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by Madman in the Marketplace
crossposted from Liberal Street Fighter
Fundamentalist, conservative religion threatens to destroy this nation, this great experiment of the Enlightenment. Sadly, though, it's hard to speak out against the imprecations of the fascist theocrats who have seized power through the Republican party. Religion, you see, is on an elevated plane. One must speak carefully about it, lest one offend everyone who considers themselves religious. Tender skinned, those who've been "saved", those who have an eternity in Heaven to look forward to when they leave this mortal plane, this great gift from which they seek such eager escape. While they're here, though, obeisance must be paid. The religious right, of course, hides behind this social taboo, all the while attacking anybody who doesn't conform to their beliefs. "Good" christians act as a protective shield, slapping down anybody who tries to attack these dangerous radicals where their strength lies ... in their dogma. After all, they say, we must "respect" other's relgious beliefs. Well, some of us must disagree with this naive and dangerous demand. In fact, we find that no less a respected man than Bill Moyers finds that this is A Time For Heresy:
Now when a young boy in the tribe was ready to become a man, a ritual took place. Wearing masks, the elders would kidnap him and take him into the woods, tie him down, and with a flint knife slice the underside of his penis. It was painful, but the medicine man said this is how you became a man. We cannot fight this dangerous social movement without attacking the battery that powers it, and the battery that powers it is its dogmas. Sadly, though, as this twisted fundamentalism has appropriated the words and images used by other believers, it is nearly impossible to confront them without running the risk that doing so may give offense to others. It is imperative, though, that we not let this stop us. In fact, we can look at religious leaders in the past to see that the words and images are ephemeral. It is deed and actions that must motivate us, that we must use to demonstrate our allegiance to whatever it is we hold sacred. Moyers again:
So, my friends at Wake Forest, there is work to do. These charlatans and demagogues know that by controlling a society’s most emotionally-laden symbols, they can control America, too. They must be challenged. Davidson Loehr reminds us that holding preachers and politicians to a higher standard than they want to serve has marked the entire history of both religion and politics. It is the conflict between the religion of the priests – ancient and modern – and the religion of the prophets. This is the difference. OF versus ABOUT, acts rather than creeds ... this is the difference between those who have used their faith or beliefs as a call to do good, to spread freedom, to bring succor to those in need, and those who use their creeds to bludgeon and to punish others. Many of those in the Democratic Party, frightened by the continued successes of the Republicans, fall into the trap of aping their tactics.
We must mock the religious right. Deride the religious right. Drag the absurdities of their ridiculous theologies into the light, show the contradictions and the damage caused by these backwards superstitions. TRUE faith, after all, cares nothing of the mocking of us athiests, or the catcalls coming from the believers in other faiths ... it is only those of weak faith who can't take comfort in their beliefs. It is important that we attack the religious right at the source of their strength, because their brainwashing and lies and cons damage those who can least afford it. Whether it is poor whites being fed misogynistic bullshit or poor blacks being fed homophobic bile, these sick and twisted versions of Christianity allow the Republicans to redirect people as political foot soldiers, all while they set about dismantling the underpinnings of our society in the service of making the obscenely wealthy even richer, as Joe Bageant spells out in is inimitable style:
My brother's church is what is known as an "independent Baptist church." Independent enough of your world and mine that he says things like, "I helped cast out my first demon yesterday, Joey. I wish you could have been there." Actually, I do too. Independent fundamentalist churches are wild and woolly places theologically, whose characteristics and belief systems can accommodate just about anything "Preacher Bob" or "Pastor Donnie" or whoever can come up with from misreading the Good Book. The "clergy" arise from within the church ranks and are usually poorly educated. (Hell they went to public school in America, didn't they?) This has always been true of American fundamentalism since the backwoods stump church days, and it continues to provide the nation with charismatic literalists whose reading and abstracting ability is minimal to zilch. Combine that with 30 years of Christian school growth, and you can begin to understand how we got in such deep shit today...why so many states find themselves revamping their educational systems so that the fables of Adam and Eve may replace Darwin and we can all be reassured that David slew Goliath despite the complete lack of evidence of either's existence. They've done it, only they're not done yet. It's not just gay marriage, or abortion. They want to invade our bedrooms, including that of married couples. Sex, after all, is filthy. Human life enjoyed, pleasures indulged, are sinful, and it will be the business of the state, THEIR state, to make us conform with their dogmas, their prejudices, their own hatred of their own essential humanity. Militarism, however, is fine for these Christian soldiers. How can we not confront them, and how can those Christians who claim to reject them not see that it is the dogma that must be attacked, that we must do so BECAUSE they have taken words and symbols that mean things to people and twisted them?
One of the great things that came out of the Reformation was the eventual emergence of the idea that it was a person's own conscience that was the center of religious belief, not the words, not the images, not the dogmas and vestments and long lists of rules. Moyers again:
Many Baptists are fundamentalists; they believe in the absolute inerrancy of the Bible and the divine right of preachers to tell you what it means. They also believe in the separation of church and state only if they cannot control both. The only way to cooperate with fundamentalists, it has been said, is to obey them. James Dunn and Bill Leonard are not that kind of Baptist. They trace their spiritual heritage to forbearers who were considered heretics for standing up to ecclesiastical and state power on matters of conscience. One of them was Thomas Helwys, who, when Roman Catholics were being persecuted by the British crown, dared to defend the Catholics. Helwys went to jail, and died there, for telling the king of England, King James – yes, of the King James Bible – that “Our Lord the King has no more power over their [Catholic] conscience than ours, and that is none at all.” After all, isn't that basic, most American of ideas in line with this admonition of the Son of Man, you know, the one the right claims to worship? Didn't He say:
And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Matthew 6: 5-8
Good Christians | 97 comments (97 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
Good Christians | 97 comments (97 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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