I am a make a joyful noise, apple-eating Christian who believes in karma, practices zen meditation and marvel that in essence, we are descendants of the stars; in other words, a hellbound enemy heretic according to the well disciplined factions of Christianity that have been marched into the public arena carrying their cross in their holster and waving a banner shouting "Culture War!"
As you know, many if not most of these factions believe the Bible is a literal description of real history, all of it. To a fan of human culture like me, that is like taking Beethoven's 9th or Hamlet literally. I believe the author credited for this book is making poetry for ears that can hear a deeper meaning, not giving a deposition. Maybe since they cannot hear the poetry, they must attack culture. Maybe they attack the temptations and perceived sins of a world held sway by Lucifer/Satan thinking they can unmake Eve's descision to eat the apple of knowledge and return to a state of Eden - no rebellion or dissent and no temptation.
But even God allowed temptation, and perhaps the snake, like Judas and even Lucifer, was part of God's intent as well. God gave humans the right to choose. And we chose. And we learned that by being given self-awareness, our choices carried responsibilities and consequences. Many of the literalists see Eve as a villain for her fatefull first act of rebellion but fail to follow that thread of logic leading to
none of us ever existing if she had "done the right thing".
So my question is this: Why are culture warriors so intent on using the powers of Ceaser to enforce their image of God's will? Should not that stuff be rendered unto God? I mean if God doesn't like your gay abortions (a bit of zen there) didn't he say "Vengeance is mine"? Apparently, the holy warriors think it belongs to them.
Check out this report in the LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/...
Ruth Malhotra went to court last month for the right to be intolerant.
Malhotra says her Christian faith compels her to speak out against homosexuality. But the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she's a senior, bans speech that puts down others because of their sexual orientation.
Malhotra sees that as an unacceptable infringement on her right to religious expression. So she's demanding that Georgia Tech revoke its tolerance policy.
With her lawsuit, the 22-year-old student joins a growing campaign to force public schools, state colleges and private workplaces to eliminate policies protecting gays and lesbians from harassment. The religious right aims to overturn a broad range of common tolerance programs: diversity training that promotes acceptance of gays and lesbians, speech codes that ban harsh words against homosexuality, anti-discrimination policies that require college clubs to open their membership to all.
The Rev. Rick Scarborough, a leading evangelical, frames the movement as the civil rights struggle of the 21st century. "Christians," he said, "are going to have to take a stand for the right to be Christian."
Christian? As in Jesus Christ? The guy who protected sinners from the stone weilding self-righteous wingnuts of his day and forgave them their trespasses?
They are fighting for the right to harass, intimidate and condemn people for not following their narrow and lifeless view of Christian doctrine - on God's behalf! on behalf of Jesus Christ - the guy who is quoted saying stuff like "Judge not lest ye be judged" and "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone". What if someone decides to revive some of that good old-time religion when blacks were believed to be 3/5ths human or that women should obey men and stay pregnant at home? I guess that they would rightly feel that their religion is under attack by modern society, but to demand the right to remind us at work or school that we will go to hell for having a SpongeBob/ Tinky-Winky rainbow sticker in our cubicle or a deck of Tarot cards in the desk? Is it "hostile to their religion" to not allow them to fire a woman who is found to be taking contraceptives?
The laws of mortals are a civil agreement consisting of an untold number of small and large choices and compromises between differing views that allow us to cooperate and live together in what is called civilization, and to my thinking, to presume that we can know what God thinks about these choices is fallacy and possibly heresy!
Can someone explain to me the doctrine that is driving today's wingnut stone throwers to demand that government be used as a tool to enforce their religious beliefs on everyone else? Can any of our good Christian Kossacks point me to a verse (preferably a red letter verse) that command this type of behavior?
Are they trying to keep everyone out of hell? Themselves? Do they think that legislating sin will bring God's favor of hasten the day of Jesus' return?
Or are they just cross wearing bigots looking for an excuse to hate?