Sunday 8 January 2012

Agnosticism / Atheism: America Needs Religious Political Parties?

Agnosticism / Atheism
Get the latest headlines from the Agnosticism / Atheism GuideSite. // via fulltextrssfeed.com
America Needs Religious Political Parties?
Jan 8th 2012, 12:00

Evangelical Christians have been engaged in a concerted effort to take over the Republican Party for a number of years. They haven't entirely succeeded yet, but they are getting closer and closer. But why take over an existing party like this - why not just form their own Christian Political Party? That would allow them to be much more open and honest about what they are doing.

Douglas Voigt wrote a couple of years ago in the Minnesota Daily:

We want ... to see a majority of the Republican Party in the hands of pro-family Christians by 1996." ..."They (Muslims) worship an alien and hostile God. They're trying to take over, destabilize and undermine our Western Christian way of life." Billy Graham's son, Franklin, states, Islam is a "very evil and wicked religion" - and he plans to blanket the long-closed Iraq with Evangelist missionaries carrying crosses in hand and enlightenment in intent. Jerry Vines, the former president of the Southern Baptist Convention - the largest religious denomination in the United States - recently labeled the Islamic prophet Muhammad a "demon-possessed pedophile."

While the above statements might appall some, they nonetheless are popular sentiments among many conservatives in the United States. Thus, all I ask is that they should be openly represented in our democracy, rather than relegated to the backroom lobby circles of the Republican Party.

Such openness might indeed be refreshing - but what would the consequences be? Would it lead to more division among Americans because of religion?

Or maybe conservative Christians in the Republican Party enjoy the political facade. Perhaps for the religious right, Republican credos of self-interest, personal responsibility and economic "freedom" help them ignore some of the more irritating aspects commanded of Christians by the Bible, such as helping the poor and paying the tithe. ...

I await the day when the religious folk have the courage to liberate themselves from the godless party machines that manipulate their world views. Otherwise, we might reach a point in the United States where unregulated capitalist spirit and Christian asceticism appear to be the same thing.

There are many ministers and priests in America who see it as their duty to defend capitalism, corporations, and the free market. It seems to me, though, that Christianity is much closer to socialist economic policies than capitalist ones -- not identical, just closer. It would be wrong to suggest that Christianity is incompatible with capitalism, but it doesn't work as well when it comes to providing a justification for capitalism.

So why is there such a deep connection between Christianity and capitalism in America? Because it's America -- it's yet another example of people's political and economic beliefs dictating how they view their religion. So many Christians in America have blended their religion with contemporary American and capitalist values - even to the extent that they no longer entirely recognize the difference. This is how laissez faire capitalism somehow gets defended on the basis of scripture.

There is likely more at work than passively absorbing the values of the surrounding political and economic atmosphere. Some of the leaders of the conservative movement have explicitly and deliberately adopted the philosophy of Ayn Rand. These values are then promoted as essential to modern America and conservatism, influencing conservative Christians despite the fact that Rand was an atheist.

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com.
If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions

No comments:

Post a Comment