This is where we're headed, make no mistake about it. Yes, I know, it's not that extreme. GWB was elected. We have a congress. Diversity is protected. No, I'm not saying it's this way now - we don't have a theocracy in this country...yet. Problem is, a lot of people in this democratic land of ours, raised in an era of religious tolerance and diversity, don't really care to preserve it. They have no problem with theocracy at all, as long as it's called by another name.
We have a Supreme Court justice who says that the authority of the government comes from God. Has he not read the Constitution, which begins with the memorable phrase, "We, the people, in order to form a more perfect union..?" There is no mention of God in the document, and no reference to religion, other than to prohibit the state from meddling in it or imposing a faith-based test for office holders. Nevertheless, our toiling evangelical extremists would have us believe that the Founding Fathers were all zealous religious believers (except, perhaps, for Tom Paine) who would never have countenanced the notion of separation of Church and State. In fact, they were quite adamant about it, but that's just a niggling fact of history. Who cares about such details when you and your constituents are willing to demand that science teachers give equal time to Biblical accounts of species creation and the notion that the earth is only 10,000 years old.
No, it won't come suddenly, but I fear that 20 years from now, I will look back and say, "It started slowly, then gained steam." Will my children live in a country in which it is safe to be an atheist, a secularist, an unreligious person only in certain urban centers on the eastern and western seaboards? Will my grandchildren be forced to pray in school, sing hymns, as my parents, my wife! were? Will government agencies deny funding to schools that don't teach "Creation Science?" Will failing to say "one nation under God" become a misdemeanor? Will blasphemy and sodomy laws make a big comeback? If the religious right has its way, they will. This is creeping theocracy. We don't do revolution here in the USA, change comes in increments, but it's coming fast now. Hold onto your Darwin!
We have a Supreme Court justice who says that the authority of the government comes from God. Has he not read the Constitution, which begins with the memorable phrase, "We, the people, in order to form a more perfect union..?" There is no mention of God in the document, and no reference to religion, other than to prohibit the state from meddling in it or imposing a faith-based test for office holders. Nevertheless, our toiling evangelical extremists would have us believe that the Founding Fathers were all zealous religious believers (except, perhaps, for Tom Paine) who would never have countenanced the notion of separation of Church and State. In fact, they were quite adamant about it, but that's just a niggling fact of history. Who cares about such details when you and your constituents are willing to demand that science teachers give equal time to Biblical accounts of species creation and the notion that the earth is only 10,000 years old.
No, it won't come suddenly, but I fear that 20 years from now, I will look back and say, "It started slowly, then gained steam." Will my children live in a country in which it is safe to be an atheist, a secularist, an unreligious person only in certain urban centers on the eastern and western seaboards? Will my grandchildren be forced to pray in school, sing hymns, as my parents, my wife! were? Will government agencies deny funding to schools that don't teach "Creation Science?" Will failing to say "one nation under God" become a misdemeanor? Will blasphemy and sodomy laws make a big comeback? If the religious right has its way, they will. This is creeping theocracy. We don't do revolution here in the USA, change comes in increments, but it's coming fast now. Hold onto your Darwin!
3 comments:
It would appear that if you are educated in the Kansas State school system you will learn that "evolution is a theory, not a fact".Also that gravity, relativity, electricity, tectonic plates etc are all theories and not facts and you will feel adrift in the universe until you learn there is a church with all the answers and where you will be safe from the chaos.Millions will flock to this port in the storm of modernity.Invest in Kansas real estate.
I have pointed out earlier (1.14.04) that these people don't seem to grasp,or purposely ignore, the meaning of "theory" and "fact" within the discipline of science. They are very selective with their doubts. They question evolution because it is not a "fact," yet they accept the Universal THEORY of Gravitation, as postulated by Issac Newton. There is more fundamental doubt about Newton than Darwin within the scientific community these days.
Sorry, make that 1.14.05...
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