03/31/06
"With peaceful people not
wanting to quarrel with neighbors or co-workers about faith. Until the day
comes when moderates, liberals, and non-Christians realize they are afraid to
make their real views known in public. Because the consequences will be too
unpleasant."
This - to some degree - is
the reason for speaking out as we are able.
The premise of the television
party today is opposition to a conspiracy against people of faith presented by
a group who claims or implies that it is seeking to protect all people of all
faith ...
Which, by whining about
replacing so-called biased judges with other judges with another bias, is an
attempt by a party and a Christian minority to have it both ways - an attempt
to replace consitutionally-biased judges with religiously-biased judges who,
presumably, will facilitate a "reform" of what's wrong with this
country.
Unpleasant consequences for
now are left in the area of emotions, a sense of offendedness and
victimization and indignation fueled by cynical politicians and outraged vocal
Christians who are defending those things most important to them.
If the politicians succeed in
their dreams and want to remain in office they will have to continue to
deliver to a religious political base that is not shy about having put them
there and being willing to remove them if not satisfied.
The concern I have as that as
the line between church and state disappears, the imposition stuff
starts. If, perish the thought, the imposition stuff starts, then
"unpleasant" as a definition of the consequences won't suffice.
The range of
ethics/non-ethics and morality/immorality in this country is far too vast for
a peaceful transition into a Christian Theocratic State.
If we slide into a theocracy,
we will have replicated what we've already seen abroad in Serbia, Bosnia, The
Middle East, Rwanda, Darfur and Northern Ireland.
We cannot kids ourselves that
such could not happen here.
The reason for that is the
simple fact that with the attempted execution of new theocractic laws and
policies, those who desire and legislate proscribed freedom of worship and
proscriptions against civil rights formerly allowed will be in the social
minority in this country.
If the consequences of
radical Christian lawmaking goes too far - and who's to say it wouldn't -
things could move to a place where Christians would of necessity have to band
together and live in communities where they are the majoriy. And we've seen
that abroad also.
Justice Scalia is a powerful
and earnest voice declaring that the government is the will of God and that
capital punishment by the government acting as God's agent is God's will.
Scalia is in harmony with his co-religionists who want to reform our
constitution or replace it based on Old Testament Law.
Legislation and radical
judicial decisions authorizing capital or extreme punishment for violating
laws passed by a theocratic government inevitably leads to resistance and
civil war.
I don't know that we would
ever come to civil war over abortion or gay marriage. But a theocratic state
doesn't stop with single issue reform.
Dominionists mean to use
political process to assume a Christian domination of the government and do
not try to hide that goal. But it is not the possibility of their future
success that scares me.
What scares me is the
potentially violent consequences of a response from the real American majority
that is currently ignorant or apathetic so long as nobody passes a law that
interferes in their lives or results in a loss of something they do not want
to lose.
© Arthur Ruger 2005