Occupy Movement Demonstration in Kansas City
The Occupy Movement
The "Occupy Wall Street" movement has gained supporters across the country and has even shown up here in South Florida. We are witnessing the beginning of a "revolution" and I urge everyone to read more about the movement, understand why it is gaining such momentum, and support it either by participating in it or just making it a conversation piece in your social interactions. If we ever expect our business and political leaders to change their behaviors (based primarily on greed and power) we need to be a part of this "revolution"! As always, this is my opinion and I welcome discussion.
What disturbs me most about the current state of affairs of our political and corporate systems, as well as the condition in which we find our country economically, is that we are now suffering from decades of governance and decision-making that have benefitted those in power to the detriment of the working classes. I am not espousing socialism or communism but there has to be some middle ground that has escaped the view of our current office-holders. Wouldn't it be more beneficial if folks like Boehner and Reid, Pelosi and McConnell, and their cohorts, would say, "What can we do together to provide for our people and their futures? What has to be done to address the needs of the citizens of our great country? Well, I think the "Occupy" movement is basically fed up with the same things I see. The participants run the gamut of personalities and positions, races and religions, geography and wealth. They are us, and they deserve an ear.
Marty Troum
*** *** ***
Most readers of this blog are alerted by Email every time a new posting appears. If you wish to be added to that Email list, just let me know by Emailing me at Riart1@aol.com.
JL
*** *** ***
JL
*** *** ***
Modify the First Amendment?
Ever wonder why the Founding Fathers included this language in our Constitution as part of the First Amendment included in the Bill of Rights?
”Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
Europe, from which most Americans of those days came, had a horrible history of Catholics persecuting Protestants, Protestants persecuting Catholics, and both groups persecuting Jews, not to speak of persecution within religions of individuals whose views differed from the dogma of those “in charge” that week. Christian heretics who questioned the Trinity were burned at the stake. The Inquisition slaughtered millions and the Crusades were bloody in attempting to wrest the “Holy Land” from control by the Ottomans, who were of course Muslims. And Islam itself has always included a dichotomy between Sunnis and Shiites which continues to result in bloodshed between them, even today. Islam also is sometimes ruthlessly intolerant of non-believers, particularly Jews and Christians. Only this week, Muslims killed 24 Coptic Christians in Egyptian rioting.
Our Founding Fathers knew all of this, and to keep the virulent disease of religious intolerance from our shores, put the First Amendment language shown above into our Constitution. Generally it has worked well throughout the years. Americans have always considered religion to be a personal matter, the dictates of which stop at the walls of a house of worship and the limits of one’s conscience.
Most of the founders of this country were Christians, mostly Protestant, although there were Catholics and Jews in the thirteen states as well, but we must always remember that this is no more than a historical fact. There is nothing divine about it; it is just history. Those who claim that this is a Christian country because it was founded on Judeo-Christian principals are claiming a religious connection which just doesn’t exist. The mention of “God” in the Founding Fathers’ documents implies no more than a belief in a Supreme Being, or Power, and the citing of both Old and New Testament theology identifies the United States as a moral and observant nation, but does not make us a Christian nation, nor endorse any religion in particular. A priest, minister, imam or rabbi giving an invocation at the beginning of a session of Congress does not make that clergyman’s faith the nation’s faith. It does not establish a religion. All it says, much to the consternation of the nation's atheists, is that "We Believe." The Third President of the United States was nominally a Protestant, but that did not prevent him from being considered a “deist” by many. Any religious dressing, such as murals or statuary in the halls of Congress or in the Supreme Court Building illustrates this very general commitment to morality and religion but nothing more. The military has chaplains, but not because the government demands them; they are a service for the troops, most of whom have some sort of religious faith, and chaplains of all denominations are trained to serve all faiths in the military.
But America is changing. I would be closing my eyes if I denied that a small number of devout Muslims in this country look forward to its downfall, and work toward it, because they believe that the existence of any religion other than Islam is ultimately unacceptable, whereas the United States Constitution declares the contrary, protecting the existence of all religions. And since the First Amendment guarantees the free exercise of any religion, one that includes such “jihadist” concepts is permitted. That creates a conundrum for us all.
Separation between “church” and state is not present in countries dominated by Islam. Iran’s Ahmadinejad may be his country’s President, but the titular head of state is the Ayatollah in charge of the “faith” there. In Afghanistan, attempts at a secular government are constantly opposed by the Taliban which sees the state and Islam as one. The only houses of worship permitted in Saudi Arabia are mosques. This oneness of “church and state” does not fit well into the American idea of the free exercise of any religion, a First Amendment guarantee.
But this danger isn’t limited to Muslims. Only the other day, an eminent Protestant clergyman stated that Mormons, of which two are seeking the Republican presidential nomination, are not Christians, but just a “cult,” however moral they might be.
Look at the support many Evangelical denominations have for the State of Israel. To them, the existence of Israel is a prerequisite for the second coming of Jesus Christ, at which time all that don’t accept him will be left behind to die when the Earth is destroyed in a titanic upheaval. These good Christian folks don’t think much of their fellow men who don’t share their beliefs. Let them stay and die, if they don’t choose our way, they seem to believe.
In the mountains of Montana and Idaho, groups of racist “Aryans” play at war in their training camps, sporting swastikas, adulating Adolf Hitler and spouting anti-Semitic slogans.
Some years ago, when entering an office building where I worked, I was physically blocked by a burly fellow wearing a monk's robe who felt his religion permitted him to prevent anyone from entering the building because there was a totally legal abortion clinic on another floor. Physicians who legally perform abortions have been gunned down by those whose faith condemns abortions, convinced that those who legally perform them are actually murderers.
We are not that far from contracting the disease that the First Amendment is supposed to protect us from acquiring. Islam is at the head of the line, but other faiths as well are using the protection of the First Amendment not only to sometimes attack other religions but to protect their right to carry out activities which they believe proper but may actually be inimical to American Democracy. All of them share one common belief, that their faith is the only true one and everybody else is misguided at best or at worst, not worth allowing to live in peace. This is the fruit we are harvesting because the First Amendment says that ”Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
It’s that “free exercise thereof” that creates a problem, because with those words, we allow religions in our county to take the position that “they” know the truth and that no one else does, and act upon that premise. How dare the Christian clergyman mentioned above refer to Mormonism as a cult? The good reverend differs only in degree from the Church of England storm troopers who murdered Puritans in the seventeenth century because they didn’t like their more ascetic approach to Christianity.
Founding Fathers Signing the Constitution
How about this. Let’s change the language of the part of the First Amendment referring to religion to read ”Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, provided that free exercise does not include attacking physically or verbally, or in any way denigrating or insulting, any other religion practiced in the nation or individuals because of their religion.” (Proposed additional words are underlined.)
I don’t recommend that any legislation made "constitutional" by this change should result in violators being hauled off to jail, nor cause the padlocking of the doors of offending denominations’ houses of worship. Offenses, however, ought to be punishable by fines sufficient to guarantee that the Founding Fathers’ intent in establishing religion freedom in this country would not be compromised by the Amendment’s present wording. Right now, that language's permitting "the free exercise” of religion allows belittling, attacking and manifesting intolerance toward other faiths, as well as the support of actions inimical to American Democracy.
Jack Lippman
*** *** ***
To send this posting to a friend, or enemy for that matter, whom you think might be interested in it, just click on the envelope with the arrow right below the dotted line at the very bottom of this posting.
No comments:
Post a Comment