Posted on 11/27/2014 2:49:24 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
If there is one thing we have learned over the past 6 years in the United States, it is the mutually reinforcing nature of different expressions of freedom. No form of freedom--religious, civil, political, or economic--is of course absolute. But unjust infringements (intentional or otherwise) on one freedom can easily result in damage being inflicted upon other spheres of freedom.
This is indisputably true, for instance, of religious and political freedom. All totalitarian and most authoritarian regimes usually end up seeking to severely restrict religious liberty. Sometimes this is for ideological or religious reasons. Some religions, for instance, embody very weak notions of tolerance for those of other faiths or none. That creates problems for religious minorities in states such as Iran.
But severe restrictions on religious freedom often have as much to do with seeking to shut down any sphere of life that is outside the governments control. Thus Communist regimes, for instance, invariably showed limited tolerance for religious organizations, especially those that refuse to accept the state as exercising any authority over questions of religious dogma and doctrine, or those which maintain they have certain obligations to God which will always trump those of the government. This is core to the Chinese Communist regimes ongoing suppression of those Chinese Catholics and Evangelicals who refuse to submit to the demands of the regimes religious affairs bureaucracy.
One area that has received less attention, however, is the connection between economic liberty and religious freedom. For many Americans and others, this has not been so obvious:or at least it wasnt until cases such as the Hobby Lobby case started making their way through the American court system.
[SNIP]
Mutually reinforcing: thats how the Founders saw the various forms of freedom. And the sooner we return to that vision of liberty, the betterfor religion, for business,for everyone.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Happy Thanksgiving.
Freedom of religion is ever the symptom, as well as the effect of good government.
. . . and even this understates the problem; if your church doesnt participate in a government program - but takes cognizance of the fact that government assistance exists in dealing with people in need - the churchs charitable outreach is contaminated.Just by telling someone in need that the government will provide for them, you denigrate the love of God in favor of the love of a prince. A prince who is happy to buy love with money he did nothing to deserve.
This is also related to Eisenhowers famous military-industrial complex speech. Which was not limited to the possible influence of the military-industrial complex on the government, but also cautioned about the intertwining of science and government interests:Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades. In this revolution, research has become central; it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government.That is a pretty good description of Global Warming science - people who start out wanting to be truth-seekers, and end up being owned by the government.Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers. The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded.
Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientifictechnological elite.
Eisenhowers Farewell Address
Thank you for the post and link. Good stuff.
We should all remember Lysenko and Lysenkoism - government promoting a false belief and attacking anyone who would dissent.
“Lysenkoism is used metaphorically to describe the manipulation or distortion of the scientific process as a way to reach a predetermined conclusion as dictated by an ideological bias, often related to social or political objectives.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trofim_Lysenko
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism
Yes indeed, good point. Ive been thinking about the term Grubercrat which I coined (probably others thought of the same thing, but I havent seen it); the close Russian equivalent would be apparatchik.
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