Of all the ridiculous accusations coming from this administration and conservatives in general is the idea that religion is under attack.
No reasonably intelligent person can come to such a conclusion unless of course by attack they mean a mounted defense against the systemic discrimination of all who do not fit religion’s narrow definition of who should be included in this society. In fact, the very definition and composition of society may be what theists are trying to change with this absurd executive order being issued by Trump at the behest of his uber-religious vice-president, Pence.
No one is suggesting that religious people cannot practice their religion, observe their holy days, or pray in public. What is being contested and protested is the discrimination of the LGBTQ community, atheists, agnostics, and any who do not subscribe to the faith of those theists who contemptuously and arrogantly want all people to subscribe to their religious tenets.
With that said it is my opinion, and that of roughly thirty million people here in the United States whom in varying degrees, believe that religion is nothing more than man made myth. It is also my opinion that there is no god. The entire concept of god is an absurd proposition without any credible evidence to back it up. And religious people believe the same as I do with regard to the approximate 3,000 gods and goddesses of history. I just go one god more.
There was a time when religion held all the political and military power and the human race suffered in misery, sickness, and ignorance for decades. It was called the Dark Ages.
It took the Enlightenment, the early 18th century age of reason and critical thinking, which birthed so many advances in science and rationalism not the least of which were the concepts the founding fathers envisioned for this nation.
Now we have stepped back decades in time as this EO declares that the religious should not have their religious dogma hampered by their government, that is to say the law of the land.
Really? Religious zealots flew planes into the twin towers in case any one has forgotten. Religious zealots have bombed train stations and shot up theatres. The Ku Klux Klan and white supremacy groups are fervently Christian.
Are we now to allow female genital mutilation and so called honour killings? After all, it is the norm to genitally mutilate male babies. What about smoking marijuana! The Rastafarians claim smoking ganja is a spiritual tool, will Jeff Beauregard Sessions now allow a religious exemption for that?
What if the 19th century Indian religion of the Thugees is revived? Will it be okay for them to ritually strangle people as their religious obligations decree? Or if Aztecs could get into the country and wished to revive their ancient rituals of cutting the hearts out of human sacrifice, are we now under this new edict to allow for that? What about ancient Druid rites of human sacrifice, can we allow Druidic priests to garrote, bludgeon, and cut the throat of those they deem unholy?
These acts differ only by degrees from the symbolic eating of the flesh and drinking of the blood, the pseudo cannibalism of the human sacrifice ritual Christians regularly participate in.
Or will this new decree of Trump’s, be meant to support only the white protestant Christians, that particular religious sect that was so austere they had to flee Britain for Amsterdam before setting their sights on the New World where they engaged in genocide of the aboriginals who saved them from the harsh winter and starvation, financed the capture and forced slavery of Africans and employed torture and depravity all in the name and the sanction of the Christian god?
And in so doing, will the actual and active war on science, rationality, real freedom, and equality, continue anew with re-written text books teaching myth as fact and further pushing our children back to the stone age of ignorance and superstition?
Does Trump’s executive order reflect the ideals of the founding fathers? I do not think so.
“The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.”
—John Adams
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” This is what I meant when I said no one is stopping religious people from being religious, but neither does it give theists favoured status.
“The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus by the Supreme Being in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter. ... But we may hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with all this artificial scaffolding....”-Thomas Jefferson
Unfortunately, with the 45th president of the United States, seemingly unfamiliar with the traditions, rules and laws of American government, the dawn of reason has now been rolled back.
Article VI of the United States constitution references religion but in a negative caution: “[N]o religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” The First Amendment clearly states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
Again, the written guarantee that no one is attacking religion and therefore there is no need for this executive order other than to absolve religious groups from discriminating against minority groups, something that was illegal up until today.
And it should be noted there are seven states in this country where it is prohibited for atheists to hold public office and they are Maryland, Arkansas, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. If any group is having a war waged against them it is atheists.
It is therefore confusing to me as to why Trump should be so eager to issue such an executive order. That is until I realize he is beholding to the evangelicals such as Jerry Falwell Jr. and Tony Perkins and well, quid pro quo, for they did help him get elected while all the while benefitting from a government tax-free exemption.
Approximately 73 billion dollars per year in taxes is lost to the government due to these exemptions. That is money that could help so many fellow Americans but is instead used to increase the rolls of the religious, provide for mega churches on prime real estate and allow religious leaders some of whom take in millions of dollars in tax-free income.
And I do not think the charitable work, so-called, by the religious, should exempt them from taxes, as that is a very small amount of their income. There are many corporations and organizations that are for profit that frequently engage in volunteer community based projects. Religion organizations should be no different.
But that begs the question just how Christian are these organizations, I mean whatever happened to “render under to Caesar that which is Caesar’s”?
The answer is as it has always been; religion is about power over the people and wealth made on the backs of the people.
No reasonably intelligent person can come to such a conclusion unless of course by attack they mean a mounted defense against the systemic discrimination of all who do not fit religion’s narrow definition of who should be included in this society. In fact, the very definition and composition of society may be what theists are trying to change with this absurd executive order being issued by Trump at the behest of his uber-religious vice-president, Pence.
No one is suggesting that religious people cannot practice their religion, observe their holy days, or pray in public. What is being contested and protested is the discrimination of the LGBTQ community, atheists, agnostics, and any who do not subscribe to the faith of those theists who contemptuously and arrogantly want all people to subscribe to their religious tenets.
With that said it is my opinion, and that of roughly thirty million people here in the United States whom in varying degrees, believe that religion is nothing more than man made myth. It is also my opinion that there is no god. The entire concept of god is an absurd proposition without any credible evidence to back it up. And religious people believe the same as I do with regard to the approximate 3,000 gods and goddesses of history. I just go one god more.
There was a time when religion held all the political and military power and the human race suffered in misery, sickness, and ignorance for decades. It was called the Dark Ages.
It took the Enlightenment, the early 18th century age of reason and critical thinking, which birthed so many advances in science and rationalism not the least of which were the concepts the founding fathers envisioned for this nation.
Now we have stepped back decades in time as this EO declares that the religious should not have their religious dogma hampered by their government, that is to say the law of the land.
Really? Religious zealots flew planes into the twin towers in case any one has forgotten. Religious zealots have bombed train stations and shot up theatres. The Ku Klux Klan and white supremacy groups are fervently Christian.
Are we now to allow female genital mutilation and so called honour killings? After all, it is the norm to genitally mutilate male babies. What about smoking marijuana! The Rastafarians claim smoking ganja is a spiritual tool, will Jeff Beauregard Sessions now allow a religious exemption for that?
What if the 19th century Indian religion of the Thugees is revived? Will it be okay for them to ritually strangle people as their religious obligations decree? Or if Aztecs could get into the country and wished to revive their ancient rituals of cutting the hearts out of human sacrifice, are we now under this new edict to allow for that? What about ancient Druid rites of human sacrifice, can we allow Druidic priests to garrote, bludgeon, and cut the throat of those they deem unholy?
These acts differ only by degrees from the symbolic eating of the flesh and drinking of the blood, the pseudo cannibalism of the human sacrifice ritual Christians regularly participate in.
Or will this new decree of Trump’s, be meant to support only the white protestant Christians, that particular religious sect that was so austere they had to flee Britain for Amsterdam before setting their sights on the New World where they engaged in genocide of the aboriginals who saved them from the harsh winter and starvation, financed the capture and forced slavery of Africans and employed torture and depravity all in the name and the sanction of the Christian god?
And in so doing, will the actual and active war on science, rationality, real freedom, and equality, continue anew with re-written text books teaching myth as fact and further pushing our children back to the stone age of ignorance and superstition?
Does Trump’s executive order reflect the ideals of the founding fathers? I do not think so.
“The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.”
—John Adams
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” This is what I meant when I said no one is stopping religious people from being religious, but neither does it give theists favoured status.
“The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus by the Supreme Being in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter. ... But we may hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with all this artificial scaffolding....”-Thomas Jefferson
Unfortunately, with the 45th president of the United States, seemingly unfamiliar with the traditions, rules and laws of American government, the dawn of reason has now been rolled back.
Article VI of the United States constitution references religion but in a negative caution: “[N]o religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” The First Amendment clearly states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
Again, the written guarantee that no one is attacking religion and therefore there is no need for this executive order other than to absolve religious groups from discriminating against minority groups, something that was illegal up until today.
And it should be noted there are seven states in this country where it is prohibited for atheists to hold public office and they are Maryland, Arkansas, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. If any group is having a war waged against them it is atheists.
It is therefore confusing to me as to why Trump should be so eager to issue such an executive order. That is until I realize he is beholding to the evangelicals such as Jerry Falwell Jr. and Tony Perkins and well, quid pro quo, for they did help him get elected while all the while benefitting from a government tax-free exemption.
Approximately 73 billion dollars per year in taxes is lost to the government due to these exemptions. That is money that could help so many fellow Americans but is instead used to increase the rolls of the religious, provide for mega churches on prime real estate and allow religious leaders some of whom take in millions of dollars in tax-free income.
And I do not think the charitable work, so-called, by the religious, should exempt them from taxes, as that is a very small amount of their income. There are many corporations and organizations that are for profit that frequently engage in volunteer community based projects. Religion organizations should be no different.
But that begs the question just how Christian are these organizations, I mean whatever happened to “render under to Caesar that which is Caesar’s”?
The answer is as it has always been; religion is about power over the people and wealth made on the backs of the people.
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