An article in Salon got me thinking again about this issue. In an article published in Harper's last year that I discussed in my "left-leaning Christian" blog, "The Heretic's Handbook," Bill McKibben pointed out that the allegedly "Christian" message that certain politicians have propounded gets the Gospels exactly wrong. Many of those who make their so-called Christianity the basis of their platform are, in Christian terms, building their houses on sand.
So why don't real Christians realize this? For one thing, they are oddly stuck on a couple of points that turn on matters of faith and belief (gay marriage and abortion) which seem to keep them from seeing the elephant in the room: the self-serving, self-aggrandizing basis on which the philosophy of the current crop of Republicans (whom I should call so-called Republicans) build their so-called "principles." It seems strange to me that the Mark Foley matter should take precedence in their eyes of the sheer cowardice of Americans who deny to detainees imprisoned at Guantanamo even minimal due process or who are willing to hand over to the president (any president, not just this one) authority to allow torture and the denial of what most of us would consider our basic rights.
And if you are tempted to respond that terrorists should have no basic rights, I won't argue, but only ask you: what if the person being detained and "aggressively interrogated" is in fact innocent of the charge? Is that a risk you're willing to take? And if the answer is "yes," have you considered what we lose whenever we reverse the presumption of innocence or deprive an imprisoned person of the right to challenge the imprisonment? The right to habeas corpus is the most basic of due process rights.
I have no use, of course, for terrorists; and I think them fully as wrong-headed and evil as George W. Bush, but as a Christian and an American, I fear fear. I think we are now seeing the consequences of a policy which encourages Americans to be afraid. But a true American---or a true Christian---should never be willing to allow fear to overcome the will to do the right thing, even if there is risk involved in doing so.
Have we really reached the point where we are so fearful of losing our security that any risk to it is too much risk? Certainly no Christian should give in to such fear.
There are arguments---arguments taken straight from the Gospels---that the Democrats could legitimately make against both the policies and the tactics preached by this century's Republican party. In addition, there are arguments that the Democrats could legitimately make derived straight from the policies of the Republican party as it used to be. I've addressed some of these in a note I posted in "The Heretic's Handbook."
Why aren't they doing this? Why? They must know as well as I do what they need to say. And yet they are not saying it.
Hello Damozel and all,
The time has arrived for those blinded by religion to open their eyes, see the light, and help me vanquish the sword they have been deceived into supporting and wielding. How can Judeo-Christians blindly support rich and powerful leaders who rule using great wealth, deception, war, destruction, torture, and injustice when the messiah is supposed to deliver truth, wisdom, and justice, vanquish the sword, and dethrone the unjust, rich, and powerful? What is wrong with this picture?
No leader of an empire ever truly believes the religions used to manipulate subjects. That would be like a drug dealer hooked on his product; its bad for business...
Understanding why religion is strong delusion
Christians often quote things like "know them by their fruits," yet after millennia of being duped into abetting blatantly evil scoundrels, many still don't understand the meaning or import of much of what they read. The same canon paradoxically propounds "faith," which means the complete opposite of "know them by their fruits," i.e., to discern the truth by analyzing deeds and results (works) and to weigh actions instead of merely believing what is said.
The deceptive circular logic of posing a fantasy messiah who urges both discernment of the truth and faith (belief without proof) clearly represents a skillful and purposeful effort to impose ignorance and confusion through "strong delusion." Any sage worth his salt could understand the folly of this contradictory so-called wisdom. This and mountains of evidence demonstrate that faith and religion are the opposite of truth and wisdom. It is no wonder charlatans like Rove, Bush, and others have marked Christians as dupes to be milked as long and as hard as possible. Any accomplished con artist easily recognizes religion as the ultimate scam and fervent followers as ready-made marks and dupes.
We now live in an era where science has proven so much about the vastness, rationality, mathematical preciseness, and structural orderliness throughout every level of our 11-dimension universe. Nonetheless, large percentages of people still conclude that these flawed and contradictory religious canons are the unmodified and infallible "word of God." People who can't (or won't) discern the difference between truth and belief are easily misled about the differences between good and evil, wisdom and folly, perfection and error, reason and irrationality, and right and wrong.
The fact that political leaders have always had close relationships with religious leaders while cooperating to manipulate followers to gain wealth and power is overwhelming evidence that the true purpose of religion is deception and delusion. People who are unable to effectively discern basic moral choices or to reason accurately are easily indoctrinated to follow the dictates of national and imperial leaders who wrap themselves in religious pretense. Truth and wisdom are direct threats to the existence and power of empires. That is why imperial leaders always strive to hide so-called secret knowledge and impose deception and ignorance upon their subjects.
What then is the purpose of "faith" but to prevent otherwise good people from seeking to understand truth and wisdom?
Read More...
http://exposing-religious-deception.blogspot.com/
Peace...
Posted by: Seven Star Hand | October 27, 2006 at 11:37 PM