I APPLAUD your recent discussions of how the Republican Party has abandoned you and given only lip service to the issues that concern you. I feel the same way. Gone is the party that once believed in fiscal discipline and minimal government interference in my personal life. Gone is the party that Lincoln served, standing firm for the rights of ALL men.
I URGE all of those so very disappointed in the Republican Party's failure to make the United States a Fundamentalist Christian, English-speaking only, abortion banning, evolution-teaching nation to try and change things. You have EVERY right to pursue your own beliefs in our Democracy and it is time for people to "stand up and be counted."
Of course I think you all may be a bit disappointed to find out what a real minority you all are, but that is the beauty of our political system. EVERYONE has the right to put their beliefs up before the electorate and have them rejected.
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Of course there HAVE been notable successes from the "Christian Conservative" position in the past.
Prohibition was a HUGE victory - though it did backfire a bit. The blowback from that effort led to massive and corruption, crime organizing on a scale never seen before and a general contempt for the law among the populace who disparaged this effort to legislate morality. My smoke a pack a day, drinking doesn't do you any harm, flapper grandmother clearly rebelled against her strict Methodist parents and was everything Prohibition sought to prevent. She lived to 96. But other than her questionable taste in men (my grandfather) there's not all that much you could criticize about her.
While the Republicans have given much lip service to abolishing abortion and outlawing homosexuality (or any outward signs thereof), truth is that it's NEVER going to happen. You've been USED. Stick with the Republicans and nothing is going to change. They'll talk the talk and take your money.... hell, Bush may even bomb Iran to try and speed up Armageddon, but you're NOT going to have any real say in how the US is run (large powerful global corporations have a lock on THAT).
Women are loath to go back to back-room abortions that killed THEM at absurdly high rates. There used to be lots of orphanages FILLED with kids BECAUSE people had children they didn't WANT or couldn't afford. I assume you're going to be very Christian and volunteer to run such places since government funds really shouldn't be spent on such efforts.
But - like it or not - people are having sex before marriage and outside it. You're only going to get MORE unwanted children after outlawing birth control.
Yes, sex is for marriage and marriage only. And anything other than procreational sex is wasteful (and waaay too much pleasure for anyone to bear). The REAL irony is that the most CONSERVATIVE kids seem to be having MORE unprotected, - and uninformed - sex than anyone else. Not much else to do when you can't go to concerts, watch movies, tip over cows..... (I say this with fond memories of horridly boring summers spent in such venues). Be truthful now..... how many of you good Christian couples married for decades had a bun in the oven when you stepped down the aisle? Nothing to be ashamed of..... happened alot - still does. But that was your CHOICE - it was a CHOICE, right?
But if boring monagamous married sex is what you WANT, why WON'T you let gay couples get "married" and live in monagamous relationships sanctified by God? Legislating homosexuality won't make it go away. It exists in Iran - despite the even stricter Islamic prohibitions there. It's existed EVERYWHERE - throughout history, as my son notes. I congratulate him on coming to terms with who he is, a difficult thing even in these times, in the most accepting environments. Too many try to deny who and what they are - leading to miserable lives. I hope only that he is as happy as his aunt and her partner are. Unfortunately SHE had to wait until her father was dead before "coming out" - I doubt my father-in-law would have dealt with it well. I doubt MY father would deal with his grandson's orientation well. Too bad, he's a brilliant, empathetic and wonderful guy. He may just change the world in ways few can dream of - God knows we need minds like his if we're going to survive.
Frankly I don't get the rampant homophobia among so many Christians. I'd have thought you'd be more accepting - the whole "What would Jesus do" thing.......I don't recall any stonings he was involved in...... Homosexuality isn't something anyone CHOOSES - it's who you are. You can't change it or prohibit it. Try being a bit more accepting about that - instead of so fearful. Our world would be so much more boring - and lacking in religious leaders - otherwise (many societies have had homosexuals serving in religious roles as shamans - and priests).
As far as abortion - and what is with the preoccupation with the "pre-born" taking precedent with the welfare of so many ill-fed and poorly treated children already born, of people starving and dying..... I guess it's so much easier to sohow concern for something invisible....... IMO, that is a PERSONAL choice that NOBODY has a right to impose on ANYONE ELSE. Marrying a devout Catholic, I knew abortion was something that would NOT come up in our marriage - whatever occurred. I am glad there was never a reason to consider it and that our children were healthy (I wonder if some would be less adamant about abortion if they KNEW a son was going to be gay..... be honest now.........) We were RELIGIOUS about birth control (somethign else NOBODY ELSE has a right to impose on - OR DENY - others), waiting to have children until we felt we could truly afford to do so. Too many are in poverty and will stay there - with too many children - BECAUSE they acted otherwise.
Now as far as God and "Creation" and all that goes, I more than beliefe that there's SOME kind of organizing force in the universe. Higher mathematics is elegant in a divine way - and science in general is beautiful in ways few even consider. But IMO, "God" works in the background, letting evolution and time do the heavy lifting. If there WAS any "active" involvement in how humans arrived, there's better odds that some aliens were conducting science experiments on early primates than "God" was molding clay. "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic"...... remember the "Cargo Cults" of the South Pacific? Some skepticism is a GOOD thing. Putting "belief" (in ANYONE or ANYTHING) first - without ANY questioning - is intellectually lazy and irresponsible. It is how dictatorships arise - and how theocracies rule.
Somehow I think a nation teaching Science as you all want would fall to the bottom of the technology innovation list - and end up in a scientific "Dark Ages" that too many of you would applaud. Sorry, but THAT scares the hell out of me.
While many of you eagerly await the end of the world - and many people throughout history have done so, it hasn't happened yet. Given past history it is unlikely that it WILL end as you all believe - with Jesus/God reappearing and whisking up all the believers to heaven (a VERY small proportion of humanity if you think about it..... is God REALLY going to doom so many of his creations to hell for NOT believeing as you all do?).
It IS very possible that MAN will manage to do something stupid and end life via a nuclear war- of plague - or simple neglect of this planet. I CANNOT depend on some divine intervention ending things to "bail out" me or my descendants.
I was taught that I am responsible for how I live my life and am responsible for the consequences of what I do - and do NOT do. While you may count on Jesus forgiving your sins, I'd be happier to see a LOT more PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY shown, with far FEWER sins that NEED forgiveness.
Though our Founding Fathers were adamant in keeping ANY organized religion from having a stranglehold on this Republic - having seen the damage done in Puritain Massachussetts - you and any other group can TRY to instill YOUR beliefs on the rest of us. But history has shown the futility of such efforts - even when the most xenophobic campaigns are waged to do so.
Maybe a new third party - exclusively dedicated to Christian Conservative ideals is a GOOD thing.
So..... I WELCOME a CLEAR AND UNCOMPROMISED effort by a NEW political party standing for the values you all treasure.
Define them clearly and uncompromisingly. Make SURE the electorate understands EXACTLY what you stand for.
But don't be too disappointed to find that the MAJORITY of this nation does NOT share your beliefs to the extreme degree you do. And no crying and beating of chests when reality sinks in.
Puritainism didn't work. Prohibition didn't work.
Most nations have moved AWAY from theocracies since the Middle Ages....... there's a reason for that.....
If you WANT to live a nice controlled life, uncontaminated by the rest of the world, you HAVE a choice. You can go off and live the life you find ideal, setting an example for others. Many do just that. Monastic orders, even groups like the Amish and Mennonites practice what they preach - WITHOUT trying to impose their beliefs on others. Maybe you should try THAT path after this one fails. You might achieve great things - look at how Buddhist monks have influenced politics in Asia - standing up to totalitarian regimes, dying for their beliefs, some even choosing self-immolation to make their point. Wow.... THAT is real dedication, REAL belief.
And having grown up in a VERY conservative Christian religion - literal interpretation et al - I have come to the conclusion that God, Jesus, Budda, and all those that in some way represent the divine, EXPECT each and every person to question, investigate and study intently "God" and come to their own belief (or lack thereof) and conclusions....... simplistic 'belief' without any thought is NOT what God had in mind for us when he gave us the ability to think.
And while NOT wanting to be judgemental, too many of the WORST people I know hypocritically wrap themselves in their conservative religious beliefs, proudly announcing to one and all that "They are saved" (in spite of all their sins)..... they do a great injustice to the fewer numnbers that truly try and live a Christian life, worried about changing times that they do not understand and fear, people who may just embrace what you will preach simply because it is too easy to be afraid and too easy to simply follow.
I'm sure more than a few rocks will be thrown my way - go ahead. I make no pretenses in being any better than any other - I am what I am - and willing to be held accountable for my life as lived. I am tired of hypocrisy - whatever the direction it comes from; we are far too deep in a swamp of it.