Posted on 09/23/2006 1:51:52 PM PDT by wagglebee
A current myth among so-called intellectuals is that it doesn’t matter what you believe about ultimate questions or whether you believe anything at all. All that is required of us, say they, is to believe as we wish. But our current war with Islamo-fascists no longer allows us that luxury.
We can approach this question on both the political and the theological levels. As to the first, it is simply untenable to maintain that you are free to believe whatever you wish, for the political societies which human beings form are based on some belief or other (in our case, equal rights). Societies are either separate and distinct, or altogether incompatible.
That is, Americans are subject to the Constitution and laws of the United States of America and no other country, and Americans who mean to keep their liberty certainly reject tyrants.
The truth is, Americans can believe only whatever is compatible with our way of life, and when they do not, there are varying consequences–from a mere difference of opinion, to fierce partisan competition, to outright civil war. (Fortunately, we’ve had only one civil war.)
Those few Americans who prefer communism, fascism, theocracy or slavery may be tolerated only if they do not seriously threaten our Constitution. Republican government demands loyalty no less, if not more, than any other form.
Another mistaken idea held by some is that we are free to believe whatever we want about theological matters. That is true only insofar as divine matters are distinct from human matters. Thomas Jefferson was truthful, though not tactful, when he said that a man may believe there is either one god or twenty, for "it neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."
Yet Jefferson and the other American founders lived in a largely Judaeo-Christian society which taught morality, as well as piety, and that was an "indispensable support" for freedom, as George Washington emphasized in his Farewell Address. The Constitution’s Article VI forbade religious tests for public office and the First Amendment forbade Congress from establishing an official religion or prohibiting its free exercise.
True religion, Jefferson believed, flourished more in a free society than in a despotism, although he could not know the future. Today, Americans almost unanimously affirm that people may have any faith or no faith, as long as no one’s rights of conscience are denied.
What, then, is the challenge posed by Islam? Will it still be true that we may believe whatever we wish, even in the face of a worldwide challenge from the most extreme or assertive elements of Islam? It is a real question, as two Fox News employees realized when they were forced to convert by Palestinian gunmen who had taken them hostage.
The main reasons that the founders were confident that state and church would pose no threat to each other were that republican government was the freest regime in the world and that religious adherents had come to prize salvation and right living more than imposing their beliefs. All sects were, and are, free, but none powerful enough to force conversion.
More than this, as Pope Benedict XVI recently reminded us, Christianity’s history is bound up with Greek political philosophy to such an extent that faith must stand the test of reason and reason should acknowledge the claims of faith. The Pontiff could find little or no evidence that the same can be said for militant Islam. Our God is reasonable, as well as loving, he said. Both attributes exclude the resort to violence in making conversions.
What better proof of the truth of Benedict’s words than the immediate resumption of the irrational and violent outbursts that the world witnessed when some Danish newspapers published cartoons poking fun at Mohammed: "The Pope should be burned for saying that Islam is irrational and violent!" Even a person of the meanest capacity can grasp the irony.
James Madison once wrote that "a nation of philosophers is not to be expected." Certainly, militant mullahs and determined jihaddists would not only agree but insist that the experiment never be tried. But for the millions of us who are not philosophers we must consider the possibility that some religions are better than others, at least if we apply relevant criteria.
Does one faith characteristically teach love but not exclude reason? Does another typically teach not love but irrational hatred of nonbelievers? One cannot truthfully call the choice between them arbitrary.
Yet the left still insists on calling the Muhammadans peaceful even after they call for the violent death of the Pope because he dared to repeat a factual observation that Muhammad's death cult is prone to violence.
The Pope's remarks were on the mark. And they highlight the fact that the radical islamists and the liberal christians and jews are really two sides of the same coin.
The radical muslim has faith but no reason.
The secularist christian or jew has reason but no faith.
Neither view is compatible with human nature.
Taking that a step further, one is love-based and encourages spiritual growth by examination and confession.
The other is rage-based and demands submission with no questions asked...essentially removing any prospect of growth.
Furthermore, since sanity is a matter of facing reality and learning to adapt and deal with it effectively, a prohibition from facing reality, particularly about something elemental as one's belief system, is to deprive that person of what he needs to develop spiritually and live rationally.
Islam, to serious believers, is a belief system that, if not violated, leads to raging insanity which can best be manifested in violence and destruction.
Islam is the only major religion in the history of the world which, if strictly adhered to, requires the believer to commit murder.
Actually, it doesn't matter at all to me what an Islamic believes.
I think the Bible and Sun Tzu kind of said it matters what you believe long before the pedophile from Mecca was hatched.
Go here to get a learned analysis of the false religion Islam: http://prophetofdoom.net/chapter.aspx?g=401&i=41003
You said -- "Actually, it doesn't matter at all to me what an Islamic believes."
The problem with that (as far as it goes) is that it leads to the kind of thing that we saw on 9/11/2001. That proceeded directly from "what they thought". That's the problem. We're not isolated from their thinking -- especially when that "thinking" means that they wish to take over the United States, fly their flag over the White House and take over other Western nations (in the name of Islam and their Sharia law).
Oh..., wait a minute..., on the other hand, I guess that statement would be true to form for an Islamic (or maybe perhaps a Democrat or liberal). I guess it could be true of someone here in America (too) that just thought they could be isolated from the radical, fascist, Islamic hoards. Yeah..., that's the ticket...
Regards,
Star Traveler
Thanks for the link, bookmarked.
And to recall what Jesus taught about hatred and murder...if you hate in your heart, you are guilty of murder.
The Pope recognizes this evil for what it is. And he is carefully and strategically moving against it.
Yet Jefferson and the other American founders lived in a largely Judaeo-Christian society which taught morality, as well as piety, and that was an "indispensable support" for freedom, as George Washington emphasized in his Farewell Address.
One thing I think many people - including, possibly, our President - do not understand is that "freedom" requires a certain order behind it. While many Americans are probably no longer practicing Christians, this is built into our society and we are still living on the legacy, so to speak, of Judeo-Christian thought and social structures (which themselves include Greco-Roman ideas).
Even people who reject the morality and ethics know that there is something to reject; this is because Christianity is based on the concept of natural law, and our Founding Fathers accepted this and based the Constitution on this concept. But the Islamic idea of morality and ethics is entirely different from ours, and consists in following the bizarre precepts of their founder combined with the equally bizarre concepts of sharia (Islamic law).
I'm not sure "freedom" can really take in a society that is based on Islam, because Islam is anti-rational, fatalistic, class-bound, and has no institutions or theories that respect human liberty. So far, "freedom" has meant that Islamic countries are "free" to chose sharia, which is like selling yourself into slavery: forbidden and legally impossible in the West, but obviously, not in the Muslim world.
Very well put. I congratulate you.
Thx for your support!
What if you had to pull out a prayer rug, wash yourself according to a prescribed order, kneel on the rug, turn yourself a specific direction, bow and repeat the same prayer over and over - FIVE, maybe six TIMES A DAY at prescribed times, plus make numerous ceremonial trips to a mosque with all the requisite washings and prayers - or else be threatened with bodily harm to your person or to your family? What if you had to take specific pains every time you went to the bathroom that you did it just right so as not to offend God (the very God who is supposed to have created your bodily functions)? What if your wife had to trip around in clothing down to her feet and covering even her mouth and nose? - or else the preacher would have you disciplined? What if you were expected to kill your daughter if she were "dishonored"? - I mean, no wonder the men do not really have time to pursue any real work. - In a country where religion IS the law, what a horrible, claustrophobic way of life.
Freedom in Christ is freedom indeed.
[Go here to get a learned analysis of the false religion Islam: http://prophetofdoom.net/chapter.aspx?g=401&i=41003]
Thanks for the link. It is quite an eye opener. Everyone should go there to get an idea of what we are fighting this war for.
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