The reaction to the recent election from conservatives appears to be... to go even more extreme. Now, instead of just talking about the war in Iraq, they are talking openly about Iraq being just part of what they consider a war between Christianity and Islam. It's something they used to talk low key, but since the election, it's gone front burner.
You can see it anywhere conservatives use the term enemy to cover all of Islam. Here is a recent comment on my post about the use of Jefferson's Quran:
Hate to rain on your parade bub, but Thomas Jefferson owning a copy of the Quran had nothing to do with his belief in religious freedom.He obtained a copy to better understand the enemy he was setting out to destroy and stop the attacks and killing of Americans.
Of course, I asked for citations, but got none, because there are none. In fact, Jefferson did at one point convey the words of an Islamic prophet to the United States government because he was an ambassador at the time. But no judgment was offered by Jefferson. It's just conservatives who look at the bellicose rhetoric and then infer that Jefferson was anti-Muslim.
This also comes through when conservatives talk about the Quran as a war manual. Actually, it comes through in a lot of ways, that I don't have the time, or even the want (really) to enumerate here.
So why now? I think the answer to that question is very simple. Because conservatives lost the election, lost power, and now feel liberated (as pill-popping drug addict Rush says) to say out loud what they have been thinking. That this is not a war in one country. They view this as a crusade, a holy war. And while I haven't heard a direct correlation that I can quote, I'm sure some tie it into the book of revelations and the rapture.
My view on all this is that if America is somehow pushed into some type of large scale religious war against Islam, we will lose. In fact, by the time we will have gotten there, what we understand as America, will have already been lost.
Honestly, cant these folks see that Osama is just a nutjob outlier. He doesn't represent the mainstream of Islam, he twists the Quran to justify his terrorism. The same way that Christianity has nutjobs, who twist the bible to justify killings and terror attacks.
For me it just gets back to separation of church and state. We were attacked on 9/11, let's hunt, find and kill the person responsible. Let's not conflate this into something it's not. It's not a war of cultures. This isn't a Christian nation. It's a melting pot nation were all religious views are tolerated. And when it comes to public policy, and whom to fight, and when, we leave the religious hoo-hah at the door.
And my advice to anyone who has been riled up by years of listening to Dobson, Hannity, and all those guys, who think the end times are coming and that we are in a religious war; calm down, take a deep breath, and try to deal with facts instead of superstition and ideology.
Posted by jherr at January 19, 2007 03:08 PMStrange, I'd never thought of this nation as being Christian or not. Rather, that we were built on a tolerance for all religions. But when I read your words, something struck me. The pledge and many early documents refer to the nation under God. By saying God, are they referring to all Gods? IS that the assumption we're making? Or, by the people at the time, were they even aware or accepting of other gods? The Native Americans were nearly eliminated for their way of life and their beliefs. I have no answers...just thinking out loud.
Posted by: eigga49 at January 22, 2007 06:25 AMThere has always been a conflict in this country between those who believe in the freedom to both express and deny religion, and those who want the government to preach their religion de jour.
When it comes to the pledge. It has an interesting history:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pledge_of_Allegiance
It was only in 1954 that Congress added 'under God'. And that was a response to the 'red threat' because communists were 'godless heathens'. So God was used as a tool to distinguish 'us from them'. As it so often is.
Why is it on the legal tender? Tradition. It's wrong, but it won't go away. The masonic shit should be gone too. I, for one, would like to see pictures of our great people and deeds, some of which are more current, like Martin Luther King marching, the moon landing, or the D-Day landing. These are true pivot points in our history. Not a nod to some invisible unprovable improbable force.
I really think the reason we are talking about this so much recently is the rise of this closed-loop fundamentalism. Where people are immersed in a cult of Christianity where they get all their news, information, opinion, everything from Christian sources. And are told to shun everything else. And that everyone who doesn't believe what they believe should be converted or silenced.
This sort of thing, like God in the pledge, was something I used to look the other way on. It's like someone cutting in line. It just wasn't worth getting all hot and bothered about. But then came people who used things like God in the pledge, or God on the currency, as false justification for calling this a 'Christian nation'. And then saying that we had to have only Christian politicians, and only Christian judges, and blah deh blah. And because they did that, people like me have to respond. In a way, fundamentalists brought it on themselves. If they had just let well enough alone, we all would have looked the other way.
What ever happened to the Church that we wound up on Sunday. Where you could go to talk to a guy about what concerns you, get a little restoration, and get back on the road for the rest of the week?
Posted by: jherr at January 22, 2007 09:42 AMThanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
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