LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY seshen)

Former President Jimmy Carter said Thursday that "fundamentalism" under George W. Bush has resulted in a "dramatic and profound and unprecedented change" in American policy that threatens the United States at home and abroad.

Carter, who is promoting a new book critical of Bush, faulted the Bush administration for "an unprecedented and overt ... merger of the church and state, of religion and politics."

He said the natural "arrogance" of second-term presidents is exacerbated by a fundamentalism under Bush that causes many of his supporters and those who work in his administration to believe that "I am right because I am close to God (and) anybody who disagrees with me is inherently wrong, and therefore inferior."

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY iniswitryn)

(Poster's comment: I found this article thought-provoking, a look at the pros and cons of religious inspiration's intersection with the sociopolitical sphere, without gratuitous attack on religious belief.)

Better Off Without Him?

By George Monbiot, AlterNet. Posted October 13, 2005.

"Christian fundamentalists claim religion is associated with lower rates of violence, teen pregnancy and divorce. A new study says they couldn't be more wrong."

Are religious societies better than secular ones? It should be an easy question for athiests to answer.

Most of those now seeking to blow people up -- whether with tanks and missiles or rucksacks and passenger planes -- do so in the name of God. In India, we see men whose religion forbids them to harm insects setting fire to human beings. A 14th-century Pope with a 21st-century communications network sustains his church's mission of persecuting gays and denying women ownership of their bodies. Bishops and rabbis in Britain have just united in the cause of prolonging human suffering, by opposing the legalization of assisted suicide. We know that the most dangerous human trait is an absence of self-doubt, and that self-doubt is more likely to be absent from the mind of the believer than the non-religious infidel.

But we also know that few religious governments have committed atrocities on the scale of Hitler's, Mao's or Stalin's (though, given their more limited means, the Spanish and British in the Americas, the British, Germans and Belgians in Africa, and the British in Australia and India could be said to have done their best). It is hard to dismiss Dostoyevsky's suspicion that "If God does not exist, then everything is permissible."

Nor can we wholly disagree with the new Pope when he warns that "we are moving towards a dictatorship of relativism which ... has as its highest goal one's own ego and one's own desires." (We must trust, of course, that a man who has spent his life campaigning to become God's go-between, and who now believes he is infallible, is immune to such impulses).

The creationists in the United States might be as mad as a box of ferrets, but what they claim to fear is the question which troubles almost everyone who has stopped to think about it: if our lives have no purpose, why should we care about other people's?

for the full article see http://www.alternet.org/story/26721

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Here's a post from Chip Berlet on the DefCon blog about Prophecy, Belief, and Constitutional boundaries. Here's an excerpt:

A group of ultraconservative political operatives have harnessed a particular reading of Biblical prophecy, known as Premillenial Dispensationalism, (embraced by tens of millions of evangelical Christians) and transformed these beliefs into campaigns to deny basic rights to groups of people framed as sinful and subversive.

Premillennial means a belief that Jesus Christ returns in the End Times and, after a series of confrontations and battles against evil, he reigns over an earthly utopia for a thousand years…a millennium. Therefore, Christ returns before (“pre”) the Godly millennial kingdom. Dispensations are epochs, or blocks of history, during which certain things happen. Premillennial Dispensationalists think that we are poised on the edge of that historic epoch during which the End Times preface the second coming of Christ and his millennial reign.

A large portion of Christian evangelicals who hold these specific theological beliefs also believe that devout and Godly Christians, before the tremendous confrontations or “Tribulations” that culminate in a huge global Battle of Armageddon, will be spared injury or death when they are brought away from Earth and held in God’s protective embrace in an event called the “Rapture.”

It is easy to poke fun at these types of religious beliefs, but it is deeply offensive and provocative in a way that undermines a serious and important public debate over the proper boundaries for religious belief and public policy decisions. It is not accurate to dismiss Christians who hold these beliefs as ignorant, uneducated, or crazy. Social scientists have thoroughly refuted these stereotypes with polling data and in-depth interviews. In addition, it is not fair to ask people of faith simply to abandon their beliefs when they step into the Public Square or political arena.

It is also not fair, however, for those in the Religious Right to use God as a trump card in public policy debates.

There are some very interesting comments to this post which seem to be going along the lines of some of the commentary here in this community. Some people understand the need to reach out and engage moderate Christians, and others feel that there isn't any way to establish a dialogue when one side speaks English and the other is speaking in tongues. All in all, it's a thorny question, and a difficult matter to unravel. How can we disengage the political and theocratic elements from the spiritual ones? How can we confront the horrible monster that this politico-religious synergy has spawned?

Go read the post and its comments. I'll be interested in hearing your comments.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY neadods)

xposted (with commentary removed) from my personal journal:

According to breaking news reports in England and Saudi Arabia (where she currently is), Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes answered a question today as to why President Bush references God so often with this:

"Our Constitution cites "one nation under God."

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Scientific American has an interesting article about the subversion of science for political gain. An excerpt:

Subverting scientific knowledge for short-term gain

By Boyce Rensberger

Thomas Jefferson would be appalled. More than two centuries after he helped to shape a government based on the idea that reason and technological advancement would propel the new United States into a glorious future, the political party that now controls that government has largely turned its back on science.

Even as the country and the planet face both scientifically complex threats and remarkable technological opportunities, many Republican officeholders reject the most reliable sources of information and analysis available to guide the nation. As inconceivable as it would have been to Jefferson--and as dismaying as it is to growing legions of today's scientists--large swaths of the government in Washington are now in the hands of people who don't know what science is. More ominously, some of those in power may grasp how research works but nonetheless are willing to subvert science's knowledge and expert opinion for short-term political and economic gains.

That is the thesis of The Republican War on Science, by Chris Mooney, one of the few journalists in the country who specialize in the now dangerous intersection of science and politics. His book is a well-researched, closely argued and amply referenced indictment of the right wing's assault on science and scientists. Mooney's chronicle of what he calls "science abuse" begins in the 1970s with Richard Nixon and picks up steam with Ronald Reagan. But both pale in comparison to the current Bush administration, which in four years has:

* Rejected the scientific consensus on global warming and suppressed an EPA report supporting that consensus.
* Stacked numerous advisory committees with industry representatives and members of the religious Right.
* Begun deploying a missile defense system without evidence that it can work.
* Banned funding for embryonic stem cell research except on a claimed 60 cell lines already in existence, most of which turned out not to exist.
* Forced the National Cancer Institute to say that abortion may cause breast cancer, a claim refuted by good studies.
* Ordered the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to remove information about condom use and efficacy from its Web site.

Go read the whole thing, then think about what is going to happen to this country if the IDiots gain control of our public schools.

(Thanks to swiftpaws for the link)

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY britzkrieg)

The following is an excerpt from an article in the August/September issue of Southern Brew News, a circular aimed at beer enthusiasts living in the Southeastern U.S. This article is not available online, I'm afraid.

===============================
A North Carolina grassroots organization has been trying to change a law [that] prevents beers with more than 6% alcohol from being sold in the state. This group goes by the name of Pop the Cap...

In July, as House Bill 392 (the Pop the Cap bill) was making its way to the Senate floor, something potentially disastrous happened... Senator [Jim] Jacumin (Burke and Caldwell Counties) made his point known quickly. He felt that North Carolina should not allow high alcohol beers into the state because it would cause a "loosening of sexual inhibitions, more pregnancies and more abortions." ( Plus some good ol' Strom Thurmond racism )

[Senator John] Kerr, who has been a firm supporter of NC wineries in the past, is for some reason staunchly against the [bill]... Kerr has been quoted in the Daily Reflector (a Greenville, North Carolina paper) as having been approached by religious groups, asking him to slow the bill down.
===============================

( More about Georgia's experience )

Oh, and I don't think the high-priced "high-gravs" have increased our unwanted pregnancy or abortion rates, either. Interestingly, such things are not as much of a problem in Belgium and Holland, where many of these beers are brewed. I wonder why?

EDIT: "On Saturday, August 13, 2005 Governor Mike Easley signed House Bill 392 (a.k.a. the "Pop The Cap" bill) into law." The theocrats lost this one, but I still think it's instructive to review their efforts in this case.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY kalibex)

'"...stupidity is the only universal capital crime; the sentence is death, there is no appeal and execution is carried out automatically and without pity." Robert Heinlein – "Time Enough for Love"


'This, in one tragic nutshell, is what is so wrong and incredibly dangerous about True Believers, and why they should never, ever be allowed anywhere near the levers of power...'

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY heartlikeawheel)

The following is a statement made by an evangelical Christian on a political board that I frequent.

See if it doesn't make your blood run cold as it did mine:

It is your opinion that God has no place in the politics of our nation. That is wishful thinking on your part. The simple fact of the matter is that when so many believe He exists, and most of those believe in Him as the Bible presents Him, then you have a problem because He is going to enter into policy whether you like it or not.

I'm not telling you what I believe SHOULD happen, but rather sharing a simple logical conclusion of what has happened, is happening, and will continue to happen. You are free to rebel against it, but you're fighting the mother of all uphill battles. Accept the fact or not...it won't change the fact that the majority of people in this country don't like a minorty telling them that their religion can't be expressed in the public policy arena, and that with the power of the majority, such as it is given in this country, will exercise the same to keep God in the public policy arena.

Notice he claims that he isn't saying he believes it "should" happen, but he makes no bones about the fact that he think it WILL happen.

They're gaining power, they know it, and I am not ashamed to admit that I am more afraid than I can say. I have nowhere to run if this country turns into a theocratic state as it looks like it's heading toward. But I'll tell you what, I refuse to live under a Christo-Fascist regime. If that means my life, so be it. But I'll send some of them home to see their God as well.

I can't even believe I'm seeing this. I never thought America would threaten to become a Christian Saudi Arabia. What the hell has happened to us??

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

This editorial article from the Arizone Republic makes some interesting points:

Religion, holy ones strangling U.S. rights

By Linda Valdez
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 18, 2005 12:00 AM

An extraterrestrial sent to study the United States would look at the headlines about John Roberts' confirmation hearings and think the biggest issue facing the nation is abortion.

E.T. would be wrong.

The issue is religion, not abortion.

Questions from Democrats about Roberts' views about the right to privacy were code for: Hey, America! Religion has a stranglehold on your government.( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY metaphorge)

"The notion of spiritual freedom is at risk, and the fourth observance of the terrorist attacks of 9/11 is an appropriate time to think about it."

I love Bill Moyers, and he makes many excellent points in this article. (located via alobar)

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY fuuangel)

Hi! First post. I stumbled across this community through dogemperor's listing of charities.

Short background: I grew up in a heavily Southern Baptist area. I was lucky not to have dominionist parents, but almost everyone else was. We had no sex education in public school and women were somewhat restricted. I was never heavily involved with the church, but there were a lot of things going on that made me uncomfortable. I never realized why until I got to college and realized that not every area was so restrictive and insular.

What's happening nationwide now seems to be a larger echo of what I saw growing up. Quite frankly, this scares me. I want to know, I want to be informed. I never again want to live in the kind of ignorance I grew up in, where the shenanigans I saw there (that are now being repeated on a national scale) seemed normal. I plan to take a look at the links on the community info page and look forward to hearing what all of you have to say.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY kalibex)

"What I see in America, on the religious right, is a paradox I've
never observed before, at least on a mass level, in the US.

"For the first time I can recall in US history, a sizeable number of
otherwise rational people have divorced themselves from the American
dream---in a very specific way, but a conscious divorce nonetheless.

"Millions of people now believe God, not themselves, is the prime
mover of will and event in their lives.

"This strikes me as unprecedented, not least because the voices of the
centre and centre-left---you have no social democratic consensus in
the US as we know it in Canada or Europe---have little grounding to
identify the reasons for this.

"As a lapsed Catholic from a very conservative Irish immigrant family,
I think what I see is what I see, if you know what I mean. The
irrational is in the ascendance, just as it was in the late 1920s in
both the US and, far more evilly, in Germany, having been well set
loose in Russia

"The implications are huge: the rugged American individualist
philosophy of pragmatism and utilitarianism and the Horatio Alger
myth no longer seem to apply. The notion of social mobility itself
may well be in peril in this culture of 'inshallah'---'God wills it'."

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Here's an excellent essay by Frederick Clarkson, which talks about striking a balance when dealing with the Religious Right. An excerpt:

The Dominionists are coming! The Dominionists are coming!

Some contemporary Paul Revere's of the internet write breathlessly about the Christian Right as if the advocates of theocracy have all but won. They conflate a sense of urgency about the situation or concern about the "agenda" of the Christian Right, with the inevitability or even the imminence of victory. I am writing this from the perspective of over twenty years of researching and writing about the Christian Right -- and up front I want to say -- don't believe everything you read. As the song goes in West Side Story: "stay cool, boy."

Has the Christian Right gained great political power? Yup.

Should we take it seriously? Yup.

Do we have a lot to learn? Yup.

Is it over? Far from it.

One more quickie Q&A.

Does this movement have a theocratic political agenda? Yes they do, although most of its leaders deny it, and certainly most conservative Christians would not agree with the more theocratic or "dominionist" elements. They have, however, been sold on a form of historical revisionism that claims that the U.S. was founded as a "Christian nation," and that this legacy has been stolen -- stolen! -- by those who would betray God and the original intentions of the Founding Fathers. This is a powerful myth. And it is but one element of why the Christian Right is the best organized faction in American politics.

But politics is about many things, and it is always in motion. Many people have a tendency to freeze certain perceptions about political realities in thier minds -- hence the danger of getting the notion of the power of the Christian right fixed in one's mind such that one cannot see outcomes other than a Christian theocracy and a looming inquisition. The truth is that this is the stuff of B horror movies.

Well, OK. There is also The Handmaid's Tale. (Margaret Atwood's novel is much better than the movie.) But whether this tale of a future corrupt theocracy is a warning or a prophesy is entirely up to us.

But there are reality-based ways of evaluating the Christian right. And there are a lot of people who have spent a lot of years acquiring the kind of knowledge that will be useful in this time.

Read the whole thing. And grab a copy of "Eternal Hostility" by Frederick Clarkson. It's an excellent overview of the Christian right.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Here are a couple of Daily Kos Diaries that are relevant to this community:

A Black Baptist Minister Takes on the Theocrats Writes Rev. Carlton W. Veazey:

"Progressives who think warnings about 'theocracy' are an exaggeration should take a closer look at 'Justice Sunday: Filibustering People of Faith,' Veazy wrote. The event was "beamed into conservative churches across the country: a political rally from a large, comfortable mega-church in Louisville, with a middle-class audience listening with rapt attention to political operatives who self-identify as religious leaders-and at the bottom of the screen, streaming video with the photos, names and phone numbers of targeted U.S. senators. The visual message was clear: the church is dominant over the state and senators should toe the line on eliminating the filibuster and confirming Bush judges or pay the price."

***

"There is a right way and a wrong way to engage religious voices in the public square. I believe "Justice Sunday" reflects the latter and highlights several disturbing trends... As a Baptist minister for more than 40 years with a profound respect for religious freedom and pluralism, I fear it will get worse. In fact, I think we are teetering on the brink of theocracy and the Christian Right could conceivably use the battle over the judiciary and weakening support for reproductive rights to push us over the edge...."

Fredrick Clarkson, founder of Talk To Action, says that this essay should be read in its entirety, and spread far and wide. I heartily agree. It is people like this- people of faith who see the big picture and understand what is at stake- whom we need to find, engage, and work with to reverse the Dominionist onslaught.

And here's another diary written by a USAF member, who wrote a letter to the Stars and Stripes earlier this week about religious intolerance.

Breaking Free From a Theocratic Upbringing

The writer says that he hasn't gotten any feedback or fallout yet, but he expects that he will.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

This article from World Net Daily talks about the desire of certain Christians to have a 'country' of their own:

A year after suggesting possible secession from the United States, a group of Christians fed up with American laws they believe are at odds with the Bible is beginning to move to its target state of South Carolina.

ChristianExodus.org has attracted more than 700 members from across America since WND broke the news of its inception last May, and already a half-dozen families have picked up and transplanted to the Palmetto State.

"A year ago, no one had moved. It was just a project on the board," said Cory Burnell, a financial adviser who is president of ChristianExodus. "Now, it's actually happening. Whether it's a couple of years or 20 years, we're gonna get it done."

That's funny- I thought that Colorado Springs was the Dominionist ground zero. Read more at the site.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY seshen)

The Christian Right, Dominionism, and Theocracy

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY hummingwolf)

From the decidedly "religious right" World Magazine Blog:

As shown in the post "Atheist Evangelism" below, many secularists are deathly afraid that America is becoming a theocracy. To Christian conservatives--who almost never get their way, even from politicians they helped to elect--such an over-estimation of their power and influence can only be laughable. Set aside the reality that hardly any Christian conservatives do , in fact, seek to impose a theocracy. ("My kingdom is not of this world," Jesus said. Besides, Christians know that faith cannot be coerced, and that any government that claims theocratic authority would have to be implemented by sinful human beings. This does not, however, mean that Christians are to be unengaged in their government and their culture. Christians are indeed obliged to work for their neighbor's good in every sphere of life, even in this sinful world.) But what gains have Christians made that leads secularists to think a theocracy is imminent? That Christians are crusading against abortion and homosexuality, though with hardly any success? A few decades ago, when abortion was against the law and homosexuality was assumed by all sides to be immoral, was that a theocracy?

Some of the comments to the post are interesting, if frustrating, to read.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

From Frederick Clarkson's blog:

Periodically, we here at FrederickClarkson.com are compelled to recognize an individual in American politics or government whose efforts on behalf of theocracy are, well, extraordinary. This week we recognize the efforts of U.S. Rep. John Hoesttler (R-IN) who has pushed through legislation in the House that would deny funding to enforce the ruling of a federal court which declared that a display of a monument to Ten Commandments in a court house in his district was unconstitutional. He also declared on the House floor, that "Democrats cannot help denigrating and demonizing Christians." Finally, in a House committee meeting, he referred to "the mythical wall [of] separation between church and state that's been erected by the courts." (Although he did not say this last item this week, our judges have ruled that it counts since the remark came to our attention this week.)

Details at his blog.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY jmthane)

( Put all that censorship together and you get... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY kalibex)

'Marcia Thompson Eldreth sees in the United States a Christian nation, inspired by Scripture and dedicated to propositions conveyed in biblical prophesy. She asks: Why not a U.S. national Christian flag?

'"Our nation was based on Judeo-Christian principles," Eldreth said. "Blessed is the country whose God is Lord."

'She was sitting in her Cecil County kitchen here the other day, sharing the story of how she came to design and arrange for manufacturing and selling a national Christian flag that since last year has gained national attention on The 700 Club, a religious news magazine television show hosted by, among others, the Rev. Pat Robertson. The taped segment is scheduled to appear on the program for a second time Tuesday, Flag Day...'

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