|
Democrats need to re-introduce people to something they used to know just from living in this society before the vast corporate takeover silenced us all, and that is the great, middle-of-the-road, (actually liberal), gentle and tolerant but principled Protestant Christianity, that is today considered not only a threat, but a haven for totally stupid assholes. I blame Republicans for this lie, and I believe they will pay a price for all this. I am of a type that loves Walt Whitman, the Transcendentalists of the mid-1800s and etc. (Emerson, Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, Theodore Parker, etc.), the great William James and the classic book "The Varieties of Religious Experience" and many others. I love that era because it is somewhat similar to our own--same kind of disillusioned searching, corporate criminality, etc. There also used to be a kind of liberal religious thought that was popular during the '30s and '40s--their books actually sold well--like Harry Emerson Fosdick, Lin Yutang (who I was thrilled to learn years ago my Mom read during the '40s), and others; unmistakeably liberals, Christians. It used to be common.
Just to further this thought a little, the following are two posts of mine that tell this attitude pretty well--what I think this certain Christian attitude is, what I think God might really think of the prick Bush, etc. The first was a poem that was actually my first post here, where it sank without a trace--BAM!--I don't know if anybody even read it; the second was a message I posted at another website under another name. I apologize if anyone has already read either one.
"Bushie's Little Christmas New Year"
So we welcome the new, with the same old fear,
Because of course, Bush is still here.
We live in a dream world, led by a fake,
Are we all hypnotized; not awake?
-----------------------
Santa brought Bush a gift, as you know;
Stole another one--two in a row!
Republicans brimming with gifts, like elves,
Ohio vote numbers they made up themselves.
So now, regardless, the deed was done,
The media handled, the election "won";
But for every promise Bush fails to keep
The people now just fall asleep.
A while ago, at any rate,
A crisis was coming, and it would be great;
"Where is Bush?" they were heard to say,
"On vacation--we like it that way."
An army of the poor had come to call
Up to the White House and straight down the hall;
They asked what became of that campaign vow:
"Where are your Christian morals now?"
Bush's staff thought they were servants or peons,
They hadn't talked to their like in eons:
"What do I say?" one of them fretted,
"These aren't contributors; who had them vetted?"
The people told of their terrible plight,
Family farms destitute, urban blight;
The old now threatened, the young who never had,
"For us, your economy is always bad."
"We are not helped by stocks, up or down,
"The words 'tort reform' are the words of a clown;
"Tax cuts won't help us, subsidies too,
"Because we have nothing, and they all go to you."
Their accusations, their cries for relief,
Began to annoy the Repub Corporate Chief.
"These people were fun when they cheered me on cue,
"But now the servants tell ME what to do??"
Finally, Rich Boy had had quite enough,
"You welfare queens think you have it tough?"
"You try to embarrass me with all these displays,
"Why don't you turn in your 401Ks?"
"If you have these problems, sell off your yachts,
"You think you have problems--I have lots."
Then Repubs started pushing them all out the door;
These little peons were not fun anymore.
"What do the poor know about God's will?
"Whatever they want, I want to kill."
None understood what was the fuss,
"You claim you want Jesus--you voted for us."
Then the whole group came back to their senses,
Remember our pose, our attacks, our defenses.
"How can we use this against them," Bush thinks;
Call them "liberals," "whiners," "they drives when they drinks"?
"Let's skip that last one," one of them said,
"Especially when driving makes some end up dead."
"We'll search all their records, we'll dig up some dirt,
"As the Lord God permits us to fight when we're hurt."
As the privileged demons prepared their attack,
Something new had called them back.
The media learned of the incident here;
Those brown-nose corporate crawlers--they're nothing to fear.
The media grilled Bush as they have all along:
"You were right, weren't you Georgie, and they were all wrong?"
Then Bush asked an aide advice on how to seem sincere,
"Give a pinch to your cheek--it'll force out a tear."
Oh what a laugh, the oppressor on top;
Hauls out the Bible, to use as a prop.
The same winners win, the same losers lose,
But who do you fool, when thus you abuse?
------------------
I dreamt I had a dream that night,
Little Bushie's toughest fight.
A real punishment for a real crime;
No Daddy to bail you out this time.
To the dark Other side, get there with a push,
And meet at last the Lord; surprise--it wasn't Bush!
"The punishment you give will be given to you,
"Because you are a sinner, too."
A long line precedes you, so wait at the end,
What have you made of yourself, "Friend"?
Your Party is now the rich, who acquire,
And I know your faith to be that of a liar.
Laughing, partying, your spirit left to rot,
"But I was hungry, and ye fed me not."
You put on an act, have a photo-op here
But there the picture is totally clear.
The powerful arrayed against those who can't fight,
Total oppression this long dark night.
Halliburton, Cheney, GE and more,
Kenneth Starr, WalMart, every kind of whore.
Plotting, planning, stabbing, slashing,
Here is where you belong.
And listen now to the pain of your victims,
Where once, laughing, you sang along.
I ordered you to "Feed my sheep,"
"Give away your riches."
You mouthed the words and took the credit,
Then like a light, it switches.
A slogan, a mask, a campaign tactic,
Pretending to know God's holy pain.
The only visions you ever had
Were from your mounds of cocaine.
You were winning now, on the attack,
Mouthing words straight from that device on your back,
But wait, don't worry, it will come true,
Someday the world will all judge you.
You trick and you fool and do all your research,
No judge can stop you, on corrupt Earth.
And like a rich boy you always get by,
But wait, bastard sinner; when you die....
"Real Christians, Fake Christians"
Every now and then, Republicans become so power-mad, criminal and
corrupt, that they go insane, start ripping up and destroying
everything, and have to be stopped. They did it with Teapot Dome,
causing and then not addressing the Depression, starting the Viet Nam
war (Eisenhower sent the first "advisors"), Watergate, Iranscam, the
Iranian election/coup of 1954, El Salvadoran death squads of the
1980s, building up both Saddam Hussein and bin Laden, on and on and
on, until the present day of nothing but corruption. Nothing,
though, equals the sin they have commited by twisting and then
killing the actual meaning of Christianity, remaking it as their own
corporate brand-name product, just so they can win elections and the
battle of propaganda. It was as if they had the self-delusional gall
to think that they could stand at the Gates of Heaven and block us
all from going in. Since they can't, they sell "Christianity"® as an
aggressive ad campaign to smear us with. They are poisoning the real
Christianity and making it so ugly and repugnant to people, that it
may never recover its true message that "there is room for everyone
at the table."
When I was a teenager, like a lot of people I drifted away from
religion, eventually becoming an atheist. I was disgusted at the
hypocrites who pretended to be religious, sanctimonious yet cold to
real suffering, I was sick of hearing their archcon bigotry masking
as "tradition," and I was repulsed by the sickening, stale, "dead to
the living world" atmosphere of mainstream Christianity. It seemed
like a social club where I did not fit. For years, I went on,
considering it a relic of male oppression, and ignored it. I got
their bigoted presumptions out of my mind and went on. At some
point, though, I re-read the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5, 6, and
7); I had remembered it as really brilliant, and wondered if it still
was. It was like a whole new world, and a new religion. Every line
was beautiful and deep poetry, and I kept reading it over and over,
and thinking. I was still an atheist, but this was completely moving
me. Gradually I became a Christian again, but with all the learned-
crap removed, from my earlier rebellion, I approached it wanting to
learn what it really was. It was now as if I were alone with the
real teaching, trying to understand it, and did not have to resent
anybody else's characterization of it. I later learned, by studying
a more mystical Christianity, that this "going away from crowds" and
forgetting the worldly way, to approach God with your own sincere,
cleared mind, is a time-honored way of seekers. I read things about
how Jesus can easily be considered a feminist, a socialist friend of
the poor, a troublemaker, an anti-capitalist, all by referring to
ordinary Bible quotes, and I realized for the first time that this
religion was a friend to me, too. If I had only considered it a
bastion of conservative thought and rhetoric, I never would've
approached it as it really is.
This is why I hate Republicans so much, for what they knowingly do.
They claim abortion is condemned by God, yet it is never referred to
in the Bible, (and yes, they had herbally-induced abortions then). I
even learned that for the first few hundred years, early Christians
did not believe a baby had a soul until about the third month of
life, and that baptisms were done later for that reason, to protect
it only when it was there. If a baby died before then, it was
considered totally non-existent by God. Further, St. Augustine
always wondered whether the soul of each human being was taken from
the total All-Soul, or was individually created anew by God for each
one; and was never able to answer it. These are deep, searching
questions we might do well to approach with some humility, and along
come these obnoxious, blathering Repubs "telling us what the facts
are." They condemn homosexuality, yet Jesus never refers to it. For
all their Damning to Hell, though, they can never manage to find the
reams upon reams of quotes from Jesus condemning rich people for
keeping their wealth and not giving it to the poor. This only
confirms my opinion yet again: when I seek religious guidance, the
first place I go is to rich, corporate oil executives.
Their biggest sin, though, is not merely being hypocrites, which we
all are; it is to rip up the Christian message for all, so that it
makes archconservative corporate Republicans win elections. This
proves that these people are not really religious at all, since that
is not their focus; that they do not care about each one's
mystical/moral relationship with God, but are only concerned about
what your political opinions are, and that they will exploit anything
to win. There is a passage in the Bible, (Matthew 12: 31-32), about
how you can sin against and blaspheme God, Jesus, and all else, and
it will be forgiven, but to blaspheme against the Holy Ghost "shall
not be forgiven...neither in this world, neither in the world to
come." The Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit is generally taken to mean the
truth or meaning of things; the light, and the way to get there,
etc. These Republicans are destroying the understandable
instructions of Jesus and the Apostles, that we can learn by, all so
they can fuck around with the advertised perceptions of things. They
want religious terminology injected into the political discourse?
How's this, Repubs? Burn in Hell.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
