Taking Up the Gauntlet Thrown Down by the Radical Wrong
Guy T. Sturino
November 28, 2005
We the people of the United States are presently embroiled in a serious cultural war. A war which is being waged daily in the news, in the courts, and in school systems across the nation. It?s important to note that in this war only one side has generals, lieutenants, and foot soldiers. The other side is an unorganized collection of civilian resistance fighters, a few unlinked cells and a lot of victims.
The generals of the evangelical army are well known. They parade in public, soaking up the power and monetary rewards of their position. This is what a few of them have to say.
Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition of America, tells his followers, "There is no such thing as separation of church and state in the Constitution. It is a lie of the Left and we are not going to take it anymore." In addition, he says, "Feminism encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."(1) The Reverend Jerry Falwell declares, "I hope I live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won't have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be!" He also says that, "AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals." And, "Blacks, Hispanics, women, etc. are God-ordained minorities who do indeed deserve minority status." (1)
Phyllis Schlafly, president of the Eagle Forum, wielding the influence of any male general hypocritically states that, "Feminism is doomed to failure because it is based on an attempt to repeal and restructure human nature.?(1)
Then there?s Gary Bower, President of the Campaign for Working Families, who says, "We are engaged in a social, political, and cultural war. There's a lot of talk in America about pluralism. But the bottom line is, somebody's values will prevail. And the winner gets the right to teach our children what to believe."(1)
These are not the only generals, but what they say is repeated by the rest. The position and words of the generals are carried by the lieutenants in their congregations, and finally by the foot soldiers in their letters to the editor.
The statement by Gary Bower, ?. . . to teach our children what to believe,? is particularly noxious. This group of fanatics doesn?t have any desire for our children to obtain a solid foundation for independent thought. Rather what they want is a nation of superstitious sycophants to adore them and shower them with their tithe.
Can there be any doubt about why a determined resistance effort has emerged?
One of the fronts in this cultural war is Darwin?s Origin of Species, vs. the Greek philosophy of Intelligent Design. One side demands tangible, repeatable and verifiable evidence, the other demands faith. The Darwin position started from a position of ?I don?t know? and details a search for understanding. The Greek philosophical position is simply, ?I can?t imagine any other possibility, so it must be God?s hand.? Will we follow the thoughts that came AD or BC? That is the question.
Considering AD or BC, why is that politically incorrect? It seems to me that whether a person believes that Jesus Christ was the human manifestation of God, or that he was a Devine prophet, or that he was just a very persuasive ordinary man who preached brotherhood and good will, there can be no doubt that he existed. There can also be no doubt that his existence had an impact on the world worthy of being chosen as a point in time from which to measure our growth.
Everything we have learned about Christ?s life is found in the New Testament, and in various works of his contemporaries discovered, but not included in the Bible for reasons which are open to debate. This is important because it is the book of Good News that is the creed and the binding force of the evangelical army. Or so the generals say. In truth, most of Christ?s teachings are disregarded in the evangelical army?s justification of their views. This is why the culture war is not between Christians and the rest, but between evangelicals and the rest, which appears to include many, if not most, Christians.
Christians, by definition, study and work to emulate the example of Christ. The four Gospels of the New Testament agree on several very important teachings of the Prince of Peace. We know from those teachings that Christ railed against the pompousness and wealth of the clergy. We know that He told his followers too only pray alone ? in private, to be our brothers? keepers, to not be judgmental, to forgive rather than punish. All of these teachings are ignored by the generals of the evangelical army in deference to the words of Old Testament prophets who said things the generals could use to rally their foot soldiers, to rally them by playing on their prejudices, their fear of different lifestyles, and their desire to exercise control over others ? to make everyone like them. So much for the belief in free will.
Rather than evangelical Christians, a better reference might be evangelical Levitcans, or evangelical followers of Moses, or any other title taken from the Old Testament works they value. Christ seems to have no place in the personal value systems of these so called ?Men of God? who go about preaching dissidence and hate.
Contrary to the ravings of Pat Robertson, here in the United States everyone has the right to practice the religion of their choice in the privacy of their own home and in the sanctum of their own church, synagogue, mosque, etc. But, we are also protected from the oppression of religion. A couple of hundred years ago the founders of our constitution used reference to God to emphasize the rights of the people. But! Those same highly regarded statesmen made sure that the constitution clearly and specifically removed the possibility of religion ever being instrumental in the laws of the United States by forbidding the use of a religious test for any and all offices of government.
Today, near the end of the two thousand and fifth year AD, we have digressed to the time of the Crusades, with self-proclaimed champions of God vengefully determined to destroy any and all who disagree. However, they are overlooking a very important reality. Crusades have often spawned enemies where none previously existed. No one should be surprised that the most rapidly growing religious/spiritual/ethics grouping in the US is not an organized religion; it consists of non-believers (Atheists, Agnostics, etc.).(2)
By definition, a ?resistance? has never started a war, but it has often spawned a relentless fervor to triumph over those who would limit the rights and repress the freedoms of others.
1. www.defconamerica.org
2. www.religioustolerance.org
The generals of the evangelical army are well known. They parade in public, soaking up the power and monetary rewards of their position. This is what a few of them have to say.
Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition of America, tells his followers, "There is no such thing as separation of church and state in the Constitution. It is a lie of the Left and we are not going to take it anymore." In addition, he says, "Feminism encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."(1) The Reverend Jerry Falwell declares, "I hope I live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won't have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be!" He also says that, "AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals." And, "Blacks, Hispanics, women, etc. are God-ordained minorities who do indeed deserve minority status." (1)
Phyllis Schlafly, president of the Eagle Forum, wielding the influence of any male general hypocritically states that, "Feminism is doomed to failure because it is based on an attempt to repeal and restructure human nature.?(1)
Then there?s Gary Bower, President of the Campaign for Working Families, who says, "We are engaged in a social, political, and cultural war. There's a lot of talk in America about pluralism. But the bottom line is, somebody's values will prevail. And the winner gets the right to teach our children what to believe."(1)
These are not the only generals, but what they say is repeated by the rest. The position and words of the generals are carried by the lieutenants in their congregations, and finally by the foot soldiers in their letters to the editor.
The statement by Gary Bower, ?. . . to teach our children what to believe,? is particularly noxious. This group of fanatics doesn?t have any desire for our children to obtain a solid foundation for independent thought. Rather what they want is a nation of superstitious sycophants to adore them and shower them with their tithe.
Can there be any doubt about why a determined resistance effort has emerged?
One of the fronts in this cultural war is Darwin?s Origin of Species, vs. the Greek philosophy of Intelligent Design. One side demands tangible, repeatable and verifiable evidence, the other demands faith. The Darwin position started from a position of ?I don?t know? and details a search for understanding. The Greek philosophical position is simply, ?I can?t imagine any other possibility, so it must be God?s hand.? Will we follow the thoughts that came AD or BC? That is the question.
Considering AD or BC, why is that politically incorrect? It seems to me that whether a person believes that Jesus Christ was the human manifestation of God, or that he was a Devine prophet, or that he was just a very persuasive ordinary man who preached brotherhood and good will, there can be no doubt that he existed. There can also be no doubt that his existence had an impact on the world worthy of being chosen as a point in time from which to measure our growth.
Everything we have learned about Christ?s life is found in the New Testament, and in various works of his contemporaries discovered, but not included in the Bible for reasons which are open to debate. This is important because it is the book of Good News that is the creed and the binding force of the evangelical army. Or so the generals say. In truth, most of Christ?s teachings are disregarded in the evangelical army?s justification of their views. This is why the culture war is not between Christians and the rest, but between evangelicals and the rest, which appears to include many, if not most, Christians.
Christians, by definition, study and work to emulate the example of Christ. The four Gospels of the New Testament agree on several very important teachings of the Prince of Peace. We know from those teachings that Christ railed against the pompousness and wealth of the clergy. We know that He told his followers too only pray alone ? in private, to be our brothers? keepers, to not be judgmental, to forgive rather than punish. All of these teachings are ignored by the generals of the evangelical army in deference to the words of Old Testament prophets who said things the generals could use to rally their foot soldiers, to rally them by playing on their prejudices, their fear of different lifestyles, and their desire to exercise control over others ? to make everyone like them. So much for the belief in free will.
Rather than evangelical Christians, a better reference might be evangelical Levitcans, or evangelical followers of Moses, or any other title taken from the Old Testament works they value. Christ seems to have no place in the personal value systems of these so called ?Men of God? who go about preaching dissidence and hate.
Contrary to the ravings of Pat Robertson, here in the United States everyone has the right to practice the religion of their choice in the privacy of their own home and in the sanctum of their own church, synagogue, mosque, etc. But, we are also protected from the oppression of religion. A couple of hundred years ago the founders of our constitution used reference to God to emphasize the rights of the people. But! Those same highly regarded statesmen made sure that the constitution clearly and specifically removed the possibility of religion ever being instrumental in the laws of the United States by forbidding the use of a religious test for any and all offices of government.
Today, near the end of the two thousand and fifth year AD, we have digressed to the time of the Crusades, with self-proclaimed champions of God vengefully determined to destroy any and all who disagree. However, they are overlooking a very important reality. Crusades have often spawned enemies where none previously existed. No one should be surprised that the most rapidly growing religious/spiritual/ethics grouping in the US is not an organized religion; it consists of non-believers (Atheists, Agnostics, etc.).(2)
By definition, a ?resistance? has never started a war, but it has often spawned a relentless fervor to triumph over those who would limit the rights and repress the freedoms of others.
1. www.defconamerica.org
2. www.religioustolerance.org
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