Blog Against Theocracy #1 - Tuckmac

To start off the weekend, I tried to find an apporpriate quotation, or something that would encompass my writings this weekend. I was unable to find one to sum up the entire weekend, however, I found one that does have some resonance to today.

"With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion." -- Steven Weinberg, Scientist found at:The Quotations Page

It seems as though the United States has been going through a rather frightening period lately. I'm sure it's normal, as the current occupant of the Whitehouse is a bit of a conservative, and a definite Christian.

This weekend, bloggers from all over America are going to be writing about religion. And already, there's been a few right-wingers that are trying desperately to twist what this blogswarm is about, and make all of us seem to be godless-communist Pinkos, or something. And I do want to, in the interest of full disclosure, come right out and say that I'm not particularly religious. I'm one of those annoying Liberals, raised a good little Catholic boy, in Catholic schools. I was baptised, confirmed and actually thought of myself as a pretty good Catholic.

I fell away from the church. And you know what's really funny about it. It's not 'cause I felt that God was not real. On the contrary... I was a very DEVOUT Catholic. I left my particular church, because they stopped CALLING it a church, and began calling it a "Community." You see... The marvellous fathers there, thought that they were scaring away too many Yuppies by calling it a church, and decided that a "community" would draw all the "Easter Catholics" (and their wallets) to the church more often. They ended the practice of kneeling. They took away the bell that symbolised the magic and mystery of the Eucharist... Basically, my priests (and most of their friends) made my "Catholic Church" and others in our country... Well... "Catholic Lite" or something.

God to me is too much of a mystery... Is TOO powerful to not approach with a certain sense of awe and mysticism.

The one place that used to "house" the mysticism was a building specifically made for worship, a church/mosque/synagogue/temple. And people from all over our country, regardless of their particular persuasion, spent an inordinent amount of 'weekend' time in their worship-building.

Then they'd go home, have dinner with their families, go to sleep... And then wake up and go to work on Monday.

Religion and 'normal' life were intertwined only so far as to give us something to do on a sabaath, or what-have-you. Now-a-days... Religion seems to be creeping more and more into our "regular" work/live weekdays, and I'm fairly certain that this is causing more problems than it's helping. In my Last Blog I linked to an article about the push to change religious rights in the workplace. And instead of doing something intelligent, like... I don't know... BANNING overt religious expression, they're trying to not only allow it, but PUSH it further.

What I think, and what MOST people SHOULD think, is that your religious belief is your right. Your 'cramming' your belief's down my throat is NOT your right. As more and more Muslim-people immigrate to America, there's more and more overt Islamic thought seeping into our daily lives... (In Minneapolis at the moment, there's issues with Somali cab-drivers not driving passengers from the airport 'cause they're carrying alcoholic beverages with them).

Instead of firing the cab drivers, they're attempting to change the law to ALLOW this behavior. Christians are getting more up in arms every day, and shouting their beliefs from the rooftops because of this crap happening... And what does our government do? They try to push MORE religious craps through the legislature.

Folks... It's time that we stopped allowing ANYONE'S religion to effect others.
What you do in the privacy of your own home/worship building is your own business.

Don't tell me that I can't get drunk on a Sunday, or that I can't buy pork-products at a Target, 'cause you can't "touch them" or something.

If all of us, Muslim/Christian/Jewish/Hindu/Buddhist or whatEVER you are pull back a bit, agree to disagree, and quiet the heck down... Perhaps our country will again return to a bucolic state of calm.

-- Tuckmac