Zealots don't believe in the separation of church and state...but intend to impose their brand of religion on all.Sensible people realize that our founders found refuge in this land because their was freedom of religion.We all benefit when we embrace tolerance and don't combine religion and education.
The Ten Commandants aren't a wall hanging or a lawn ornament they are a way of life. If you really want someone to learn about the Ten Commandants let them see it in the way you live your life and the way you conduct your business.
Maybe these pious miscreants think they'll be dead and buried before anyone catches on to their misanthropic Bible ideas. Didn't anyone tell them that loving your neighbor as yourself is a Commandment? For shame, where is the love of human beings, regardless of color, creed or even political persuasion?
For a while when I was attending grade school in northern Idaho, my teachers read a few verses from the Bible each morning. I don't remember if it was prior to or after the recitation of the 'Pledge' -- which I'm old enough to have learned in two versions, with and without 'under god.' I attended Sunday School regularly then and found the Bible-reading boring and meaningless. I think I turned out just fine, thanks to my Iowa born-and-raised parents mostly.
I also remember when the "under god" was adde to the Pledge. Even as a child, I didn't feel it was right. To this day, when I have to say the Pledge, I omit that part. Thank you, Jim, for keeping enlightment going.
Religious bigotry, hypocrisy, and zealotry is the same wherever it rules. Countries where there is no separation between state and whatever religion is dominant, show no progress of any kind and are stuck forever in a murky past. They do not thrive, and some (like Israel and Palestine) have been in bloody and destructive wars for centuries. America should take a hard look at those societies before embracing that kind of theology. We may end up being "Iran West", only under the Cross instead of the Crescent. To the school kids of Louisiana: we salute you! And thanks, Jim, for telling us about them!
In the Gospel of Saint Thomas (banned by the Catholic Church) Jesus tells Thomas that we are all children of God. Angels and demons, each of us deals with our own. Devil spelled backwards is lived and evil backwards is live, l have no disagreement, just furthering my awareness of the synchronicity and symbolism
While we totally respect your views, there is a sticking point: Jesus is the Son of God, sent to save all our souls. Lucifer (most often called "the devil") is a fallen angel who, through all the ages, has tried to turn us away from God. Jesus won that battle long ago, no need to fight with the devil. All we are called to do is have faith and follow Jesus, and the devil loses his power. Good advice, too, for all those (no matter who they are) who have sold their souls to the devil for power and riches. Our greatest freedom is that we can choose, and that also means we can respectfully disagree with all who do not share our beliefs.
Excellent commentary Jim! Actually, the 10 Commandments are the Old Testament, before the Roman Empire Crusified Jesus for saying that the poor ain't so bad.
I love the 10 commandments,and I love separation of church and state. The same people pushing the commandments won't stand for them when their leaders break them, it's called a double standard but if they only promote them for their interests it means they have no standards
In Congress July 4, 1776 "When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds that have connected them with another..."
I always wonder how a child of a non Christian faith feels being force fed the bible. I guess non Christians are supposed to just disappear. Personally, while I came from a Christian background, prayers in school and pledge of allegiance were both done by rote. I could not have been less engaged.
If it is presented objectively as literature or in a study of religion. In a public school, it should never be presented as "Here is how you should live your life or how G-d wants you to live."
Well years ago when I was a kid, when they added the 'under God' to the pledge; we of course mocked it. We did not buy that crap as elementary school kids. When one shoves religion onto kids they reject it.
I always tell my friends if they do not want their kids to be Catholic send them to Catholic school.
I see religiousness as empirical attempts to control the masses. In my view, if it is written then it's the 'Lord'.and represents controlling human hierarchies. If it is in reference to the Great Spirit, all spirit no thing, the present moment as the center of eternity, life as THE miracle on Earth, taking the next breath, then that is God to me. All religions have their sacred rituals around the coming and going of Spirit,ie Birth, Marriage(regeneration of the species) and Death. Your life is a gift of God, what you do in your life is your gift to God.
Somehow the (real) Populists figured out the econ and political truth, connecting with other small farmers and the urban working class despite being ignored or outright opposed by the MSM of their day, the newspapers. So did people like Cesar Chavez and Fannie Lou Hamer.
With today's social media, the young can and do confirm the silliness, wrongheadedness, and btazen deceitfulness of these power mad officials whose idea of religion seems to be for them to be worshiped as gods. Which is probably related to the fact that white evangelicals had the greatest decline in numbers over the last decade.. This according to Robert P. Jones, himself an evangelical--PhD, MDiv--who refused to look away from white racism and other hypocrisies. He now runs the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI,) an often quoted source on beliefs and affiliations.
Why do people want to believe such distortions? Partly a reaction to Enlightenment abstract thinking which valued certainty and control. From which science, but at the cost of losing a sense of meaning and purpose to life. And partly because that same thinking tends to either/or. So then good or evil, for us or against us, good guy or bad guy, correct or incorrect, particle or wave.
It isn't just the Rs or fundamentalists. Seems to me few of us want to see past faith in a political party because a frightening reality would become all too visible. A reality that isn't a simple either/or binary. Difficult and disorienting because it means acknowledging complexities, a deep honesty with yourself, a conscientious responsibility for an economic system destroying environments and human communities. Along with doing the very hard work it takes to build coalitions with people whose attitudes, cultures, or class are very different than yours.
Zealots don't believe in the separation of church and state...but intend to impose their brand of religion on all.Sensible people realize that our founders found refuge in this land because their was freedom of religion.We all benefit when we embrace tolerance and don't combine religion and education.
The Ten Commandants aren't a wall hanging or a lawn ornament they are a way of life. If you really want someone to learn about the Ten Commandants let them see it in the way you live your life and the way you conduct your business.
Maybe these pious miscreants think they'll be dead and buried before anyone catches on to their misanthropic Bible ideas. Didn't anyone tell them that loving your neighbor as yourself is a Commandment? For shame, where is the love of human beings, regardless of color, creed or even political persuasion?
Jim
I am so glad you are still pissing in the wind all these many years. Please don't stop.
george
For a while when I was attending grade school in northern Idaho, my teachers read a few verses from the Bible each morning. I don't remember if it was prior to or after the recitation of the 'Pledge' -- which I'm old enough to have learned in two versions, with and without 'under god.' I attended Sunday School regularly then and found the Bible-reading boring and meaningless. I think I turned out just fine, thanks to my Iowa born-and-raised parents mostly.
Me, too.
I also remember when the "under god" was adde to the Pledge. Even as a child, I didn't feel it was right. To this day, when I have to say the Pledge, I omit that part. Thank you, Jim, for keeping enlightment going.
Religious bigotry, hypocrisy, and zealotry is the same wherever it rules. Countries where there is no separation between state and whatever religion is dominant, show no progress of any kind and are stuck forever in a murky past. They do not thrive, and some (like Israel and Palestine) have been in bloody and destructive wars for centuries. America should take a hard look at those societies before embracing that kind of theology. We may end up being "Iran West", only under the Cross instead of the Crescent. To the school kids of Louisiana: we salute you! And thanks, Jim, for telling us about them!
In the Gospel of Saint Thomas (banned by the Catholic Church) Jesus tells Thomas that we are all children of God. Angels and demons, each of us deals with our own. Devil spelled backwards is lived and evil backwards is live, l have no disagreement, just furthering my awareness of the synchronicity and symbolism
Catholic leadership and others, too, did not agree with nor want to promulgate any of what are called the 'Gnostic Gospels,' hence banning them.
Jesus and Lucifer are duking it out for your soul, but God put both of them up to it !
While we totally respect your views, there is a sticking point: Jesus is the Son of God, sent to save all our souls. Lucifer (most often called "the devil") is a fallen angel who, through all the ages, has tried to turn us away from God. Jesus won that battle long ago, no need to fight with the devil. All we are called to do is have faith and follow Jesus, and the devil loses his power. Good advice, too, for all those (no matter who they are) who have sold their souls to the devil for power and riches. Our greatest freedom is that we can choose, and that also means we can respectfully disagree with all who do not share our beliefs.
Happy Independence Day, y'all!
Oy! Who knew Jesus spoke English? Perhaps the governor spoke Aramaic?
Excellent commentary Jim! Actually, the 10 Commandments are the Old Testament, before the Roman Empire Crusified Jesus for saying that the poor ain't so bad.
I love the 10 commandments,and I love separation of church and state. The same people pushing the commandments won't stand for them when their leaders break them, it's called a double standard but if they only promote them for their interests it means they have no standards
In Congress July 4, 1776 "When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds that have connected them with another..."
Still think George Carlin’s skewering of the 10 Commandments should be posted everywhere they are displayed. You can easily find it in YouTube.
https://forward.com/opinion/629991/bible-schools-oklahoma-tennessee-conservatives-christian-right
The Christian right wants schools to teach the Bible — but doesn’t understand what the Bible is about
Oklahoma and Tennessee are bringing the Bible to classrooms, and demonstrating just how the conservative movement misunderstands that same text
I always wonder how a child of a non Christian faith feels being force fed the bible. I guess non Christians are supposed to just disappear. Personally, while I came from a Christian background, prayers in school and pledge of allegiance were both done by rote. I could not have been less engaged.
Yes that's why it's called Christian Nationalism. Non Christians are indeed supposed to pretty much disappear--live as second class citizens or worse.
Bibles study ought to be an elective class and in a class of its own.
If it is presented objectively as literature or in a study of religion. In a public school, it should never be presented as "Here is how you should live your life or how G-d wants you to live."
I agree, l presented it to my daughter as stories of ancient history.
Well years ago when I was a kid, when they added the 'under God' to the pledge; we of course mocked it. We did not buy that crap as elementary school kids. When one shoves religion onto kids they reject it.
I always tell my friends if they do not want their kids to be Catholic send them to Catholic school.
I see religiousness as empirical attempts to control the masses. In my view, if it is written then it's the 'Lord'.and represents controlling human hierarchies. If it is in reference to the Great Spirit, all spirit no thing, the present moment as the center of eternity, life as THE miracle on Earth, taking the next breath, then that is God to me. All religions have their sacred rituals around the coming and going of Spirit,ie Birth, Marriage(regeneration of the species) and Death. Your life is a gift of God, what you do in your life is your gift to God.
right on, jim! and write on and on and on!
Somehow the (real) Populists figured out the econ and political truth, connecting with other small farmers and the urban working class despite being ignored or outright opposed by the MSM of their day, the newspapers. So did people like Cesar Chavez and Fannie Lou Hamer.
With today's social media, the young can and do confirm the silliness, wrongheadedness, and btazen deceitfulness of these power mad officials whose idea of religion seems to be for them to be worshiped as gods. Which is probably related to the fact that white evangelicals had the greatest decline in numbers over the last decade.. This according to Robert P. Jones, himself an evangelical--PhD, MDiv--who refused to look away from white racism and other hypocrisies. He now runs the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI,) an often quoted source on beliefs and affiliations.
Why do people want to believe such distortions? Partly a reaction to Enlightenment abstract thinking which valued certainty and control. From which science, but at the cost of losing a sense of meaning and purpose to life. And partly because that same thinking tends to either/or. So then good or evil, for us or against us, good guy or bad guy, correct or incorrect, particle or wave.
It isn't just the Rs or fundamentalists. Seems to me few of us want to see past faith in a political party because a frightening reality would become all too visible. A reality that isn't a simple either/or binary. Difficult and disorienting because it means acknowledging complexities, a deep honesty with yourself, a conscientious responsibility for an economic system destroying environments and human communities. Along with doing the very hard work it takes to build coalitions with people whose attitudes, cultures, or class are very different than yours.