AMERICANA

I picked up a paper recently and saw that the Christian religious right had picked up the Muslim idea of a jihad.  They claim victim hood as they manipulate via bullying and mudslinging.  There was a reason the Founding Fathers separated church and state.  This is it.  Dogma must remain at the pulpit, not behind the bench.  If we have forgotten why, we might check historic information on the Inquisition.

            Christian president after Christian president has had nominee after nominee blocked by the opposing party without any allegations of religious bias.  I feel like the whole Christian block is throwing a collective four-year old tantrum.  The attack on the Democrats and the judicial system is an attempt to confuse issues, or maybe they really are confused.  This isn’t about ethics or morality.  It’s about power and influence.  The religious right talks about ethics and morals to inflame indignation, to prod their flocks into self-righteous fervor.

            The filibuster, as they say, “was once abused to protect racial bias, and now it is being used against people of faith.”  I have a question.  Who abused it to protect racial bias to begin with?  I believe that answer is the religious right.  To rush through something is to be sloppy.  Basically, they’re finally getting a taste of what they’ve been dishing out for a while now, and they don’t like it.  The poster of a young man with a gavel in one hand and a Bible in the other has a caption hovering above the young man’s head stating, “He should not have to choose”, but that is PRECISELY the beauty of America.  We DO get to choose on a whole range of topics from religion, shoes, employers, contraception, coffee, tea, hairstyles, politicians, schools, bus routes, and on, and on.  It is our very right to choose which set America apart from all previous governmental systems.  This is the very thing that made America great, the very reason so many immigrants came here to register at Ellis Island.  The religious right is hoping that we’ve forgotten that.  Sadly, some of us have.  They’re also hoping that many will opt out of Jesus’ teaching on tolerance and patience.  Let’s shift focus for a second.  When was the one time that Jesus lost his temper?  It was about the moneychangers and the vendors at the front of the temple, right?  Geez, doesn’t a religious lobbyist fit that description?  We have many of the religious right affording annual political donations in exchange for stronger representation within the governing body.  Doesn’t that sound reminiscent of the Sanhedrin?  They were the guys who colluded with the Roman government to capture and crucify Jesus.  The goals of the religious right seem to be closely tied with the goals of corporate America, which the liberals currently find themselves pinched between.  The religious right is currently over-blowing the amount of power these liberals have.  If the liberals had all that power, they wouldn’t be sweating the way they are.  It looks as if the liberals are walking against a gale-force wind.  My hat is off to them, but the religious right is making such a big deal about this I wouldn’t be surprised if Tony Perkins has his flocks go out into their front yards to beat their bushes for nesting liberals.

            I would ask Tony Perkins in relation to the comments on his Family Research Councils’ website, who’s robbing whom?  I don’t see any legislation demanding married couples curtail the size of their families on the floor of the House or Senate.  I don’t see anyone burning a Star of David in anyone’s yard or field.  I don’t hear of white Christian churches being bombed.  I don’t hear of any legislation being prepped for the House or Senate banning heterosexual marriage outright.  I don’t hear of any judicial precedent declaring that pictures of Jesus be banned.  How are you being robbed of any choice?  You are being curbed from dictating other peoples’ choices, but you, yourself, are not having anyone infringe upon your personal decisions about your life in specific.  Your accusations are nothing but smoke and mirrors, a backdoor attempt at control.

            Anyone who CHOOSES to be in American government, law, medicine, whatever knows that America is a nation of many cultures, religions, and colors.  By vowing to uphold the American ethics and value to be indoctrinated as a U. S. citizen, it is not required for that person to become Christian.  I know you would change that if you could, but we here in America who love diversity will meet you in the street over that one, Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Druid, and Native American alike.  For that young man in your poster, I would remind him that it is by the grace of this country, its’ complete ethics and morals taken into consideration, that he has options available to him awaiting his informed choice.