Category Archives: Theocracy in our Government
Pew Research has a goodie..
They aren’t just a polling company..they research this stuff over years, decades even. This one is particularly interesting because it matches up with what progressives have been saying all along…
The Muslims aren’t any different that white evangelicals.
Well, no shit sherlock..The title of the analysis is:
In Intensity of Religious Identity, Not Unlike Evangelicals
Although Muslims constitute a small minority in the United States, and their holy book and many of their religious rituals are distinctly their own, Muslim Americans are by no means “the other” when it comes to religious life or politics in the United States. In many ways, they stand out not so much for their differences as for their similarities with other religious groups.
In their level of religious commitment, Muslim Americans most closely resemble white evangelicals and black Protestants. In their basic political orientation, they closely resemble black Protestants as well as seculars. When it comes to their views on some social issues, such as homosexuality, Muslims’ conservatism matches that of white evangelicals. Muslims are even more likely than evangelicals or any other group to support a role for government in protecting morality.
Religion
Muslims account for less than one percent of the country’s population, whereas eight-in-10 Americans are Christian. Recent public opinion surveys by the Pew Research Center find that, with respect to the intensity of their religious beliefs, Muslim Americans most closely resemble white evangelicals and black Protestants. Within all three groups, large majorities (72% of Muslim Americans, 80% of white evangelicals and 87% of black Protestants) say religion is “very important” in their own lives. Those notably high percentages set all three groups apart from Catholics (49%) and white mainline Protestants (36%).
The link above will take you to the rest of the analysis of the data. The Repubes can choke on this one, believe me. They only need to look in a mirror to see what a terrorist-loving Muslim looks like.
Oh, btw..they both think their religious beliefs should be utilized through the legislative process to define our morals.
Terrorism, thy name is Theocracy and our Republican leaders are no different than the people they screech about wiping off the face of the earth. Guess it takes one to know one.
Tags: Terrorism, Muslims, Evangelicals
What would the Prince of Peace think of the Prince of War?
The word Theocracy is derived from the two Greek words Qeo/j(Theos) meaning “God” and kra/tein (cratein) meaning “to rule.” Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater USA believes in a Theocratic form of government. Besides Blackwater USA, he is also the Vice President of the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation, which funds one of the biggest groups of religious Theocrats in existence, the ADF (Alliance Defense Fund). The ADF’s mission is to break down the wall of the separation of church and state. They raise millions for their mission not from the small donations of individuals but from foundations like Erik Prince’s. A good read on the subject is Sarah Posner’s article entitled: ARMY OF GOD-The Legal Muscle Leading the Fight to End the Separation of Church and State.
Back to Mr. Prince. He specializes in not only funding rightwing religious groups that want to change America’s secular government into a Theocratic government; he is a millionaire that owes much of his success to the company he founded, Blackwater USA. Blackwater received a few meager contracts during the Clinton administration but hit the mother lode after 9/11. Interestingly enough, Blackwater was on the mind of Donald Rumsfeld the day before 9/11 was embedded in the minds of all Americans. The SOS spoke that day, September 10th, about the Department of Defense and its waste and inability to keep America secure. Rumsfeld called for a wholesale shift in the running of the Pentagon, replacing the old DoD bureaucracy with a new model, one based on the private sector.
The next day, September 11th, ushered in the beginning of an unprecedented scale of outsourcing and privatization of our military. By the end of Rumsfeld’s tenure in late 2006, there were an estimated 100,000 private contractors on the ground in Iraq–an almost one-to-one ratio with active-duty American soldiers. Mr. Prince has become a very rich man who runs a private army. To quote from Jeremy Scahill’s book entitled Blackwater, the Rise of the world’s most powerful mercenary army: “Blackwater is the elite Praetorian Guard for the “global war on terror,” with its own military base, a fleet of twenty aircraft, and 20,000 private contractors at the ready.” Also included in their arsenal are helicopter gunships, a private intelligence division, and it is manufacturing surveillance blimps and target systems.
The inherent problem with outsourcing our military to a private mercenary group is obvious. There is no oversight, no accountability and no allegiance to our constitution and its tenants of civil liberty’s and due process. However I doubt much of that bothers Mr. Prince since his goal is to change our constitution and our government so that both are based on a Theocracy. One would think Mr. Prince would value life over money, but I do not think that is the case based on the penny pinching that Blackwater undertakes. They took one word, “Armored”, out of a major contract they signed to provide services in Iraq. This cost 4 of their contractors their lives:
It is one of the most infamous incidents of the war in Iraq: On March 31, 2004, four private American security contractors get lost and end up driving through the center of Falluja, a hotbed of Sunni resistance to the US occupation. But on March 12, 2004, Blackwater and Regency signed a subcontract, which specified security provisions identical to the original except for one word: “armored.” Blackwater deleted it from the contract. To quote the attorney that represents the families, Mr. Miles:
“When they took that word ‘armored’ out, Blackwater was able to save $1.5 million in not buying armored vehicles, which they could then put in their pocket. “These men were told that they’d be operating in armored vehicles. Had they been, I sincerely believe that they’d be alive today. They were killed by insurgents literally walking up and shooting them with small-arms fire. This was not a roadside bomb, it was not any other explosive device. It was merely small-arms fire, which could have been repelled by armored vehicles.”
So, what would Jesus think of the “Prince of War”, Mr. Erik Prince cutting corners to become even more wealthy, not to mention funding groups that seek the destruction of our constitution? How would Jesus feel about Mr. Prince funding a group that advocates hatred of gays, who last time I checked…were made in God’s image?
Methinks, he would not be happy one bit that people like Erik Prince make money in an immoral war and in ways that jeopardize human beings so he can fill his own coffers and those of the religious extremists. He also wouldn’t be too fond of groups like the ADF that promote hatred and intolerance among other things. I could be wrong..but I doubt it.
“Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”– And I am not talking about the alleged persecution of Christians, as the ADF is so fond of saying. I am talking about the persecution of gays by groups like the ADF.
Tags: Politics, Blog Against Theocracy, Religion
Crossposted at Bring it On!, The Blue Republic, Bakersfield.com
The blog against theocracy blogswarm.
There are quite a few folks talking about religion, belief systems, God and Jesus this weekend. I do not attend a church, I am wary of organized religion, not having found a church that has a pastor like my beloved Pastor Dave in San Diego. He did not mix politics with his Sunday sermon’s and I appreciated that. He did not judge people period. He always said he left that up to God.
This weekend bloggers are conducting a Blogswarm that seems to be about keeping Theocracy out of our laws and government. This website entitled “First Freedom First” has basic tenants regarding how many God and Jesus-loving people believe, regarding theocracy in our government.
FFF is not the site that sponsored this blogswarm. But her views are ones that I hold dear and feel can explain why I chose to participate in this event:
- Every American should have the right to make personal decisions — about family life, reproductive health, end of life care and other matters of personal conscience.
- American tax dollars should not go to charities that discriminate in hiring based on religious belief or that promote a particular religious faith as a requirement for receiving services.
- Political candidates should not be endorsed or opposed by houses of worship.
- Public schools should teach with academic integrity and without the promotion of religious preference or belief.
- Decisions about scientific and health policies should be based on the best available scientific data, not on religious doctrine.
We join together, as the most diverse nation in the world, to commit ourselves to defending and preserving this freedom. I hope people will join in this just and freedom-loving cause.
I will post something SUNDAY that addresses the Theocratic bs that pervades our government.
Tags: Blog Against Theocracy
Its my Right to be Left of the Center 
I have no problem with God in our buildings as long as the entity doesn’t favor one religion over another. On our money? Great, it spends the same no matter what or who is on it. There are SO many different religions that worship or believe differently from what most folks consider traditional. Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses are also different than the traditional religions of Catholicism, Baptist, etc..
We alienate these different religions when we assume we are a Christian nation. We are a diverse nation that allows everyone to worship in their own way. I do not wish to remove anyone’s right to worship, and neither do the other folks that are taking part in this weekends activities.
Our goal is to keep religious dogma out of our governments laws. Everyone is guaranteed by our Constitution the right to worship on their own terms. There is NO national religion. Laws based on one form of religion to the detriment of all the others is wrong, its favoritism and it doesn’t go with the Constitution and the founding fathers intent. We need to RESPECT all religions and the only way to do that is to keep religion as a personal, private belief system which doesn’t alienate others by becoming part of our laws.
Of course we have people of faith in our government. Thats a wonderful part of our country. It means these officials, if they practice the basic tenants of religion, will make sure we take care of the sick, the poor and the elderly. They will honor their God by being good, honest people. They will respect the rights of others that do not believe as they do. Its about respecting everyone, regardless of their standing or their faith..or their lack of faith in a God. They will not demean women.
In a nation of many faiths, it’s impractical and inappropriate to foster specific doctrines in the government or teach them in public schools.
Tags: Blog Against Theocracy