I guess I'm reneging on my promise to cover another subject but I definitely have to address the continuing assaul BY (yes, that's exactly what I mean) religion on our President. I know, I know the claim is that he is the one doing the assaulting but that's clearly not the truth and I would like to remind all those Christians who follow the Judaic 10 commandments that "bearing false witness against one's neighbor" is definitely STILL a sin. The recent lies are not only being told by ordinary, run of the mill politicians but their surrogate leaders (Christian ministers of the Gospel) in this attempt not only to besmirch the Presidents identity as a Christian but to accuse him of not behaving like a GOOD Christian.
Before you ask, yes....I was a Christian. I studied the bible on my own and with scholars who wrote about their research on both biblical history and the history of the Christian religion. I do not believe this makes me an expert by any means but I do believe that I know a great deal more about Christianity than the ordinary practitioner of the Christian faith. I will address what's going on here as what is both historically correct concerning the Christian movement as well as my personal belief that while Christians are much more accepting of each other than in any other time in history, there are still those who wish to make it clear that there are REAL Christians and and there are those who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ while pursuing another, possibly a more sinful way. Those making the claims that Mr. Obama is not a true Christian are those who like to believe that they are TRUE and only those who believe as they do are REAL Christians.
Christianity, almost from the very beginning, began to TEST for who was a true follower or disciple of Jesus Christ. As the Church began to gain more secular power, these tests took on deadly consequences for those not true to what the Church had decided was the way of Christ. Most were called Heretics (which actually comes from the Greek meaning to see things differently). For those, determined to be heretics (by the leadership of the community), which ranged from Jews to other Christian groups, the punishment could be severe--banishment from the community or even death. Mr. Obama is being put to the test and it is a very true expression of the Christian movement. There are whole groups of believers that have gone into oblivion because of the Church's determination about their worthiness to the faith of Christ. While the Church no longer has that power, there are among certain believers and their ministers, the belief that these heretics must be rooted out because they are "dangerous" to the community of believers who ARE true. It is exactly why there are so many different denominations among Christians today. Each group splintered off another group because they believed there was a better way to BE Christian. Fortunately for most everyone else, this has kept them very busy for at least the last couple of centures and longer if you count the first successful splinter when the Eastern Orthodox split from the Roman Catholic around 1050.
Mr. Obama was first accused of being a Muslim by many Christians who realized that his name didn't sound very American--it sounded too much like the dictator we ousted in Iraq who was definitely not a Muslim even tho his name sounded like he was raised by Muslims. This assumption allowed them to bear false witness with impunity claiming that the birth certificate he released was not his true birth certificate. When many voices rose up to challenge this lie about the President, the Christian leaders kicked in their own problem by casting aspersions on his claim to be Christian. They assaulted his Health Care plan saying IT challenged the Catholic belief that artificial birth control should not and could not be practiced by good Catholics. Thus "forcing" a Church affiliated Hospital or School to comply with buying insurance which would give any employee (whether they were Catholic or not) access to its use; making it an assault on the Church's religious liberty. Are you still with me?
Christianity is not one set of rules for everyone, it is a different set of rules for each and every denomination so when Christian leaders attack the President's Christianity, they are really doing nothing out of the ordinary. In the very nature of the belief system is the need to pick out "those who see things differently" and condemn them. Thus preserving the sanctity of their particular set of dogmas and doctrines. As I said earlier, we are living in an era when Christians are more ecumenical (finding more ways to connect with one another) but it's clear, when you look at how they are dealing with the president, that they haven't forgotten their need to drive out the one who is perceived to be different. As a matter of fact, I am just old enough to remember another president who was attacked on the campaign trail by the some of the same groups of Christians because he was Catholic. They feared a Catholic president because they feared interference by the Pope in our internal affairs. It didn't matter that those days were long past, they "remembered" the Theocracy that drove them to seek out a place where they could practice their faith without fear of punishment or persecution. They railed against his Catholic upbringing, his Catholic beliefs, his Catholic wife and children and even his Catholic parents and brothers and sisters. But President Kennedy stepped over their fears as easily as a man steps over a crack in the sidewalk. And while the fear mongers among some Christian groups keep railing against him---others discovered that the Pope had no more influence over our internal affairs than a pesky nat!
But now the real meat of my argument lies in the Constitution of the United States of America. Perhaps the religious leaders don't realize what they are doing or perhaps they believe they can get away with it because "they are right"! But there are many political leaders who are allowing them to do their dirty work so THEY won't be accused of doing something that is patently UNconstitutional. What is that, you might ask? Well, my dears, pull out your copy of the constitution (if you don't have one, you can get one online or in any book store for just a few dollars--well worth the investment of time and or money) and open it to Article VI which says: ...."No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any Office or public trust under the United States". You might say that no religious test is being reequired but I say that while there is no official test of our President's religion--he is being tested by Christian leaders in the ultra-conservative media that has no problem skewing this man's Christian faith when they never challenged the idiotic claims that he was a secret Muslim or that he wasn't born in the United States (I guess they don't recognize Hawaii as a state). They let these false claims drag on and even contributed to them. But now it's time to stop. It's time to accept that whille no "official" religious test is being implemented, a very unofficial one is being used to drag him down. The official crowd stands back and watches with glee as the unofficial test grows. They can't be accused of anything but watching the people do what they know is unconstitutional. Maybe you saw them step around the questions about Obama's faith preferring to not step in it. But many of them are guilty of the sin of ommission--failing to counter the lies. Christians please don't allow yourselves to be used by these self-serving politicians who are leading you into "bearing false witness against your president".
Are you with me?
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
Separation of Church and State
The hot button issue is surrounding the claim that the religious liberty of certain institutions is being violated by the Obama Health Care Plan which said that all employers must provide insurance that covers contraception for women. Something, by the way, that most states have required even under Republicans like Romney and Huckabee, for years! These states did not exempt religiously affiliated employers--Churches, yes, but hospitals and schools affiliated with them--NO.
But smelling blood in the water, these self-same Republicans tried to use the Catholic Church's complaint to politically attack Obama for an assault on religious liberty. This became an issue of epic proportions even though Mr. Obama resolved it very quickly by changing the required payment for contraceptives from the religious organization to the insurance companies. Perceived problem solved but not resolved as Republicans continued their assault on the President's "religious insensitivity". The Plan was changed and while contraceptives are included ONLY Church affiliates will NOT have to pay for it....a debacle in a teacup!
So let's look at the issue from the standpoint of history and why the founding fathers felt it necessary to make the FIRST Amendment's primary thrust a concern about religion. Why are the very first words of the first amendment to our Constitution a law concerning religion. History tells us that many of the early colonists sought refuge in the new world to escape religious persecution. And the persecution they sought to escape was not secular in nature but Christian on Christian--Theocracies that punished people if they did not follow the State religion!
Roman Catholic Royalty in most countries, but in England, the King was both the head of state and the head of the Church of England. Both groups persecuted Christians who didn't conform and of course, those who chose to avoid Christianity all together which included Jews among many other religions.
Our Forefathers were interested in two things when they wrote the First Amendment. First preventing the creation of a Theocracy by making it illegal to do so---Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion"(in this case, a state religion). Thomas Jefferson reinforced the second issue which involved persecution of religion by the state---"prohibiting the free exercise thereof" in a letter to the Baptist Church when he declared that the words of the First Amendment effectively built a wall of separation between church and state".
Thus, no State Religion could exist and NO religion could be persecuted by the State. I think it is fair to surmise then that these issues were of prime importance to many people who desired to have them resolved by LAW. Many colonists had suffered at the hands of the English Theocracy as well as Catholic Theocracies throughout Europe They needed this law to insure their freedom from religious tyranny by a Theocratic government, not freedom from secular tyranny by a secular government.
Our Constitution gives us the right to choose any religion or even no religion, something only permitted here at the time it was written. In Europe your choices were limited and if you failed to choose rightly, you were persecuted by the State and by your neighbors. Unfortunately, it seems we are once again on the road to a Theocracy. It seems clear to me that many of the Republican candidates are running to be the Leader of our State religion--Christianity, rather than President of the United States of America, a secular Democracy. What is happening now is what the early colonists feared--the making of secular laws which force non-believers to conform to things which are essentially religious in nature. Religious freedom becomes null and void once State and Religion become one---A Theocracy (which, by the way, is how Christianity began, as the state religion of the Roman Empire under Constantine).
Religions in this country already enjoy a sizable benefit because they are tax exempt---very wealthy Christian Churches lobbying sitting members of Congress to influence the making of our laws (indistinguishable from the benefits enjoyed by our other religion--Capitalism) as they speak out in our political campaigns through their chosen candidates! This, in my opinion, is UNCONSTITUTIONAL, running contrary to the founders' intent to religion OUT of our government and keep our government from persecuting anyone because of their religious beliefs.
The wall of separation between state and church must be carefully maintained or we could find ourselves living in a Theocracy instead of a Democracy. Those who wish to implement their religion's laws, morays, taboos etc. into our secular laws need to take care and the rest of us need to make sure that we are not forced to follow what are essentially religious dictates clothed in the form of secular government. Followers of any religion need to understand that they are Americans and subject to Federal, State and Local laws no matter what they believe about God and while they would like the rest of us to believe and follow the teachings of their religion, they have no right under our Constitution to import their beliefs into our laws.
Are you with me?
But smelling blood in the water, these self-same Republicans tried to use the Catholic Church's complaint to politically attack Obama for an assault on religious liberty. This became an issue of epic proportions even though Mr. Obama resolved it very quickly by changing the required payment for contraceptives from the religious organization to the insurance companies. Perceived problem solved but not resolved as Republicans continued their assault on the President's "religious insensitivity". The Plan was changed and while contraceptives are included ONLY Church affiliates will NOT have to pay for it....a debacle in a teacup!
So let's look at the issue from the standpoint of history and why the founding fathers felt it necessary to make the FIRST Amendment's primary thrust a concern about religion. Why are the very first words of the first amendment to our Constitution a law concerning religion. History tells us that many of the early colonists sought refuge in the new world to escape religious persecution. And the persecution they sought to escape was not secular in nature but Christian on Christian--Theocracies that punished people if they did not follow the State religion!
Roman Catholic Royalty in most countries, but in England, the King was both the head of state and the head of the Church of England. Both groups persecuted Christians who didn't conform and of course, those who chose to avoid Christianity all together which included Jews among many other religions.
Our Forefathers were interested in two things when they wrote the First Amendment. First preventing the creation of a Theocracy by making it illegal to do so---Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion"(in this case, a state religion). Thomas Jefferson reinforced the second issue which involved persecution of religion by the state---"prohibiting the free exercise thereof" in a letter to the Baptist Church when he declared that the words of the First Amendment effectively built a wall of separation between church and state".
Thus, no State Religion could exist and NO religion could be persecuted by the State. I think it is fair to surmise then that these issues were of prime importance to many people who desired to have them resolved by LAW. Many colonists had suffered at the hands of the English Theocracy as well as Catholic Theocracies throughout Europe They needed this law to insure their freedom from religious tyranny by a Theocratic government, not freedom from secular tyranny by a secular government.
Our Constitution gives us the right to choose any religion or even no religion, something only permitted here at the time it was written. In Europe your choices were limited and if you failed to choose rightly, you were persecuted by the State and by your neighbors. Unfortunately, it seems we are once again on the road to a Theocracy. It seems clear to me that many of the Republican candidates are running to be the Leader of our State religion--Christianity, rather than President of the United States of America, a secular Democracy. What is happening now is what the early colonists feared--the making of secular laws which force non-believers to conform to things which are essentially religious in nature. Religious freedom becomes null and void once State and Religion become one---A Theocracy (which, by the way, is how Christianity began, as the state religion of the Roman Empire under Constantine).
Religions in this country already enjoy a sizable benefit because they are tax exempt---very wealthy Christian Churches lobbying sitting members of Congress to influence the making of our laws (indistinguishable from the benefits enjoyed by our other religion--Capitalism) as they speak out in our political campaigns through their chosen candidates! This, in my opinion, is UNCONSTITUTIONAL, running contrary to the founders' intent to religion OUT of our government and keep our government from persecuting anyone because of their religious beliefs.
The wall of separation between state and church must be carefully maintained or we could find ourselves living in a Theocracy instead of a Democracy. Those who wish to implement their religion's laws, morays, taboos etc. into our secular laws need to take care and the rest of us need to make sure that we are not forced to follow what are essentially religious dictates clothed in the form of secular government. Followers of any religion need to understand that they are Americans and subject to Federal, State and Local laws no matter what they believe about God and while they would like the rest of us to believe and follow the teachings of their religion, they have no right under our Constitution to import their beliefs into our laws.
Are you with me?
Failed Presidency
The GOP line is that Barack Obama is a "failed president" (when all else fails they drag this line out to cover their failures). This argument holds special appeal for Repubs because it relies on very short memories--ours, not theirs. Obama inherited an economy that was shedding 750,000 jobs a month, a banking system in ruins, a mortgage crisis caused by qustionable practices involving both the ...Banks and Wall Street Speculators---not to mention an auto industry down and almost out!
His predecessor, by contrast inherited a budget surplus (that was predicted to last 25 years) and a healthy economy. He immediately set about squandering them both, then embroiled us in two wars (one of which was totally unnecessary and supported by an incredible series of lies). The legacy of Mr. Bush was to leave the country on the precipice of another Great Depression with no safety net and no clear explanation of how we got there!
In Obama' three years in office, more jobs have been created than in the entire eight years of George W. Bush. We're out of Iraq, bin Laden is dead, we headed out of Afghanistan, the auto industry is profitable again and Obama signed health care legislation that eluded his predecessors for nearly a century.
The real failure happened during the Bush Administration but Republicans cannot admit that they had any part of the fiasco that left the country and Mr. Obama hanging. Personally, I believe he has made incredible headway considering the mess that was handed to him on a platter. I hope that the recovery will steadily continue in the next four years. And I believe it can happen as long as we keep ourselves informed and understand we cannot go back to the Republican way of doing things...I'll say this correctly: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me."
His predecessor, by contrast inherited a budget surplus (that was predicted to last 25 years) and a healthy economy. He immediately set about squandering them both, then embroiled us in two wars (one of which was totally unnecessary and supported by an incredible series of lies). The legacy of Mr. Bush was to leave the country on the precipice of another Great Depression with no safety net and no clear explanation of how we got there!
In Obama' three years in office, more jobs have been created than in the entire eight years of George W. Bush. We're out of Iraq, bin Laden is dead, we headed out of Afghanistan, the auto industry is profitable again and Obama signed health care legislation that eluded his predecessors for nearly a century.
The real failure happened during the Bush Administration but Republicans cannot admit that they had any part of the fiasco that left the country and Mr. Obama hanging. Personally, I believe he has made incredible headway considering the mess that was handed to him on a platter. I hope that the recovery will steadily continue in the next four years. And I believe it can happen as long as we keep ourselves informed and understand we cannot go back to the Republican way of doing things...I'll say this correctly: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me."
I WILL be voting for Mr. Obama again!
Are you still with me?
In the Beginning was the Word
So I begin a new journey in writing that will allow me to hopefully share my thoughts with a broader audience. Are you with me is my way of asking if you simply understand what I'm saying--not necessarily if you agree. I'm tired of not being able to express my thoughts and tired of hoping that someone will agree if I do. So sit back, hopefully you'll agree sometimes but if you don't that's OK too.
My concerns are and will continue to be the state of our nation. Politics is a big part of why I am so concerned about what is happening to us as a people since politicians seem to have little or no concern about what is happening to us in real time unless it is politically expedient for them to do so and then it is a simple nod in our direction. That sentence was too long but if you follow me, you'll see that I have a bad habit of doing that. Politicians are running for the right to represent our collective voices in the form our government takes. They often say they are listening to us. They often say they "know" what we want and occasionally they want us to believe they know what we need. But the truth is that they are so far removed from the common man that they don't remember that's where they started.
When was the last time a politician asked you what you thought? Or if you contacted your representative on either the state or federal level, when did you receive anything in return other than a courtesy return phone call from an aide saying that your message was passed along. Or maybe you received a letter from your representative telling you that they didn't agree with you followed by a long-winded reply of why they voted the way they voted. The disconnect, I think, began early in the formation of our government when it was the wealthy land owners and business owners who designed a government to represent the only people who counted--THEM. Women played a supportive role until their civil right to vote was given to them by the 19th Amendment to the Constitution on August 18, 1920 (to be seen but not heard). So I think we should expect the disconnect to continue until we raise our voices loud enough to be heard over the wealthy whose wealth makes them both the king-makers and the voice behind the curtain.
Truth be told they fear us. All of them fear us because WE are the power of the government and we can remove them at any time. Look how they are scrambling this year to restrict registration and voting, to redistrict voters to their benefit, to make us believe that voter fraud (voters who have already voted, voting under another name or group votes that are not based on legitimate registrations). They are working very hard to take the vote away from all of us. To remove what they have always said is the greatest freedom we have--freedom to choose and then to vote that choice. If they get their way, then there will be no freedom left for us to choose. Voter fraud is not and never has been the problem they try to make it out to be. But voter disenfranchisement has been on the rise since W faked his way through his first election. Voter disenfranchisement is PREVENTING people who are legally registered from voting or discounting their votes for some trumped up reason. We've already had one election decided by the Supreme Court. Was that legal? I don't think so.
We had to fight, many of us, to get the right to vote--during Vietnam, young men were drafted at age 18 to fight and die for their country BUT they could not vote. The voting age was not changed from 21 to 18 until 1992 when the 27th Amendment was ratified. It actually took 3 Amendments to the Constitution to get all of us the RIGHT to vote...15th, 19th and 27th. So you can see they need to do something now to restrict the power that we have to elect or not elect them to endless terms of lucrative service to the monied elite.
Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these Truths to be self-evident (doesn't take a genius to recognize) that all Men (and women) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (originally property). That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among Men, deriving their JUST powers from the CONSENT of the GOVERNED, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ENDS, it is the RIGHT of the PEOPLE to ALTER or ABOLISH it, and to institute NEW Government..."
Unfortunately, what they believed was their right does not trickle down to us. But it is clear what they believed and how they acted to pursue the changes they needed to make a government that Lincoln would later proclaim was "of the people, by the people and For the people". They have words that are sometimes assuring but their actions offer neither real plans nor real assurances of any kind. So what can we do? We can make ourselves as knowledgeable of the issues as possible, as knowledgeable about the candidates as possible and that means more than listing to their TV ads. If they are not working for all the people then you'll know it soon enough. You'll find yourself seeking out magazines, books and TV exposes because you want to be an informed voter--especially since so many of your predecessors fought so hard to be granted that right in our Constitution.
And what you'll read here is mostly my opinion on those facts. I have one warning as far as getting correct information goes--do not watch FOX. Their opinions are not based on the truth and neither are their "facts". They are as they have been, pure political propaganda! And propaganda is simply repeating a lie over and over until people accept it as truth. We'll have enough trouble sorting out the truth from the politicians themselves!
Are you with me so far?
My concerns are and will continue to be the state of our nation. Politics is a big part of why I am so concerned about what is happening to us as a people since politicians seem to have little or no concern about what is happening to us in real time unless it is politically expedient for them to do so and then it is a simple nod in our direction. That sentence was too long but if you follow me, you'll see that I have a bad habit of doing that. Politicians are running for the right to represent our collective voices in the form our government takes. They often say they are listening to us. They often say they "know" what we want and occasionally they want us to believe they know what we need. But the truth is that they are so far removed from the common man that they don't remember that's where they started.
When was the last time a politician asked you what you thought? Or if you contacted your representative on either the state or federal level, when did you receive anything in return other than a courtesy return phone call from an aide saying that your message was passed along. Or maybe you received a letter from your representative telling you that they didn't agree with you followed by a long-winded reply of why they voted the way they voted. The disconnect, I think, began early in the formation of our government when it was the wealthy land owners and business owners who designed a government to represent the only people who counted--THEM. Women played a supportive role until their civil right to vote was given to them by the 19th Amendment to the Constitution on August 18, 1920 (to be seen but not heard). So I think we should expect the disconnect to continue until we raise our voices loud enough to be heard over the wealthy whose wealth makes them both the king-makers and the voice behind the curtain.
Truth be told they fear us. All of them fear us because WE are the power of the government and we can remove them at any time. Look how they are scrambling this year to restrict registration and voting, to redistrict voters to their benefit, to make us believe that voter fraud (voters who have already voted, voting under another name or group votes that are not based on legitimate registrations). They are working very hard to take the vote away from all of us. To remove what they have always said is the greatest freedom we have--freedom to choose and then to vote that choice. If they get their way, then there will be no freedom left for us to choose. Voter fraud is not and never has been the problem they try to make it out to be. But voter disenfranchisement has been on the rise since W faked his way through his first election. Voter disenfranchisement is PREVENTING people who are legally registered from voting or discounting their votes for some trumped up reason. We've already had one election decided by the Supreme Court. Was that legal? I don't think so.
We had to fight, many of us, to get the right to vote--during Vietnam, young men were drafted at age 18 to fight and die for their country BUT they could not vote. The voting age was not changed from 21 to 18 until 1992 when the 27th Amendment was ratified. It actually took 3 Amendments to the Constitution to get all of us the RIGHT to vote...15th, 19th and 27th. So you can see they need to do something now to restrict the power that we have to elect or not elect them to endless terms of lucrative service to the monied elite.
Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these Truths to be self-evident (doesn't take a genius to recognize) that all Men (and women) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (originally property). That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among Men, deriving their JUST powers from the CONSENT of the GOVERNED, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ENDS, it is the RIGHT of the PEOPLE to ALTER or ABOLISH it, and to institute NEW Government..."
Unfortunately, what they believed was their right does not trickle down to us. But it is clear what they believed and how they acted to pursue the changes they needed to make a government that Lincoln would later proclaim was "of the people, by the people and For the people". They have words that are sometimes assuring but their actions offer neither real plans nor real assurances of any kind. So what can we do? We can make ourselves as knowledgeable of the issues as possible, as knowledgeable about the candidates as possible and that means more than listing to their TV ads. If they are not working for all the people then you'll know it soon enough. You'll find yourself seeking out magazines, books and TV exposes because you want to be an informed voter--especially since so many of your predecessors fought so hard to be granted that right in our Constitution.
And what you'll read here is mostly my opinion on those facts. I have one warning as far as getting correct information goes--do not watch FOX. Their opinions are not based on the truth and neither are their "facts". They are as they have been, pure political propaganda! And propaganda is simply repeating a lie over and over until people accept it as truth. We'll have enough trouble sorting out the truth from the politicians themselves!
Are you with me so far?