(no subject)
This is a rant. There are millions of fine, upstanding, kind, generous, sincere people out there who believe in God. There are also an awful lot of zealots out there who are doing evil in your name. They'll even claim it's God's will. I guess this is addressed to the zealots. Too bad none of them reads my journal.I got some circulating email today [angry refutation] about how religious America's founding fathers were. It concluded with this paragraph:It is said that 86% of Americans believe in God. Therefore, it is very hard to understand why there is such a mess about having the Ten Commandments on display or "In God We Trust" on our money and having God in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Why is there such a fuss? Because this country was founded by people who left their homes because their own rights were trampled by their governments. They came here to make their own choices and live their own lives. (Never mind the rights and lives of the people who were already living in the Americas, or the rights and lives of the people they brought forcibly from Africa. Never mind that hypocrisy.)
If 86% believe in God, then 14% do not. And those 14% have rights too. Just like the Puritans and Quakers who left England, the Huguenots who left France, etc, for religious freedom, those who do not believe are also entitled to freedom of religion. Where are their rights when the Pledge of Allegiance says "one nation, under God," all their money says "In God We Trust", and their highest court is decorated with God's commandments to Moses?
And what of people who believe in more than one god? (They have as much right to belive in 12 gods as anyone else has to believe in one God. And who's to say they're not right?)
And what of the people who believe in one god -- perhaps the same God -- but who believe in a different way?
Freedom of religion must include not being subjected to someone else's religion at every turn. That's why this country was founded -- or so they taught us in school. (Perhaps even freedom from religion, for those who so choose. Or maybe we'll have to put Astarte, Loki, and Baal on every wall too.) (Over 2,150 Gods now online!)
Being in the majority does not make something so. A majority belief is not a fact. The flat Earth was a majority belief for millennia. The Sun orbiting the Earth was a majority belief. Many civilized societies believed that bathing was unhealthy. (I suppose that could depend on what was in the water.) And much of what we "know" today will be proven wrong in years to come.
When the beliefs of the Christian majority -- or any majority -- are imposed on everyone, this nation is no better than those nations that the early settlers fled. (And it's not a majority that wants to do that imposing, it's really a minority. The tail is wagging the Republican dog.)
Jesus' message was forgiveness and acceptance. That's not what we're seeing from the American religious right. They are at war with popular culture and mainstream beliefs and practices. (And I can't imagine that Jesus would condone murdering doctors and blowing up clinics.) They want to force their beliefs and lifestyle onto everyone. They are trampling the rights of those who don't share their beliefs.
If a message has substance and merit, people will accept it when they hear it. It doesn't need to be forced on them.
And forcing those beliefs onto others does not convert them. All through the Third World you can find a Christianity that is either just a veneer on top of ancient beliefs or a cross-cultural mishmash.Consider smoking. Some choose to. Some choose not to. Some gave it up. Some tried to give it up and failed. Some took it up deliberately. Some feel it fills a need. Some simply grew up with/without it and never gave it any thought. But until recently, if you went anyplace public, there was cigarette smoke. The non-smokers' right to clean air was trampled upon.
You might argue that smoking and religion are different, because tobacco is harmful -- carcinogous. But if you look through history, religion has had some harmful consequences too -- wars, discrimination, social injustice, subjugation, poverty, overpopulation, child abuse/molestation, suppression of knowledge. (Hmmm, don't even look through history -- look through recent news stories, and you'll find all of those things still happening -- sometimes where two religions clash, sometimes within one religion.)
My vantage point is centered on Western religions. I hope there are other belief systems whose adherents don't infringe rights and suppress knowledge when they encounter change and new ideas.
Many of the ills I listed are simply typical human behavior. They would have happened without any religious institution. But the presence of religion hasn't kept these things from happening, and some have been made much worse by religions -- either trying to preserve the status quo for their elite, or preserving outdated, and perhaps groundless, precepts.
Why is there such a fuss? Because this country was founded by people who left their homes because their own rights were trampled by their governments. They came here to make their own choices and live their own lives. (Never mind the rights and lives of the people who were already living in the Americas, or the rights and lives of the people they brought forcibly from Africa. Never mind that hypocrisy.)
If 86% believe in God, then 14% do not. And those 14% have rights too. Just like the Puritans and Quakers who left England, the Huguenots who left France, etc, for religious freedom, those who do not believe are also entitled to freedom of religion. Where are their rights when the Pledge of Allegiance says "one nation, under God," all their money says "In God We Trust", and their highest court is decorated with God's commandments to Moses?
And what of people who believe in more than one god? (They have as much right to belive in 12 gods as anyone else has to believe in one God. And who's to say they're not right?)
And what of the people who believe in one god -- perhaps the same God -- but who believe in a different way?
Freedom of religion must include not being subjected to someone else's religion at every turn. That's why this country was founded -- or so they taught us in school. (Perhaps even freedom from religion, for those who so choose. Or maybe we'll have to put Astarte, Loki, and Baal on every wall too.) (Over 2,150 Gods now online!)
Being in the majority does not make something so. A majority belief is not a fact. The flat Earth was a majority belief for millennia. The Sun orbiting the Earth was a majority belief. Many civilized societies believed that bathing was unhealthy. (I suppose that could depend on what was in the water.) And much of what we "know" today will be proven wrong in years to come.
When the beliefs of the Christian majority -- or any majority -- are imposed on everyone, this nation is no better than those nations that the early settlers fled. (And it's not a majority that wants to do that imposing, it's really a minority. The tail is wagging the Republican dog.)
Jesus' message was forgiveness and acceptance. That's not what we're seeing from the American religious right. They are at war with popular culture and mainstream beliefs and practices. (And I can't imagine that Jesus would condone murdering doctors and blowing up clinics.) They want to force their beliefs and lifestyle onto everyone. They are trampling the rights of those who don't share their beliefs.
If a message has substance and merit, people will accept it when they hear it. It doesn't need to be forced on them.
And forcing those beliefs onto others does not convert them. All through the Third World you can find a Christianity that is either just a veneer on top of ancient beliefs or a cross-cultural mishmash.Consider smoking. Some choose to. Some choose not to. Some gave it up. Some tried to give it up and failed. Some took it up deliberately. Some feel it fills a need. Some simply grew up with/without it and never gave it any thought. But until recently, if you went anyplace public, there was cigarette smoke. The non-smokers' right to clean air was trampled upon.
You might argue that smoking and religion are different, because tobacco is harmful -- carcinogous. But if you look through history, religion has had some harmful consequences too -- wars, discrimination, social injustice, subjugation, poverty, overpopulation, child abuse/molestation, suppression of knowledge. (Hmmm, don't even look through history -- look through recent news stories, and you'll find all of those things still happening -- sometimes where two religions clash, sometimes within one religion.)
My vantage point is centered on Western religions. I hope there are other belief systems whose adherents don't infringe rights and suppress knowledge when they encounter change and new ideas.
Many of the ills I listed are simply typical human behavior. They would have happened without any religious institution. But the presence of religion hasn't kept these things from happening, and some have been made much worse by religions -- either trying to preserve the status quo for their elite, or preserving outdated, and perhaps groundless, precepts.