9 Responses to “Is America too damn religious?”
1. Coyote Feb 18th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Yes!
2. Yo Feb 18th, 2007 at 5:54 pm
Really insightful comment by Robateau.
3. James Feb 18th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
Yes, America is too religious. However, America is not ethically spiritual enough.
4. Chris Feb 18th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
I believe it to be obviously apparent that religion is tightly intertwined in the fabric of America. It is quoted
on our currency, exclaimed in our “Pledge of Allegiance,
and is the personal drive for not only our terrible leader and president
G.W. Bush; but also for a great number of other powerful political figures as well as millions
of American citizens.
I myself am an agnostic person that feels that a person’s choice to religion is indeed just that, their choice. It is
only when a collection of
any given group of these people have enough power to impact my life in a debilitative way. They
cause congestion and even dead ends on the roads to scientific
and technological progressions.
I think there should be an unbiased view when it comes to advancing our cultures. We need to set aside religious reasons
for
fighting and jeopardizing the lives of so many people for faith alone.
5. Andy Feb 18th, 2007 at 7:50 pm
Too religious? Frighteningly so. I kind of wish the USSR was still around so these nut balls would focus on
that anemic, powerless, bogyman and not on ripping
the country apart.
What scares me the most are the
fictions they promote as reality — and how easily those fictions are assumed to be true
by even people I consider
non-religious moderates. (Ex: “America was founded as a Christian nation.” “Pluralism is bad.”
“Secularism is bad.”)
Unfortunately, I don’t see using reason to moderate the extremists … and the extremists are gaining in numbers.
They may soon be “average”. Canada and
Brittan are also suffering from this trend.
6. Rick Feb 18th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
I defer to the brilliance of Mark Twain:
“I am quite sure now that often, very often, in matters concerning religion and politics a man’s reasoning powers are
not above the monkey’s.”
7. Duncan Feb 18th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
WAY too much religion in America. That is, religion as a human construct supposedly for the purpose of being a
guide as to how God should be worshipped.
Not nearly enough actual God. That is, the One, who universally teaches us love, compassion and non-judgement.
8. Marshall Mar 1st, 2007 at 3:47 pm
You forgot “Judge not lest ye be judged.” Funny how many scripture-quoting anti-whatevers always forget that one.
9. Eye of horus Mar 3rd, 2007 at 7:12 pm
The question can’t even be approached without vital clarifications.
Let’s try some on for size:
1. The word ‘religion’ is hopelessly ambiguous. Political ideology using right-wing interpretation(s) of scripture(s)
for holy protective coating needs to be denounced
by moderate believers across all the so-called great monotheisms.
2. The word ‘nation’ is hopelessly ambiguous. The U.S. is a *secular state*. (Check the Constitution. Amendment One.)
It is not a religious state. It is *not* a
Xian nation, if by ‘nation’ one means ’state’.
3. The word ‘God’ (god, gods) is hopelessly ambiguous. The courts have held that ‘God’ (In God We Trust) refers to a
one-size-fits-all deistic divinity — creator,
sustainer of the universe consistent with tradition. ‘He’ (really It) is the minimum
standard god. The MSG leaves open any god hypothesis, except of course the
one denying the existence of any god, however bland.
(Secular humanism be damned, quite literally.)
Undermining the Constitution, trashing biological science, and perverting education to suit ideologues of social control
and cultural domination by right-wing clerics is
what we have too much of in America. Home grown Xian Taliban frighten me much more
than Osama and all the mullas combined.
As Pogo (the cartoon character) once opined: “We have met the enemy. And he is us.”
