What Religion's Blind Stranglehold on America Is Doing to Our Democracy

[marmar]

from TomDispatch, via AlterNet:




What Religion's Blind Stranglehold on America Is Doing to Our Democracy

By Ira Chernus, Tomdispatch.com. Posted January 16, 2008.

We've got to find a way to take the conservative symbolic message of faith talk out of American politics.




It's a presidential campaign like no other. The candidates have been falling all over each other in their rush to declare the depth and sincerity of their religious faith. The pundits have been just as eager to raise questions that seem obvious and important: Should we let religious beliefs influence the making of law and public policy? If so, in what way and to what extent? Those questions, however, assume that candidates bring the subject of faith into the political arena largely to justify -- or turn up the heat under -- their policy positions. In fact, faith talk often has little to do with candidates' stands on the issues. There's something else going on here.

Look at the TV ad that brought Mike Huckabee out of obscurity in Iowa, the one that identified him as a "Christian Leader" who proclaims: "Faith doesn't just influence me. It really defines me." That ad did indeed mention a couple of actual political issues -- the usual suspects, abortion and gay marriage -- but only in passing. Then Huckabee followed up with a red sweater-themed Christmas ad that actively encouraged voters to ignore the issues. We're all tired of politics, the kindly pastor indicated. Let's just drop all the policy stuff and talk about Christmas -- and Christ.


Ads like his aren't meant to argue policy. They aim to create an image -- in this case, of a good Christian with a steady moral compass who sticks to his principles. At a deeper level, faith-talk ads work hard to turn the candidate -- whatever candidate -- into a bulwark of solidity, a symbol of certainty; their goal is to offer assurance that the basic rules for living remain fixed, objective truths, as true as religion.

In a time when the world seems like a shaky place -- whether you have a child in Iraq, a mortgage you may not be able to meet, a pension threatening to head south, a job evaporating under you, a loved one battling drug or alcohol addiction, an ex who just came out as gay or born-again, or a president you just can't trust -- you may begin to wonder whether there is any moral order in the universe. Are the very foundations of society so shaky that they might not hold up for long? Words about faith -- nearly any words -- speak reassuringly to such fears, which haunt millions of Americans.

These fears and the religious responses to them have been a key to the political success of the religious right in recent decades. Randall Balmer, a leading scholar of evangelical Christianity, points out that it's offered not so much "issues" to mobilize around as "an unambiguous morality in an age of moral and ethical uncertainty." ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/story/73764/

[TlalocW]

1. I would gladly vote for any candidate regardless of political party

Who when asked about his personal religious views/faith answered, "None of your damn business."

TlalocW

[ladjf]

2. I believe that the greatest underlying problem with the religious

mindset is that religious people have been trained from childhood to not question certain "approved" sources, i.e. preachers, parents, and the bible. But, on the other hand, to never believe in sources
that are on the "approved" list.

That allows them to be mis-led by certain people without the usual healthy skepticism.

Further, since they are trained to believe that "faith" is adequate proof of verity, the objective scientific methods of proof are not required. In other words, their major life beliefs are fabricated rather than learned through objective thinking. This is a recipe for failure and in our case, their faulty belief system has spilled over into politics and is threatening the inhabitants of the world in profound ways.