Whenever I hear a member of the Religious Right utter this phrase I have to laugh. Surely they must be kidding? No? They really believe that they are furthering life? Jesus Christ we’re in trouble.
It sounds so innocuous, wonderful, affirming. Most people want to be on the side of life. In Republican circles where it is very commonplace to find ignorant masses repeating rhetoric and sticking to ideals that they have no clue about, this phrase will get them going everytime. It lends them credence, lets them know that they are doing the “Lord’s” work.
They must then see those that don’t believe as they do and whom they oppose on many issues as being from the opposite culture, thus Liberals, atheists, gays, Democrats, and anyone else who is different are from the Culture of Death. Oooooh this sounds like we’re getting ready for an intergalactic war huh?
Not quite. Unlike our Republican friends we are willing to look beyond overused phrasing and see each side for what it truly is. When you strip away the armor of false advertising you are left with the side that wants us to give up our civil liberties in the name of safety, the side that does not want to see this nation’s children provided with necessary health care, the side that is not willing to spend an extra cent on the people of our country, the side that continuously allows corporations and the elite to feed off the backs of our working class, the side that sees nothing wrong with torturing and killing people as long as it is done in the name of their god or the war on terror, and the side that wants to continue the oppression of people with different colored skin, different sexual orientation or identity, or different religious beliefs.
Then there is the other side. The ones who wants to ensure that our children are insured, use diplomacy instead of weapons to solve international issues, promote education and knowledge to reduce the instances of STDs and unwanted pregnancies(thus abortions), make sure that our justice system is brought out of the Dark Ages and errs on the side of human life, work to bring jobs back to America so that our families can afford to support themselves, and many other life affirming values.
So which side describes themselves as the Culture of Life? The ones that in any other context would be the villains of a fairy tale. What’s worse is that they are extremely convinced that their god gives them the right to behave in this manner, to push their beliefs onto the nation as a whole. It is this mindset that has made the United States and international laughingstock and has other countries viewing us as an enemy of freedom.
The Right is exceptionally good at using language to manipulate their followers and others into believing what they want them to. It’s time that we call them on it and demand that they call themselves what they really are. The Culture of Hatred, Intolerance, Bigotry, Discrimination, Ignorance, and Murder.
The bible is relavent to current policies. Following the bible lenthens ones life also. For example, the bible states to not lie. Which is necessary for our court system to fuction. Perjury is a crime. The bible commands not to uses false measurements or balances. So this speaks to justice in truth in product labels.
Everyone has some kind of religious belief or system. Those beliefs can affect policy, if they are a policy-maker.
The core tenants of the bible are not unique to Christians and the 10 Commandments greatly pre-date Christianity. Killing, stealing, lying and so forth are common across virtually all religions. Therefore to argue that you need to be Christian to understand these values is silly.
Obviously we do not disagree with these higher laws, what we disagree with is the infringement of religion into government and policy. Especially when religion is used to deny rights to those who are out of favor with a particular religion or to promote the teachings of one religion over others.
I would be interested in seeing a reference for the assertion that following the Bible lengthens your life.
“The same canned answer you provided in a post on CJ Online. Don’t liberals have an opinion of their own, or do they ALL just copy and paste?” Your attacking Summer for copy and pasting from … Herself. How dare she use her own words!
As for the rest, read the comment I posted 20 minutes before yours.
I was raised Christian and was active in the church for many years but would no longer call myself a Christian.
I don’t think Sean was arguing that you must be Christian to understand those values, merely that those values are in the Christian belief.
“what we disagree with is the infringement of religion into government and policy. Especially when religion is used to deny rights to those who are out of favor with a particular religion or to promote the teachings of one religion over others.”
Exactly. A definition of “infringe” is To transgress or exceed the limits of; violate. This is a good definition of what I was talking about with religion infringing on government. Because government is run by people each with their own beliefs that will influence what they do, there is; of course, some religion in politics. When it goes past that to something like what William said, that’s when it’s infringing and needs to be stopped.
I was trying to say in my previous post that the bible has many good precepts that are beneficial to life. Proverbs 11:1 A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, But a just weight is His delight. That truism is a good one to implement in daily commerce, buying and selling. We expect our food labels to be accurate in their descriptions. We expect 8oz of peanut butter to be the true amount contained in the jar. We expect 20 grams of fat on the candy bar to be correctly represented.
There are many promises that state that following the wisdom of the bible will lengthen your days. For example Proverbs 3:2 says ‘…let your heart keep my commandments; For length of days and years of life and peace will they will add to you.’ And Ephesians 6:2,3 says ‘Honor your father and mother so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth.’
The American concept of a government divided into the three branches – judiciary, legislative, executive, comes from the bible. Look at Isaiah 33:22 For the Lord is our judge, The lord is our lawgiver, The lord is our king.
Sean, when you say “The American concept of a government divided into the three branches – judiciary, legislative, executive, comes from the bible. Look at Isaiah 33:22 ‘For the Lord is our judge, The lord is our lawgiver, The lord is our king.’ doesn’t that verse prove the very OPPOSITE of what you claim, i.e. in the bible there is NO division of labor.
For those interested in this topic, I’ve been posting outstanding material about it for over 12 years at http://LiberalsLikeChrist.Org/ .
Hi, anti-summer. (great name by the way)
We are certainly not anti- any religion. We do; however, believe in the separation of church and state and have to loudly disagree when any religion plays a part in making our nation’s laws.
I would encourage you to look beyond your disdain for opinions different than yours. Then perhaps you can contribute something to the discourse besides snark.
Thanks for the comment,
Summer
Religion is much more than just Christianity. The world has many religions and they are all of value and deserve respect. Like the original founders of our nation we see any infringement of religion on government or vice versa as a threat to the freedoms and liberties of all Americans.
Thanks for the comment,
William.
The first amendment states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . . .”
Under that amendment we have the establishment clause and the free exercise clause. These have been interpreted to effectively be a separation of church and state. Indeed that exact phrase has been used by the Supreme Court in rulings more than 25 times.
John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison were among the early users of this term and ideology and it continues to stand up today. Thus the separation of church and state is in the constitution.
It is not ok for any religion to impose their beliefs on the rest of the country. It is discriminatory and does not allow for freedom.
You have every right to practice your religion as you see fit, you do not have the right to make laws forcing others to follow your religious beliefs.
Your statement, “pay no attention to these commandments while you’re making laws to govern your people.” strikes at the heart of what I see as the main issue, we are not your people, we are not your god’s people.
Our policy at WWJV4.com is to politely respond to all emails in a timely manner and address any concerns. Because you keep emailing William, he keeps responding to your concerns. If you would not like to be contacted by WWJV4.com or its moderators simply stop emailing.
I have never ripped off another person’s blog. I did write one article concerning the mindset of people who responded to Ms. Wells blog as well as her own. I did so because I see this as a larger issue. It is a local issue for me and something that I think begs discussion.
When a person puts their thoughts and ideas out on the internet for all to see they should expect that not everyone will agree with them. I have communicated to Ms. Wells privately regarding our differences of opinion.
Thank you for the comment,
Summer
We have freedom of religion in America and thus we must give each religion EQUAL value under the law. The freedom of any person to live according to their personal spiritual truths is the most sacred and important right that they can hold. If any religion were allowed to take over the government that right would be destroyed. Therefore it is imperative to a free country that religion not infringe on government. One must only look to modern theocracies such as Iran for a demonstration.
Having recently worked with you (at least in the same building) my offer of meeting with my friends, many of whom are conservatives, was an attempt to get past our differences to find common ground. I apologize if this sounds scary to you.
As for ripping off other bloggers, I apologize if you are new and do not understand how blogging works. We are more than free to comment on what other bloggers write about and will continue to do so as we see fit.