We live in a world with hypersensitive souls. They would silence those who offend their ideals of secularism. You don’t thinks so? Then see what is being debated in the General Assembly (See here.).
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The volunteer chaplains aren’t receiving compensation, so there is no money issue. Since it’s not a question of “Where is the money coming from,” then what is the issue?
I’m all for secular government, but opposing that is just nonsensical.
Secularism is the excuse for the new intolerance. We have a bunch of people so poorly educated about their own history they think religion, particularly Christianity, causes trouble and starts wars. That is nonsense.
Think about how we usually define an enemy. Religion is not necessarily even a factor. There are people who will start a fight with you:
1. If you have something they want.
2. If they believe you oppress them or shame them.
3. If they believe it glorifies them to conquer you.
The Bible is pretty emphatic about warfare. A Christian could only justify warfare in self-defense or defense of another. So except for excuse number 2, none of those excuses would work. Even number 2 is dubious. Consider Martin Luther King. He advocated nonviolence.
The key thing about any conflict is the people who agitate for it. The most dangerous are the people who fit excuse number 3. They cannot be easily reasoned with; they must be restrained.
Some people need someone to hate and destroy. They look for someone different from themselves to step on so as to elevate themselves. Sometimes religion is their excuse. Sometimes it is race, and sometimes it is class. It can be anything.
You’re so right on so much, yet so damned wrong on just a very little, though very important (IMHO), distinction!
I don’t think that your stereotyping of secularism is true or even fair. There is in fact heated debate in the secular community over how we approach the topic of religion. It’s not just thoughtless condemnation and mockery as people seem to think it is. It isn’t about cultural vandalism or profanity. That’s not what I want to talk about, though…
Let’s look at the campaign for secular government. The debate, with the “evil secularists” on one side and the “religious nuts” on the other, is really amusing to me. I laugh because all reasonable people on both sides of the debate are simply two sides of the same coin, and I say that without reservation. It’s only the extremists on both sides that fuel the flames of culture war, reinforce stereotypes, and (rather successfully) prevent any meaningful progress.
I’m strongly of the opinion that this is a debate over which rational people can come to a rational conclusion if only everybody else would stop being so infantile. Until both sides stop playing the “hurt feelings” card so much (an action I view with only the highest contempt), nothing good will ever happen, and we’ll keep fighting over the same meaningless nonsense (like whether we can ‘allow’religious expression in police departments, because apparently hearing the mention of ‘God’hurts some people’s ears).
lneely,
In the sense that I think government should not establish a religious belief, I too am a secularist. I also think there are extremists on both sides. However, I worry most about successful extremists. We have people who want to stifle any evidence of the religious belief, and they have had considerable success.
Everyone thinks that they are rational, and everyone has beliefs that others consider extreme. Such is true of what you call extremists. Within our society extremists can exert considerable influence as members of a larger coalition — of extremists. And such is the case with extreme secularists.
We have within our society different people who believe government is the solution for various different ills. We also have a government with a tradition of secularism. As our government grows larger and our society grows more religiously diverse, the pressure for the so called neutral solution, secularism, grows.
Thus we are educated in the secularized public school system. And thus children, unless their parents are quite diligent, lose contact with the roots of the religious beliefs and practices of their forefathers. In fact, I consider myself such an example. It was only in my fifties when I began studying it seriously that I realized just how ignorant I was of the Bible and my cultural heritage.
Anyway, it seems we share a similar opinion, but unlike you, I am less amused. I think the damage people have done in the name of secularism is quite considerable.
Spot on! You’ve hit the nail on the head, and I can’t disagree with a single word of it.
Just to clarify, the only reason I say that I’m “amused” is because it’s so bloody frustrating that sometimes the only way to cope with it is to laugh. In fact, I care about this subject deeply, and I can assure you I’m not laughing at all by the damage that I’ve seen caused. It just seems healthier to laugh, even out of frustration, than to get angry.
I learn a lot here and really appreciate your insights. Good day, sir.
Ineely,
If as a young adult you have already made the same observation as I — our school system lacks religious diversity — then you are to be congratulated.
Most Americans fail to realize the extent that their freedoms depend a good education, an education that allows for a diversity of thought as well as sexual and racial diversity.