One of my worst fears of my lifetime
This is an absolutely excellent post by Shakespeare's Sister on why I fear and distrust the socon movement in the USA and to a lesser extent the one in Canada. I should mention that the only reason I am less fearful of the Canadian socon movement is that I have yet to see any similar large political power bloc formed by these people in this country, unlike in America within the GOP. My concerns are that reason, rationality, and most importantly free thought are in serious danger by this movement, and this piece by SS captures that very well indeed.
There is all too often this belief that faith is a good thing no matter what, nor to what degree it is felt. Well one of the things I have always found to be dangerous is zealotry, and unfortunately religious zealotry tends to be among the worst types of all. When the mentality is that anyone that does not think the way you do is automatically a threat to be destroyed before it destroys you/your belief, you create a world totally hostile to the concept of diversity of opinion, indeed thought itself. One of the things that makes religious zealotry so particularly dangerous is the precept of some divine will be it perfect or fallible is still moving through you and therefore everything you do in it's service is by definition acceptable/moral/holy, even if it were done by anyone not of the "true faith" it would be the blackest evil.
When this mentality starts dictating what is scientific and what is not, we are all in for some serious trouble. We see this happening in the highest offices of power in our American neighbour, and whether most Canadians want to openly admit it or not it really worries us. After all, whether we Canadians like it or not American major events and movements inevitably have an impact on our own society, be it in favour or in opposition of that movement/event. Indeed, one can make a very good argument that the current CPC and it's leadership take much of their inspiration from watching their American brethren, although thankfully they have a much smaller base within our population than is the case for Americans and thus far less success, at least to date.
I value the right to think and say what I believe to be true, what I think about something, and even to be wrong about something and only have to worry about looking foolish for being so instead of some more serious repercussion. I think this is true of much of the rest of the blogging community, whatever their political affiliations. We all need to recognize the threat the socons represent to our society and the way in which we live together, after all, we have the example of our American neighbour to show just what the end goals of such thinking in a culture like ours is. It is to destroy secularism and install the Christian version of the Taliban, at least in terms of the blending of religion and State and regulating personal conduct as was done under the Taliban, and use a religious template for that conduct. So I tend to refer to them as Talibangelists.
My problem is not with Faith, I feel I need to make that clear. What my problem is Faith being used as the means by which we govern ourselves instead of the tried and true methods of secular governance that has worked so well for both NA countries since their respective foundings. To paraphrase a quote from Dune, when religion and politics ride in the same cart, the whirlwind follows right behind it. The history of such has not been a good one, not if one believes in the essential dignity and worth of each human soul, and as a means of governance the abuse it lends itself to tends to develop rapidly and to great excess. I have no problems with converting people one person at a time to a given Faith, it is the use of the State to do so that terrifies me. Faith is ultimately something each individual must come to terms with in their own minds/souls, it cannot be forcibly be instilled through fear of punishment, not and be true faith, anyway. Since only true faith is acceptible/pleasing/desired to God whatever His/Her/Their name(s) are, it always defeats the point. All it does is bring misery in its wake, not enlightment and spiritual growth.
Oh yes, before someone tries the secularism is just another religion argument, remember this: Secularism is a direct outgrowth of reason, rationality, and objective observation and verification. We use the laws that have worked best for us, we modify those laws as new technologies and cultural/social imperatives require. We do that and see whether the results are worth the cost in enforcement of said laws. Secularism is what also allows for freedom of worship, because it makes the State a neutral party in the spread of a religious Faith, giving no preference to one over another. Secularism is what allows so many different Faiths to coexist in our societies with as little friction as there is. Why would anyone want to throw that away? So trying to argue that secularism is just another religion/Faith is dishonest, and it is wrong.
I close this post with this thought. Why is it that those that most loudly proclaim their Faith and it's inherent superiority over all others tend to be the ones that most want the State to enforce it's edicts? If their faith in their Faith was truly strong/deep/genuine wouldn't one then accept that souls can only be saved one at a time and with their willing desire, and not by attempting to force it upon a soul that is not willing/able to hear the Word? I truly worry for us all given what is happening on this continent, and indeed throughout various parts of the world in this regard. We cannot afford to allow the Endarkenment, as some have termed it, to take hold. Especially not in this new age of information technology and the enhancement factor for all other sciences that computer technologies and the integration of data formats allow. We are at the potentials of a true golden age, or a truly hellish outcome for humanity. I chose to work/fight for the former, and not the latter unlike those that want oto believe we live in "the end times". I remember hearing that thirty years ago and that the end was only a few years away/ Well several decades later and we are all still here on the planet, unless the Rapture went completely unnoticed, that is...(yes, last sentence is on the sarcastic side)
There is all too often this belief that faith is a good thing no matter what, nor to what degree it is felt. Well one of the things I have always found to be dangerous is zealotry, and unfortunately religious zealotry tends to be among the worst types of all. When the mentality is that anyone that does not think the way you do is automatically a threat to be destroyed before it destroys you/your belief, you create a world totally hostile to the concept of diversity of opinion, indeed thought itself. One of the things that makes religious zealotry so particularly dangerous is the precept of some divine will be it perfect or fallible is still moving through you and therefore everything you do in it's service is by definition acceptable/moral/holy, even if it were done by anyone not of the "true faith" it would be the blackest evil.
When this mentality starts dictating what is scientific and what is not, we are all in for some serious trouble. We see this happening in the highest offices of power in our American neighbour, and whether most Canadians want to openly admit it or not it really worries us. After all, whether we Canadians like it or not American major events and movements inevitably have an impact on our own society, be it in favour or in opposition of that movement/event. Indeed, one can make a very good argument that the current CPC and it's leadership take much of their inspiration from watching their American brethren, although thankfully they have a much smaller base within our population than is the case for Americans and thus far less success, at least to date.
I value the right to think and say what I believe to be true, what I think about something, and even to be wrong about something and only have to worry about looking foolish for being so instead of some more serious repercussion. I think this is true of much of the rest of the blogging community, whatever their political affiliations. We all need to recognize the threat the socons represent to our society and the way in which we live together, after all, we have the example of our American neighbour to show just what the end goals of such thinking in a culture like ours is. It is to destroy secularism and install the Christian version of the Taliban, at least in terms of the blending of religion and State and regulating personal conduct as was done under the Taliban, and use a religious template for that conduct. So I tend to refer to them as Talibangelists.
My problem is not with Faith, I feel I need to make that clear. What my problem is Faith being used as the means by which we govern ourselves instead of the tried and true methods of secular governance that has worked so well for both NA countries since their respective foundings. To paraphrase a quote from Dune, when religion and politics ride in the same cart, the whirlwind follows right behind it. The history of such has not been a good one, not if one believes in the essential dignity and worth of each human soul, and as a means of governance the abuse it lends itself to tends to develop rapidly and to great excess. I have no problems with converting people one person at a time to a given Faith, it is the use of the State to do so that terrifies me. Faith is ultimately something each individual must come to terms with in their own minds/souls, it cannot be forcibly be instilled through fear of punishment, not and be true faith, anyway. Since only true faith is acceptible/pleasing/desired to God whatever His/Her/Their name(s) are, it always defeats the point. All it does is bring misery in its wake, not enlightment and spiritual growth.
Oh yes, before someone tries the secularism is just another religion argument, remember this: Secularism is a direct outgrowth of reason, rationality, and objective observation and verification. We use the laws that have worked best for us, we modify those laws as new technologies and cultural/social imperatives require. We do that and see whether the results are worth the cost in enforcement of said laws. Secularism is what also allows for freedom of worship, because it makes the State a neutral party in the spread of a religious Faith, giving no preference to one over another. Secularism is what allows so many different Faiths to coexist in our societies with as little friction as there is. Why would anyone want to throw that away? So trying to argue that secularism is just another religion/Faith is dishonest, and it is wrong.
I close this post with this thought. Why is it that those that most loudly proclaim their Faith and it's inherent superiority over all others tend to be the ones that most want the State to enforce it's edicts? If their faith in their Faith was truly strong/deep/genuine wouldn't one then accept that souls can only be saved one at a time and with their willing desire, and not by attempting to force it upon a soul that is not willing/able to hear the Word? I truly worry for us all given what is happening on this continent, and indeed throughout various parts of the world in this regard. We cannot afford to allow the Endarkenment, as some have termed it, to take hold. Especially not in this new age of information technology and the enhancement factor for all other sciences that computer technologies and the integration of data formats allow. We are at the potentials of a true golden age, or a truly hellish outcome for humanity. I chose to work/fight for the former, and not the latter unlike those that want oto believe we live in "the end times". I remember hearing that thirty years ago and that the end was only a few years away/ Well several decades later and we are all still here on the planet, unless the Rapture went completely unnoticed, that is...(yes, last sentence is on the sarcastic side)
posted by Scotian | 3:30 AM
1 Comments:
peter rempel:
I was not bashing religious folk in general, not that you appear to grasp this. I was referring to a specific variation of religious folk. Unless of course you are going to tell me that the majority of religious folks fit the definition of "religious zealots", in which case you need to back that up before I'll treat it as credible. So nice of you though to try and misrepresent this. It is certainly consistent with your previous posting history at other blogs.
Thanks for playing, but next time try to actually strive for accuracy and honesty, it would serve you far better than the misrepresentations and straw man arguments you appear to prefer.
Oh one last thing. If you had bothered to read what I said, I said I found all forms of zealotry something to distrust, which would by definition also include ideological zealotry. I was focusing on religious zealotry in this post as particularly dangerous because of the added aspect of carrying out divine will making anything done in the name of the divine inherently moral and acceptable, even when it is something for anyone not of the "chosen" to do would be automatically seen as the blackest of evils. Not to mention the power it holds currently in America and the current American government.
So please, demonstrate your own ideological zealotry some more, along with these imaginary arguments you keep finding in other people's comments. Keep it up long enough and you will provide a wonderful set of examples of the dangers of the ideological zealot.
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