Posted on 10/28/2009 2:52:57 PM PDT by DBlake
"God Is Dead." No. When Friedrich Nietzsche announced the death of God in 1882, he thought that in the modern, scientific world people would soon be unable to countenance the idea of religious faith. By the time The Economist did its famous "God Is Dead" cover in 1999, the question seemed moot, notwithstanding the rise of politicized religiosity - fundamentalism - in almost every major faith since the 1970s. An obscure ayatollah toppled the shah of Iran, religious Zionism surfaced in Israel, and in the United States, Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority announced its dedicated opposition to "secular humanism."
Does religion belong in people’s lives?
the answer is the same.
As far as I’m concerned, “religion” only belongs in foreign policy in the sense that our Judeo-Christian heritage informs our values and serves, in many ways, as the foundation of Western civilization. But specific doctrines and millenarian ideas have no place in foreign policy.
If you really want to solve the middle east problem, convert the Muslims to Christianity.
"Nietzsche is dead"
---God
"Drop dead"
---Eddie Haskell
Precisely.
>>Does religion belong in people’s lives?
>
>Precisely.
So, now we come to the question “What is Religion?”
James Ch 1 gives a good definition, IMO.
The politicalization of Christianity, whether that is foreign or domestic, is always destructive of the Gospel. Christianity is about the life and salvation given by God through Jesus Christ. Trying to turn Jesus into a political or secular ruler is precisely what Jesus did not want. Foreign policy should be based upon reason and, if necessary, force. War is diplomacy by other means. The danger is that Christianity becomes associated with a particular government, political party, or foreign policy. This will result with a view in which it is no longer sufficient to believe in Jesus Christ or to observe the Ten Commandments, but one must also hold to a certain political philosophy. Unless someone is getting direct revelation from God, foreign policy can only be judged upon reason and experience. It should not be a matter of religious faith.
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