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June 7, 2006 Craig's latest is exactly what I would expect from someone with his mindset. He is a white American Christian snared in the political power grab which some of his fellow evangelicals have “added” to the teachings of Christ. Does Craig ever write about defending the meek and disenfranchised? Does Craig support welfare as Christians should given the New Testament's emphasis on helping the poor, or does he instead support trick-down-economics? Al Franken had a clever piece in his “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them” book about a Supply Side Jesus. Craig seems to belong to that sect. If Jesus advocated teaching a man to fish, Craig would have that man pay for the education, destitute or otherwise. It's difficult, therefore, to determine where the political extreme Right conservative ends and the Christian fundamentalist begins. Craig is fixated on homosexuality, Jesus never mentioned it one way or the other. Craig wants specific goals for the state and its power, yet Jesus wanted Christians to stay out of government. Contrary to what many may think, the teachings of Jesus, encompassing moral and social issues, are compatible with secularism, which encompasses the role of the government and the public sphere. The American Left is certainly not the atheist party as any Democrat will be quick to tell you. Al Franken is Jewish and mocks this silly association with atheism as well in the same book. Quite simply, secularism allows an individual to make choices about life, allowing for dogma if that individual wishes, so long as the rights of someone else are protected. Power-seeking Christians are against secularism for one very simple reason – it dethrones them. Secularism means that a Christian is effectively prevented from forcing a Hindu to abstain from working on Sundays. What these Christians also fail to realize, however, because they are a super majority and are usually not faced with such discrimination, is that secularism also prevents the Hindu from forcing the Christian to give up beef. Each side is happy, neither rules. One might think that Christians have a special place being such a majority, but this would be unconstitutional. Christians can no more put Biblical beliefs into law than pacifists can take guns away from hunters. This doesn't mean that such violations haven't been tried and aren't still being tried - this is the essence of the so called culture war. Craig implies that a government allowing gay marriage is somehow a controlling, overbearing, big brother. Quite the opposite, a government which blocks basic rights would be controlling. Why must those of Craig's ilk feel the need to tell the rest of us that we can't work on Sunday, as it were? Marriage is indeed a good thing, but isn't the union of gays better than unmarried gays? Do we have any reason to suspect that gays won't be faithful to each other and to their wedding vows? Ironically, we never hear Republicans pushing anti-divorce amendments. The fact is that times are different. Divorce is a viable option these days; the rights of women trumps dogma. Let's also not forget that of Americans, weekly-church attending Christians have higher divorce rates. I would agree that high divorce rates have some negative effects, but this has to weighed. I would also agree that abolition of slavery had a negative effect on Southern plantation owners. Imagine if we could re-institute a slave class these days – we could undercut Chinese and Indian workers! Obviously, the moral implications of restricting segments of our populations have to weighed ethically. Craig mentioned Stanley Kurtz, so I looked up his biased views on Norway, Denmark and other countries which have had gay marriage for some time now. Norway and Denmark are on top of the world at the moment, so even though 60% of children in Denmark are born out of wedlock, the country is doing phenomenally [1 – see below]! If this is what gay marriage gives us, I say, “Bring it on!”. Of course, there are hoops here that aren't so easily connected. I might venture the opinion that these nations have learned how to accept the changing dynamic of the family, just like the West did when folks moved from the country to the city. Craig never advocates the historical nature of the family: the extended family. Why doesn't Craig also argue that if our parents all moved back in with us, that we could scrap social security? Isn't this similar to his view that welfare fills the holes which divorce causes? Why such an inconsistent view? The nuclear family, or any family where the parents live alone with non-adult children, is a positively modern invention. Society will adjust to empowered women, as it adjusted to non-extended families. Times change and are, overall, better. Some problems are solved, new ones are created – this is the nature of man. Standards of living have never been higher in the West overall. Let me just remind everyone that Craig's brand of political American Christianity also supported segregation. They also supported bans on interracial marriage. They supported these un-Jesus-like principles, folks. What silly reasons were given in support of these racist policies? What arguments are given now? While somehow ignoring divorce laws, these “pro-marriage” types are trying to convince average Americans that polygamy and sex with animals are next on the horizon! Why doesn't Craig tell us about the ever widening gap between the rich and the poor? What about that slope? Wouldn't Jesus be concerned with this? Wouldn't Jesus mention that in Europe, where education and health care are paid for by taxes, that upward mobility is now higher than in the US? A poor man can work himself up into the middle class easier. The American dream is now the European reality. Craig jumped though other hoops and decided to bring abortion into the debate as well. I claim Craig is a liar – of course he doesn't think that one million Americans are killed each year by abortion! If anyone really felt this way, they would march on the street and on Congress violently. Think about this – the wholesale murder of children? Folks, that's utterly silly. Craig has tried, rather unsuccessfully in my view, to link the two big hot button wedge issues, issues that a certain power-hungry segment uses to fool folks into voting based on their religious sub-sect. I have no idea where his comments about the disposable sick and elderly come from. Certainly his own political leanings do not favor a return to the extended family view, nor towards national health care or any other system where we all care for the elderly collectively. Much to Craig's dismay, Christianity is probably more in line with socialism than capitalism. Certainly Jesus wouldn't care how rich we all are, so long as we make enough to take care of each other. If the next life is where the real living is done, who cares if even the roads are paved? The old-style Republican view doesn't move Americans to action anymore, hence these religious tactics. Just sit back and watch the next few election cycles as intellectual conservatives who should know better turn their cheeks as the religionists use faith to help get their party buddies into power. Also keep an eye on the religious left, which is learning. The worst case outcome if this “war” keeps up is true sectarianism in America. Lebanon, anyone? Do we really want Americans voting based just on their religious faith? We should amend the constitution such that no future group of zealots can pretend we are not a secular nation in order to use dogmatic beliefs to beat heads or discriminate against others. This is one obvious American ideal which must, sadly, be reinforced. [1] Norway and Denmark have had gay marriage for a relatively long time now. These countries are among the best in many categories – these are copied from WikiPedia: Denmark: This thoroughly modern market economy features high-tech agriculture, up-to-date small-scale and corporate industry, extensive government welfare measures, comfortable living standards, a stable currency, and high dependence on foreign trade. Denmark is a net exporter of food and energy and has a comfortable balance of payments surplus and zero net foreign debt. Also of importance is the sea territory of more than 105.000 km² (40.000+ sq m). ... The unemployment rate March 2006 was 4.8% and falling, for a total of 133,500 persons ... Denmark is self-sufficient in energy - producing oil, natural gas, wind- and bio-energy. Its principal exports are machinery, instruments and food products. The U.S. is Denmark's largest non-European trading partner, accounting for about 5% of total Danish merchandise trade. Aircraft, computers, machinery, and instruments are among the major U.S. exports to Denmark. There are some 250 U.S.-owned companies in Denmark. Among major Danish exports to the U.S. are industrial machinery, chemical products, furniture, pharmaceuticals, and canned ham and pork .... Meanwhile, the European Union has investigated Denmark as a possible model for a future European social model. The term, dubbed Flexicurity, is based on the relatively flexible labour model in Denmark where frequent job changes are not uncommon coupled with the the extensive social security net offered by the Danish social welfare policies. [Of course they are good model to emulate – why not go with policies which obviously work?] Norway - here are its international rankings: GDP per capita - 2nd of 232 countries - 2006 Human Development Index - 1st of 177 countries - 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001 Index of Economic Freedom - 29th of 155 countries Reporters Without Borders Worldwide press freedom index - 1st of 166 countries 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002 Save the Children: State of the World's Mothers 2004 Children's Index: Rank 1, Women's Index: Rank 6, Mother's Index: Rank 6 (119 countries) Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index 2004 - 8th of 145 countries World Economic Forum: Global Competitiveness Report 2005-2006 - 9th of 117 countries ------------ About the author Frederick Smith: I enjoy writing about the positive virtues of humanism - humanists are the good guys. I now have a blog that I will start to increasingly maintain and update. Here is the link: fredsuberview.blogspot.com/ About my personal background and life: I was born, I got some education, worked, ate, and had some kids. It seems I like to write � something that was unknown to me until relatively recently...How's that for detail? ;) Hate mail is welcome unless you are from the Army Of God. Please! It's not that I mind seeing pictures of aborted fetuses in my inbox, but once you've seen one you've pretty much seen them all... Email: dahlek65@gmail.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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