hey, save some for me!
so i saw a political cartoon today in one of the major newspapers. it had a drawing of an old guy stirring a pot labeled "mideast politics" and pouring in the contents of a box labeled "religion". the uncle sam character was stirring a pot labeled "american politics" and yelled out to the old guy "hey! save some for me
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A good political leader can have beliefs, but also capability to make decisions based on solid facts and evidence, not myths and fairy tales.
Here's a quote from Bush who is speaking to Prime Minister Mahmoud Abas:
"God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you help me I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to focus on them." Click
This is where religion in politics gets way out of control. It's okay that our president believes in God, I have no problem with that. What I do have a problem with is a president that uses this God figure and his religious beliefs to persuade other parties to follow him. Religion has been used for centuries to control the public. "If you don't follow these rules, you'll go to Hell". It's not right for a leader to make decisions based on visions he may have had or voices he may have heard... it's just not rational. It's not right for him to use his beliefs against the people, but it is okay for him to believe, as long as he can still make decisions based on reality.
Sadly, Bush can't make the distinction between fact and fiction.
This is where we need some of Kris' wisdom...
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I see my heathen influences have been working on her.
Instead of making a new rant, I'll same some bandwidth by pretty much agreeing with everyone before me.
Darin had a very good point. This country was founded on principles based on the popular religion as the time (Christianity? Catholicism? Ones and offshoot of the other I think). Thus it has become deeply rooted and entwined into our culture (though slowing become more diverse) and government workings. Its hard to separate Church and State when a) our government used religion as a base to build from and b) the majority of the US population believes in a god or is religious, and therefore is fundamentally incapable of not allowing their beliefs to interfere with their decisions.
Think about this: Do you want a born-again christian dictating foriegn policy? Especially in the Middle East and/or in Israel. Someone like that (Bush) will have no (does not have any) regard for that regions culture and beliefs, and would rather see the masses converted.
May I point out that by Bush advocating one religion over another, he is alienating a large percentage of the US popualtion that may not share the same beliefs.
The next time someone argues that taking "orders" from god on how to run the country is ok, ask them if they would be ok with you taking orders from Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, or maybe that Invisible Pink Unicorn that lives in your fridge :p
While I respect an individual's beliefs, there are times when they are just plain wrong.
I'm probably preaching to the crowd here though...
Ok..guess it was a rant. Peace out. Have a good time at RPI!
Kris
P.S. For more athiest propaganda, click here.
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Kris
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