Catholic or Protestant - should be on display in every public building? There are over 3,000 different sects of Christianity in the US, and they have been at each others' throats throughout history.
The Founding Fathers, being intelligent and educated men (unlike the vast majority of today's politicians), were very familiar with the centuries of blood-soaked religious warfare in Europe, which was not between generic Christians and atheists, but between Catholics and Protestants, or various sects of Protestantism fighting each other to the death. They saw the same divisions growing daily in the early US, threatening to erupt in full-scale violence. So they very wisely took the issue off the table, declaring that everyone could believe as he or she wished but no church could use the power of the state to dominate anyone else. It's been a system that has worked extraordinarily well, allowing religion to flourish and diversify to an astonishing extent, without the ancient hatreds that have shed so much blood in other parts of the world.
The fundamentalist theocrats, temporarily riding high in power due to their political connections, want to sweep all of this away. How incredibly foolish and short-sighted! How do they know that their particular brand of Christianity will always reign supreme? Once they establish the principle of tyranny of the majority, what happens when they are no longer the majority?
That is why state-church separation is such a vitally important principle that it must be regarded as the foundation stone of the United States. Either we all have freedom of (and from) religion or none of us do!
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RSS feed for comments | Larro wrote 3/22 5:52pm in reply to Original article: 'entitle reversal' was my first captcha. For the fun of it I refreshed and it was 'done pounding'. LOL (Reply) |
 | Larro wrote 3/22 6:07pm in reply to Larro: You're right though. People don't realize how inundated our society is with religion. If it weren't for the "separation clause" Christianity would not have thrived as it has for the past couple centuries in the US. In fact almost the entire history of the United States (by the textbook) has largely been written from a Christian perspective. Leaving out some of the most prominent and influential secular individuals and freethinkers that had helped to establish the freedoms we enjoy today. One of my utmost complaints is how the fundies claim dominion over every single civil rights movement in our history. Like slavery; little do they know (or care to know) that the vast majority of churches during and leading up to the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation had invoked religious authority in FAVOR of slavery. That those opposed were the reviled Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and those stand alone individuals who spoke out against slavery, not from the pulpit but from their secular, humanist and political pamphlets and newsletters. Often times writing their pieces from behind bars. In my opinion modern day fundies with could give a rats ass as to what religion should be favored. They just don't want people thinking for themselves. (Reply) |
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 | Tengrain wrote 3/23 12:26pm in reply to Original article: This is a great post - thanks for participating in the B.A.T. Regards, Tengrain (Reply) |
 | JollyRoger wrote 3/23 2:16pm in reply to Original article: The Jesusistanis don't want freedom. They openly talk about disposing of the Constitution in favor of their supposedly God-anointed Republic. It is really a shame that it has taken America so long to wake up to what they were doing (my father and I first discussed Robertson's plan in the late 1980s,) and 2008 may be too late. I hope it isn't. (Reply) |
 | Buffy wrote 4/9 2:32am in reply to Original article: Very astute assessment. Sadly the RRRW believes they are the sole arbiters of truth and morality, and therefore they have the right to force their dictates on everybody. It's no wonder they fight so strongly against the notion that they really aren't the majority (they'll use liberal Christians when they need them but disown them when they don't). And the thought that they might eventually be in the minority strikes terror in their hearts, for they believe that their "enemies" will be the same hateful, oppressive dictators they want to be and are doing all in their power to become. (Reply) |
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