"And for those of us who are Christian, there is an important context to bear in mind: Jesus's entire ministry was directed against the pretensions of earthly power, and Christianity is trans-political, beholden to no party and no ideology. The City of Man and the City of God are different, and we should respect and honor those differences.
"Mike Huckabee, by all accounts a faithful Christian, may not have crossed any bright lines yet -- but he's edging close to them. He should pull back now, before his political ambitions injure what he claims to care about, and undoubtedly does care about, most."
This is beyond rich. For the last 30+ years, what these guys have said they wanted was one of their own in the White House. And now that they have a real shot at it, however tenuous, they are having qualms. I am not very big on Bibilical quotations, but isn't there some reference about "sowing" and "reaping" that is relevant to this?
But I can make it plainer. For the self-proclaimed conservatives who have worked for decades for the day when an evangelical preacher can run for president: Have a drink. And I know just the brew for you:
You might get what you want: The American version of Hezbollah, a political party that claims to act in the name of the Almighty. This will, of course, result in your beliefs not just having feet of clay, but having political shit smeared all over them. And you. It will do your particular religious belief subgrouping no damn good to be transformed into just another political interest group and if you aren't already there, Huckabee is going to complete the process for you. And you will deserve all of the blowback that comes from being seen as just another grubby special-interest group.
Second, and if you haven't figured this out, you really are dumber than you look: Institutionalizing religion, making your church into a government-sponsored religion, is about the surest way of killing it off that there is. One of the reasons that the various faiths are strong in this country is because they are all independent of government and, more or less, are voluntary. Nobody has to go to worship. Nobody has to donate to a religion if they don't want to. At some level, everyone in your congregation wanted to be there. But tie your religion to the government and your religion will come to be seen as just another piglet sucking at the teat of the public purse and it will come to be despised for that.
You can see this work in western Europe, where a lot of nations have state-endorsed churches that receive tax moneys from the government. As a result, those religions have come to be seen as just another parasitic class and a tool of those governments. Which is why the level of church attendance in western European nations has been dropping off for decades.
The same will happen to your churches. And you will have had it coming.
5 comments:
Interesting! I bet you have some great debates!
Not so much, Donald. I'm an outlier in the world of blogs. I'm pretty much akin to the soapbox orators of old; I blog to satisfy myself more than anything.
By the way, are you related to the Douglas family of aviation fame?
I suspect the Fundamentalists are beginning to realize that their true political power lies in being the "victimized outsider" and obtaining access to power through proxies like Mr Bu$h.
Perhaps it's slowly dawning on them that finally gaining direct access to that power will take all the wind out of their sails.
A fanatic in the White House would quickly be marginalized by the Congress, which believe it or not, has quite a few sane members.
A fanatic in the White House would quickly be marginalized by the Congress, which believe it or not, has quite a few sane members.
To my view, that assumes facts not in evidence. The Republicans in Congress have been slavish in their followership of George Bush and I would expect more of the same from them if Huckabee were elected.
To my view, that assumes facts not in evidence. The Republicans in Congress have been slavish in their followership of George Bush
As I said,
A fanatic in the White House would quickly be marginalized by the Congress, which believe it or not, has quite a few sane members.
There weren't enough sane members in Congress, and the calculus hasn't yet been changed enough.
There are a lot of body parts to be ejected.
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