American theocracy

[dawsonct]

One of my friends, with whom I truly enjoy sharing a libation or talking about sports or travel or etc., but can not hold a civil conversation about religion or politics, sent off one of his facebook blasts that just have me wanting to choke the guy. It is the usual talking-point crapola about how providing the most modest, basic level of health care for her citizenry is certainly NOT the intent of the founders for this Nation of ours, and how it will be the ruination of freedom and liberty and all we hold dear and government can’t operate ANY venture as efficiently as the private sector and too much regulation of business this and too much intrusion that….

And then, almost immediately and apparently completely without irony, sent another invective about the evils perpetrated on fetuses (he used another term) by women, who OBVIOUSLY don’t have the emotional capacity to make these kind of decisions for themselves with the guidance of a board certified medical doctor qualified in the relevant field of medicine, and went on to make various biblical references and talking about the evil perpetrated on God’s tiny little in utero miracle and the need to bring the weight of the GOVERNMENT in to halt this abomination, and no single person should have the right to make that decision for another and that we should put an end to it (apparently relegating women to the role of man and God’s handmaiden).

It really WAS just that back and forth, all the while completely oblivious to the contradictions taking place in back-to-back sentences.

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So I decided to throw int he towel. He’s right, God and the Church should make the rules for this great, secular Nation of ours, and since I am as qualified as anyone else and more so than many to make this call, in my own mind, I have decided the United States of America should be a Unitarian Universalist theocracy.

Here is the website for your new “official” moral compass America. Be sure to commit it to memory; we don’t want to PO God:

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http://www.uua.org/visitors/6798.shtml

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There are seven principles which Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote:

The inherent worth and dignity of every person;

Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;

Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;

A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;

The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;

The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;

Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

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Unitarian Universalism (UU) draws from many sources:

Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life;

Words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love;

Wisdom from the world’s religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life;

Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God’s love by loving our neighbors as ourselves;

Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit.

Spiritual teachings of earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.

These principles and sources of faith are the backbone of our religious community.

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There you go. It did use scary words and terms like justice and equity and compassion and acceptance and “democratic process” which may take some getting used to, but you have no say in this. Someone had to decide the official State Theocracy, SO I DID. Deal with it.

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[metrognome]

It is interesting that conservatives said the same thing about Medicare when it was proposed … and now act as if they invented Medicare and hold it up as a model of how the federal government can do things (and I won’t go into all the well documented lies they made up about how the health care plan would devastate seniors on Medicare except to say ‘death panels.’)

You might mention to your friend that the preamble of the Constitution reads as follows:

‘We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence [sic], promote the general Welfare and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.’ At the time, ‘Welfare’ was generally defined as ‘health, happiness, or prosperity; well-being. [<ME wel faren, to fare well]’

It is also interesting that these folks’ motto is ‘What Would Jesus Do’ (while behaving very un-Christlike, in my opinion) when they are using the old Testament ‘smite the unbelievers’ approach rather than the New Testament approach personified by (the historical figure known as) Jesus. What is truly fascinating is that people quote the Bible as if it were written in English when it was written in Aramaic, Greek and Hebrew and there are clearly sections missing and sections that many scholars agree do not belong. Heck, we can’t even agree on what plays Shakespeare actually wrote and that was only 500 years ago (or so).

As far as your proposal, I think you are highlighting the difference between religions, which are codified and have rules and regulations and spiritual beliefs, which are more a system of respect for living things, etc.

Unfortunately, I am an agnostic, so I guess I’ll have to move to Canada, eh? To me, it seems that people the world over invent different gods because they are unable to fathom how the world could have created itself; to me, the concept that there is an all-knowing, all-powerful, etc. god that has and will exist forever is even more unfathomable.

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[JoB]

metrognome..

it’s a matter of faith..

we get to choose

that’s why it’s personal ;->

dawsoncts guiding principles wouldn’t be a bad start for a theocracy… as theocracies go

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[jamminj]

GOP: pro-life, up until birth.

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[Ken]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Theocracy

A book I enjoyed.

And this volume can be used to reply to the wingnuts who repeat the lies of the Christian Wrong.

Several chapters in pdf format that can be cut n pasted into replies.

스포츠 홈 원정 정보 모든것

And a couple of gratuitous quotes:

There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.

— John Rogers

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Ignorance is King. Many would not profit from his overthrow for they enrich themselves by means of his dark monarchy. They are his Court and under his aegis they defraud and govern for their own benefit and to perpetuate their power. They milk and shear and butcher the flocks that they maintain on bread and circuses, herding and stampeding them at their whim. Communication and education they fear, for the written word and the ability to think are channels by which the subjects may lift themselves into the light of reason, there to see the glaring flaws of the reign and rise up to throw off its yoke. The minions of Ignorance have weapons keen-honed and they use them with skill. They will press battle upon the world when their interests are threatened, and the violence which follows will last until the structure of society as it now exists is leveled to rubble and we are left among the ruins.

–Adapted from the 1959 post-apocalyptic cautionary tale ‘A Canticle for Leibowitz’ by WM Miller Jr .

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[dawsonct]

No, Metro, you WOULD NOT need to move to Canada under my New American UU Theocracy. As you can see, the first principle is to recognize the inherent worth and dignity of every person, agnostic, fundamentalist, atheist, the “only attend on holidays” and those who never, ever even think about existentialism. My Sunday school teacher was a very outspoken atheist.

Your personal philosophy is protected with the next principle of ‘justice, equity, and compassion in human relations’.

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[dawsonct]

Holy CRAP ken! That John Rodgers quote had me shooting coffee out of my nose!

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[JoB]

me too.. but cocacola.. not coffe:)

jamminj..

unfortunately the right to life doesn’t even pertain to the fetus… if it did.. they would be pro pregnancy medical care…

our live birth and infant mortality rates are shocking.

This isn’t pro-anyone…

This is another example of the lack of personal responsibility of those who promote the far right agenda…

they demand the right to make every woman’s choice… but duck out when it comes to taking any responsibility.

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[elikapeka]

Ah, yes, those lovely folks who don’t want the government to come between you and your doctor – well, of course unless it’s about your reproductive medical decisions. Then they can’t get the government into your uterus fast enough. Or if you’re Terry Schiavo (sp?) – we can’t let the doctors and the family decide when and if to end life-support. We’ll do it for you!

The contradiction in these positions just amazes me.

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[metrognome]

Dawsonct — darn!! I was looking for a good excuse to move to Canada as I am quaking in my boots in fear of the revenge promised by those good xtian Tea Partiers over passage of health reform … wait, didn’t Rushbo promise to move to another country if it passed (the same Rushbo who proclaimed that all our health care woes were caused by people over-exercising and needing ACL surgery.)

Maybe if you retitled the post as “American Non-Theocracy” or “America the Beautiful” or “America as it was intended to be”. I actually agree with the guiding principles you proposed as a personal philosophy; the conundrum we are in is that any group of 2 or more humans must define the principles that define community interaction and development of accepted behaviors and rules (yes, human history has proven their must be rules if we are to continue to believe we are more than animals with opposable thumbs.) No doubt the conversation will continue long after we are plant food as humans are unable to behave for very long.

Ken — great post about Ayn Rand’s book; now I wonder if Morc from Orc was a character I missed in LOTR… (I can hear the groans from here — sorry …)

My favorite book on spiritual freedoms (and other human behaviors) is the science fiction classic “Stranger in a Strange Land” by Robert Heinlein (the unabridged version is best; the original publication had about 25% left out because it was deemed to radical for the conservative culture that dominated post-WWII America.) While it is not perfect (e.g. disparaging comments about homosexuality), the last few chapters are particularly pertinent to current events.

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[JoB]

Rush has never made a promise he wouldn’t break…

besides.. he can’t move to another country.

They’d put him in treatment immediately:)

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[dawsonct]

I really enjoyed that the first country Flush chose to flee to was Costa Rica. Do you suppose it is for the excellent national health care they have there, or is it the prostitutes and cheap Oxycontin?

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Has he left yet? Need help packing?

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[dawsonct]

Metro, I decided my religion was the right one for America. All the fundamentalism the fundys are trying to ram down everybody’s throat is simply to hateful and exclusionist, and since I never actually saw the mandate that put them in charge, I decided I have as much right as they do to use my religion’s philosophy as the moral baseline for our country.

I suppose I could have gone with a Universal Life Theocracy, but am not 100% certain what their religious philosophy is, other than “you can marry your friends!”

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[JoB]

one country, under duress, with misinformation and bigotry for all :(

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[JoB]

i suppose that should have read… with bondage and servitude for all :)

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[Ken]

Even a Pastafarian Theocracy is not acceptable since our Constitution and the Democratic Republic it created, cannot stand except as a secular triumvirate of interlocking powers that exclude Religion, Aristocracy and Monarchy from power.

When the aristocracy of inherited wealth or the monarchy of the deathless corporations buy or otherwise overwhelm the Legislative, Judicial or Executive branches, this grand experiment will be over.

And if we have another wingnut president in the next 20 years, the judicial will fall as the legislative is auctioned by the executive.

Oh wait… too late.

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[metrognome]

Oh come on … Rushbo is as good at keeping his promises as, say, Sean Hannity. Remember good old Hannity offering to be waterboarded to prove it isn’t torture? Remember that great video of them pouring the water down his throat while they pinched his nose closed?? You don’t? Maybe that’s because he chickened out … he didn’t want to get his custom-tailored, hand-made suit wet …

And remember, our non-activist Supreme Court has decided that corporations can buy as much freedom of speech as they can afford (or as much as they can’t afford not to buy …)

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[dhg]

Two obvious contradictions:

1. For years Conservatives have ranted about the irresponsible public that doesn’t buy health insurance and relies on the government to take care of them when they are sick. Now comes a mandate to make them buy insurance (the repubs already are insured, aren’t they?) and they scream bloody murder.

2. Anyone who thinks abortions are murder really should be working towards reducing the number of abortions. You do that by pushing for comprehensive sex ed in the schools (abstinence only teaching has been shown to be a failure) and you also push for free health care for the pregnant because good medical care can reduce the number of spontaneous abortions and miscarriages. So doesn’t this health plan fit that bill nicely?

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[JoB]

dhg…

and you are expecting a reasoned response from the crowd that thinks Obama is a muslim… wasn’t born in this country… is racist…. and is the anticrist?

ok.. so only 40% of them :(

i pray every day for a reasoned and reasonable response from republicans…

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[dawsonct]

Damn Ken, there you go again, injecting truth and reason into my totally unreasonable requirement that people submit to the principles of my religion, no matter how inclusive and intellectually non-invasive it is.

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The truth though, UU’s would probably refuse the task of creating a theocracy, since we value individual freedom too much.

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