The Prince William and Manassas Family Alliance (PWMFA) has a post that purports to explain the historical basis for civility in American politics. That explanation will shock some, rile others, and leave many feeling somewhat ashamed. Few have a neutral reaction to the Gospel of Christ.
Why would anyone behave with incivility towards another human being? The definition won’t tell you.
incivility noun
in·ci·vil·i·ty | ˌin(t)-sə-ˈvi-lə-tē1 : the quality or state of being uncivil
2 : a rude or discourteous act
Does looking at the definition of the root word, civility, help?
civility
[si-vil-i-tee]
noun plural ci·vil·i·ties.
1. courtesy; politeness.
2. a polite action or expression: an exchange of civilities.
3. Archaic . civilization; culture; good breeding.
Nope! So what is the basis for civility? Why do most people generally treat other people with respect? Well, one reason is that we are afraid of each other. We are the meanest, nastiest, most dangerous creatures on Earth. When one of us harms another, most of us will at least consider revenge. However, if the prospect of vengeance alone was enough to maintain civility amongst us, we probably would not need government. In fact, because we…
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These dominionist and Christian Nationalist organizations are definitely seeking political power and political control and they have been very successful. However, as a Christian and an American, I also can’t help but feel that there is something antithetical to Christ’s example about Christians forming into power politics organizations that seek to dominate our government. There’s too much angery cynicism in their message, too much mixing of the good with the bad, too much demagogic oversimplification of complex issues into black and white emotional appeals, too much willingness to follow promoters of vice and corruption in order to achieve political dominance on a few issues, too much partisan tribalitic certainty and not enough Christian humility, compassion and mercy that leads to incremental change through compromise. It’s more of a feeling than anything else, but please forgive me if, like the prosperity Gospel, this sort of Christian Nationalism just gives me the creeps.
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@tsalmon
Look at my latest post.
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I concur with your Perspective comment,
“Liberal Democrats are a gang, and they have taken over the public schools. It is time we separated ourselves from that gang and stop allowing the thugs to decide what our children will learn.”
Need School Vouchers, in my opinion.
Regards and good will blogging.
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Good stuff,Tom. I am laughing here, but I am thinking of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie, and the pirates are just not civil, so they draw their swords and start attacking one another whenever there is conflict. They call this “politics.” So like, it’s exhausting, there is no teamwork, and nothing ever gets done. It’s a simplistic explanation, but that is one reason why we want to cultivate “civility.” Everything else is just a tremendous energy drain and we can’t ever get anything done.
There is enough blame to go around, but I’m going to really point fingers at our public schools. They abandoned good manners and civility in pursuit of other agendas. I remember when the anti bullying curriculum came in, “you shouldn’t bully people who are minorities or gay.” No! You shouldn’t bully people because bullying itself is wrong, it doesn’t reflect Christian values, and it denies that people are made in the image of God. So kids didn’t learn moral values, instead they learned about protected social status and the power of a victim narrative.
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@IB
Grew up watching movies. Every now and then someone mentions a movie, like the “Pirates of the Caribbean”, and I consider watching it, but I never get around to it. Don’t doubt it is a good movie, but I lost interest in Hollywood some place.
In service of their agenda, Liberal Democrats love to make us feel guilty. So they take perfectly good words and try to make us feel guilty about them.
Is there something wrong with being part of a tribe? “Tribalism”, however, is just a made up word designed to make us feel guilty about sharing a common heritage and common values with other Americans.
Is there something wrong with being part of a gang, like pirates? Yes, pirates share only one thing in common. They have joined together rob others and to spread their ill-gotten gains among themselves.
Since you did a series of posts on Proverbs not so long ago, I suspect you remember Proverbs 1:10-19. Liberal Democrats are a gang, and they have taken over the public schools. It is time we separated ourselves from that gang and stop allowing the thugs to decide what our children will learn.
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“Blessed are those who join together into religious gangs in my name for they shall inherit control of the American government”.
That must be a beatitude that I missed in the translation that I’ve read.😉
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The Declaration of Independence contains this phrase.
“a decent respect to the opinions of mankind ”
The opinions I read and hear in the news are neither “decent” or “respectful” in my opinion.
Regards and good will blogging.
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