That sounds really stupid, doesn't it. That, of course, is not what Cain said. What he said was this:
"Let's go back to the fundamental issue that the people are basically saying that they are objecting to," Cain said. "They are objecting to the fact that Islam is both religion and (a) set of laws, Shariah law. That's the difference between any one of our other traditional religions where it's just about religious purposes.Cain is so full of shit. Virtually every religion has a series of codes that devout adherents of that religion will try to live by, For him to pretend otherwise merely shows him to be the sort of asswipe bigot who is firmly at home in the Republican party these days.
"The people in the community know best. And I happen to side with the people in the community."
Isn't Cain advocating the overthrow in part of the First Amendment here? As best as I can tell, forbidding any religion from exercising its beliefs violates the whole church/state thing.
ReplyDeleteOh, wait. Cain (and others) don't believe that that separation exists, and that the USA is a Christian Nation.
Guess us non-Christians and non-Their-Kind-Of-Christians are well and truly fucked, then.
I had a moment of severe dislocation there, because Herb Caen (with an e) is dead, and he never said anything of the sort. Eventually it dawned that you meant Herman Cain, the sort of Republican who would say that sort of thing.
ReplyDeleteStanding down now.
Warning: Intolerance alert....
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that I get at least annoyed if not outright pissed when I am in the company of people who put me in the position of being the Other, who effectively shun me because I-Am-Not-One-Of-Them. Evangelistic Christians can do this, Hassidim often do this (even educated fleas do it)...and there are others.
In their lights, I am either not one of the Chosen or God's Elect or I am a sinner or...
And then their is the distrust/fear/righteousness that can come with the package....
All of which is *not* to say that some of them cannot be lovely warm, sparkling, kind, humble, etc,etc people
We (in upstate New York) have substantial Hassidim enclaves and it can be like being a ghost to be amongst them. I guess the question is how do have religious tolerance that doesn't break your society.
*And* they can be hideously intolerant to one of their "own" who strays..
http://www.lohud.com/article/20110526/NEWS03/105260403/Rabbi-s-follower-clashes-New-Square-burn-victim-s-family
One of the great ironies of evangelistic Christianity's fervent goal of dictating religion to others and destroying the wall between Church and State, is that the wall was originally put there in the formation of the Republic to protect *them* from the assault of the bigger, more established religions, like Congregationalists in Massachusetts.....
http://www.acton.org/pub/religion-liberty/volume-12-number-3/thomas-jefferson-and-mammoth-cheese
D, fixed it, thanks.
ReplyDeleteStewart, as I understand it, that without the freedom of religion clause of the First Amendment, Rhode Island would not have signed onto the Constitution.
One of the more readable books about this is The Wordy Shipmates by Saah Vowell.
Cain is getting his hate on for Abel. No good can come of it.
ReplyDelete