Two rulings on the Ten Commandments
There were two rulings concerning public displays of the Ten Commandments yesterday. Essentially, one ruling was that if it is part of display to show the role of the Ten Commandments as a foundational document to our legal system then it was okay, but if it was for the purpose of pointing to a Christian heritage or an attempt to identify America as a "Christian" nation then it was not okay.
I am a big supporter of the idea of separation of Church and State. I believe that our founders understood that the intermingling of the two leads to the atrocities that were/are the Holy Roman Empire, the English Monarchy, the Religious Right, the Taliban and even al Qaida. They were able to foresee that it is not the stable true practitioners of a given faith that are the type to seek power, but that instead it is the power hungry that would seek to use religion to manipulate politics or politics to manipulate religion.
Now, some of you may be put off by this position because you are in favor of the way that certain political leaders use religious positions that you agree with to manipulate political situation in your favor, or because you feel like you are losing the right to have your beliefs endorsed by the government because America was founded on "Christian" principles. This why there is anger over the ruling on Ten Commandments in Kentucky.
How does this affect you? Are you Angry about one or both of the rulings, or do you feel the two rulings are a reasonable compromise? Do you feel cheated by a government that was put in power by the church on the promise of sanctity of life and marriage, but has done nothing about either situation, and instead has initiated an unjust war, further suppressed the poor at home and abroad through their fiscal policies which benefit corporations over individuals, as well as making great efforts to show blatant disregard for if not outright harm to the environment? Do you feel threatened by the rulings of the Supreme Court, specifically with regard to these two rulings or are you more threatened by there ruling about eminent domain?
What do you think?
I am a big supporter of the idea of separation of Church and State. I believe that our founders understood that the intermingling of the two leads to the atrocities that were/are the Holy Roman Empire, the English Monarchy, the Religious Right, the Taliban and even al Qaida. They were able to foresee that it is not the stable true practitioners of a given faith that are the type to seek power, but that instead it is the power hungry that would seek to use religion to manipulate politics or politics to manipulate religion.
Now, some of you may be put off by this position because you are in favor of the way that certain political leaders use religious positions that you agree with to manipulate political situation in your favor, or because you feel like you are losing the right to have your beliefs endorsed by the government because America was founded on "Christian" principles. This why there is anger over the ruling on Ten Commandments in Kentucky.
How does this affect you? Are you Angry about one or both of the rulings, or do you feel the two rulings are a reasonable compromise? Do you feel cheated by a government that was put in power by the church on the promise of sanctity of life and marriage, but has done nothing about either situation, and instead has initiated an unjust war, further suppressed the poor at home and abroad through their fiscal policies which benefit corporations over individuals, as well as making great efforts to show blatant disregard for if not outright harm to the environment? Do you feel threatened by the rulings of the Supreme Court, specifically with regard to these two rulings or are you more threatened by there ruling about eminent domain?
What do you think?
posted by Anthony @ 10:04 AM
2 Comments:
At 7:38 PM,
Pucker1 said…
I believe that you have put your beliefs about this matter in very true and elequent terms. I do believe that just about any Christian that has the least bit of common sense and knowledge about what Jesus Christ asked us to do, would understand that war is certainly not the way for us to live out our lives. I do, however thank God for the people around us that can and will stand up for our Country and way of life and fight for their leaders. I would if I could and I will if necessary.
Back to the matter at hand, I do like the fact that the Ten Commandments are allowed to be in public buildings (like they shouldn't or something)so that people CAN see them, but I am very upset to see and learn that they are in deed manipulating the law and our leaders into parading the Ten Commandments around like its the first time it's ever been seen.
My two .00
Pucker
At 11:49 PM,
Anthony said…
I'm not a complete pacifist, though I went through that phase. There are times at which violence is called for, for example if they let Couey out of jail I would have to repent for the medieval level of violence that I would happily organize and participate in against his person. If it came to defending my family, my country, or for that matter anyone who is being bullied, I not only would but do fight and fight hard.
But, the case that was made for going to war in Iraq was false and baseless and in no way defends our way of life nor makes us safer. I was just pointing to the irony of an administration that gives lip service to a "culture of life" and Christian values with regard to things that they can do nothing about to get the vote of the church but in very real ways with regard to things that they can do something about they choose to cultivates death, oppression and destruction.
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