Posted by
Wendy on 04/06/2009 |
9 comments
The US Constitution was ratified by the 13 states in 1789. Realizing the original Constitution failed to protect individual liberties, the Bill of Rights, or the first ten Amendments, were introduced to Congress in the same year, and came into effect on December 15, 1791. The first Amendment, as Thomas Jefferson described it, built a “wall of separation between Church and State” (Letter to the Danbury Baptists, 1802).
Even so, many fundamental Christians feel that the United States is a Christian nation and prayer should be mandated in public schools; creationism should be taught to children; and the 10 commandments should adorn public buildings. And they have taken over the Republican Party. That gives the Fundamentalist power to pursue their agenda: to rid the country of secularism.
We only need to look at the legislation passed in previous eight last years to know that this is true. George Bush won the war on the very unbiblical taxes by cutting taxes on the wealthy, which passed in the House at 1:56 am on a Friday in May, under the cloak of darkness. Those proponents of the flat tax—they are proponents of the Biblical tax, the only tax mentioned in the Bible. To fundamentalists, the free market rewards good Christian behavior and punishes the unrepentant. And so the Republicans did their bidding and cut regulations on corporations. Then of course, George Bush’s abstinence only sex education program, where lots of government funds were given to faith-based programs. Also there were multiple calls for an Amendment to the Constitution making marriage only between “one man and one woman”, to keep the Biblical definition of marriage law of the land.
The past eight years clearly chipped away at the wall between church and state. Even for the most devout Christian, this should be alarming. We only need to look at theocracies like Iran and Afghanistan under Taliban rule to see what we could become. The most literal interpretations of our Bible would put our society backwards 2000 years. Women, Jews, gays, Buddhists, Muslims, and atheists would all become second class citizens. Science would not have the place it does in our society today. We must remember that this country was founded by men and women escaping the tyranny of the Church of England; and Nazi Germany was led by a very religious man wishing to rid its country of moral decay.
We need to rebuild the wall. As a nation, we need to understand that a marriage under the law is not the same as a marriage in the Church. We need to understand that faith-based programs have their place, but not in government. We need to understand that science does not necessarily preclude the supernatural. We should know that someone else’s beliefs, or lack thereof, do not in any way diminish our own beliefs. Most of all, we should know that our salvation can not be legislated or coerced.
But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. In neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. – Thomas Jefferson
Tags: Afghanistan, belief, bible, biblical, Bill of Rights, country, creationism, education, first amendment, flat tax, friday, fundamental christian, god, marriage, republican, republican party, separation of church and state, Sex, ten amendments, thomas jefferson, US Constitution
Posted by
MouthyGirl on 12/23/2008 |
2 comments
We are a nation of excess, we eat too much, drink too much, party too hard, stay up too late, get up too early, commute for too long and all sorts of other things we do “too much”. But I have a particular beef with what I call excessive procreation. I’m of course, talking about the Duggar family. The Duggers are of the “Quiverfull” belief system, described below:
Quiverfull is a movement among conservative evangelical Protestant Christian couples chiefly in the United States, but with some adherents in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, England, and elsewhere. Its viewpoint is to eagerly receive children as blessings from God, eschewing all forms of birth control, including natural family planning and sterilization. Someone of this persuasion might call themselves a “quiver full”, “full quiver”, “quiverfull-minded”, or simply “QF” Christian.
The name of the Quiverfull movement comes from the Old Testament Bible verses in Psalm 127:3-5.
Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD:
and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man;
so are children of the youth.
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them:
they shall not be ashamed,
but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.(emphasis added).KJV
Being “fruitful and multiplying” as per God’s wishes in the bible? I, personally, don’t know one single woman – not one – who would want to bear 18 children. But, none of the women I know are believers in this movement nor do they adhere strictly to the biblically mandated role of wives and mothers as “bearers of children” and “workers in the home under the authority of a husband”.
I refuse to believe or adhere to a biblical policy that states I must be subserviant to another human being. Not gonna happen. I was born strong willed and I will die strong willed and during none of that time will I be subserviant.
Most of the women I know have families, jobs, ideas, and goals of their own. Apparently these “quiverfull women” as I will refer to them, have decided consciously to let their husbands do their thinking for them and let God be their birth control.
One question…….What if there is no God?
Yeah, I said it….what if? What if that bible they so happily adhere to and mind, was just a work of fiction by some very serious pranksters? What if we are indeed a product of evolution? What if there is life on another planet? Would that dissprove God? How is that explained in the bible?
One aspect that must be considered is the strong male slant in the bible. Do you think God created us all equal? If he did then why are women supposed to be nothing more than “bearers of children” and “workers in the home under the authority of a husband”? Tell me why God would want ANY of his people subserviant to the another? This is why slavery is and was so wrong!
Additionally, there is speculation in the scientific community that the lights in the sky described in the bible and the Chariots of Fire and the Burning Bush were all a product of extraterrestrial beings? So many what if’s and no answers…
What do you think?
Tags: authorities, belief, god, news
