Just two days after the U.S. House of Representatives decided that a religious icon in San Diego needed federal protection, California’s two ‘liberal Democratic’ senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, appear to have joined ranks with the bible thumpers as a bill heads to the Senate in defense of the Mt. Soledad Cross.
Excuse me, Senator’s…which part of “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” don’t you understand? Or have you just decided that pandering to the religious majority is your best bet of holding on to your seats of power a little longer?
Right wing news sources seem to be agog in glee with the recent developments, but the fact that the federal government is about to get into the business of taking over public lands with religious icons is another sign that America is on the path to theocracy…that very form of government the Neo-Con agenda has been decrying in the Middle East. The only difference is the brand of religion being espoused.
What makes matters even more interesting is the fact that both of the Distinguished Women from California are Jewish. Not that that really matters except for the fact that it seems despite widespread public distrust of Republicans and their corporate-religious form of government, more and more Democrats are pretending to be Republican-lite instead of standing up for classic American principals.
What next friends? Will the government start using eminent domain to shut down mosques, temples, or Buddhist monastaries and transforming them into Christian shrines? It used to be scoffed when the words ‘theocracy’ and ‘America’ were uttered in the same breath. Now, with two Democratic senators from one of the country’s largest liberal states joining hands with the religious right, I’m not so sure you can dismiss the thought so easily.
(cross posted at Bring It On!)
This entry was posted on Friday, July 28th, 2006 at 6:08 am and is filed under Politics, Religion.
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July 28th, 2006 at 8:10 am
Scary! Theocracy has never been a threat before Bush. It’s bizarre. California needs to stand firm in their common sense-based laws…what’s this all about? Barbara Boxer stands up ALONE so much of the time, I can’t believe she sold out. What’s the advantage? Is this just all about money? What a disappointing move on behalf of the leadership California provides for the rest of the country. Yes, like it or not, the rest of us do, in many ways follow their lead. Quite a responsibility, huh? Perhaps too much… thanks for the update Ken, we’ll keep an eye on this one from up north.
July 30th, 2006 at 4:03 am
Since when does saying a cross needs to be protected mean that the government is establishing Christianity at a national religion?
July 31st, 2006 at 1:13 am
Quote, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” – Are you that paranoid? Having a cross up on government property is establishing a religion? Well I guess you want to pull all them there crosses and Stars of David off all the graves on Gumment land too!
What kind of freak are you that you really think the so called, extra-constitutional line “separation of church and state” idea is sabotaged by a cross on Gummint property.
If you really cared about “true freedom of religion” you would not be afraid of people practicing it on Gummint land OR private property. Your fear makes me suspect you are psychologically unfit for office!
“Let’s remove all aspects of God from our country and history books so we can can be truly free”, seems to be the cry of the socialists. Do you really want that?
Next thing is telephone poles!
August 1st, 2006 at 11:25 am
kent, kent, my man kent, you need to lighten up and ease your mind, you are promoting yourself to congress right? so be cool, calm, and confident!
if cross funding is inconstitutional in there, so bring that up and gather a class action lawsuit against whoever is behind it. heck, gather a fund to remove the cross and put it inside a church or something. or better yet, tell a church to buy the cross and install it inside its compound. solve the problems!!
peace man, peace!!
August 2nd, 2006 at 5:09 am
(responses)
bonj- nice to hear from you. Yeah, the last time theocracy was this prominent was during the Salem Witch Trials. Seems to be a bit regressive to me.
jon- welcome back. when the government uses public tax dollars to maintain a religious symbol separate from any other religious icons, I think it can be inferred as a preference towards that religion. No one is talking about this action as establishing a national religion per se, but rather as showing a preference towards a particular religion, which has also been an interpretation of the Establishment clause.
Prying1- Nice to hear from you too. If you would refer to my comment to jon, I think you will see the point I am trying to make. As for the crosses and stars on tombstones issue, visit the arlington website and you will find (with a few clicks in the right spots) a whol myriad of approved symbols that the government will put on a soldiers tombstone at their charge, including a Muslim symbol, an athiest symbol, a wiccan symbol, and so on. Clearly that is an all inclusive program and not singling out one particular faith to apply dollars towards. So that portion of your assumption falls flat.
Further, I do not fear religion, rather I object to the use of public tax dollars to promote a single religion over others, especially without the consent of the taxed.
True religious freedom, to me, would consist of people not prosyletizing so loudly that their symbol needs to be seen by all, as well as being paid for and maintained by the government.
Your other assertions are putting words into my mouth that did not form in my brain but in your own. I make no such claims about history books or telephone poles. Although, with new fiber optic technology, underground communications transmissions are not only easily achieved and asthetically pleasing, but possible safer for the general public, so I won’t complain if they do ‘disappear.’
anon- BTW, the name is KEN…no “t” on the end. In the post immediately preceeding this one, I provide a link to the history of the Mt. Soledad Cross that you could read to learn about the 14 year legal tug-of-war that has resulted in numerous losses for the pro-cross crowd, as well as showing the tactics the have used to circumvent the rulings. This act of Congress is just the latest in a long string of theocratic efforts on the part of the right wingers. Study up, and then we can talk again.
August 4th, 2006 at 11:52 pm
I like the old Buddhist story, there’s a young monk, walks past a window at the Monastery, and sees through it, an old monk, praying to the statue of Buddha in his room, most devoutly. ‘My’, thinks the young monk, ‘that guy is really pious, and a good Buddhist.’
next day, he walks past the window again, and sees the monk with an axe, chopping the Buddha to pieces! He’s horrified, so runs in, shouting.. “Hey, what are you DOING? Yesterday you were praying so intently and piously, and today you attack Buddha with an AXE? What’s the matter with you??’
‘It’s cold today, and I needed some firewood’, replies the old monk with a wink.
What is a statue?
August 8th, 2006 at 4:30 am
This evening I heard that a whistle-blower had previously filed a lawsuit against the companies who built the Alaska pipeline back in 1977. Apparently, over 600 welds were never x-rayed. Now we have oil leaks in the great northern wilderness and oil prices are again on the rise. Lovely energy policy, don’t you think?