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Exiled in NJ

"This is why if Jesus were around today and a woman taken in adultery ran to him for protection and he said to the crowd, Let the one who is without sin cast the first stone, forty-six Republican adulterers would bean her with rocks."

Man, you nailed that sucker good. Get out your copy of Unforgiven and see if Big Whiskey and Sheriff Daggett don't resemble what we have today. Funny that it took someone like Eastwood to make this parable.

Shakespeare's Sister

Mannion, excellent piece. (I started leaving a comment, which turned into a whole post.) Good to have you back.

bitchphd

I saw somewhere once, and I wish I could remember where because I think it is right and I wish I could give credit where credit is due, that the difference between that particular brand of conservatism and our particular brand of liberalism is that they think of things like "crime" and "terrorism" as *identities*, whereas we think of them as *actions*. So they think that unfettered police power won't affect them (or any of the "good" people) because they "aren't criminals." Whereas we fear that it most certainly could, or will, affect us (or other "good" people) because we realize that "criminal" is behavior, not identity--and that moreover, criminal behavior is defined by the state, and as the definitions change (e.g., protesting is now criminal behavior), well...

Pepper

Toss in the Puritan concept of "grace" as well. I just read Shakespeare's Sister, and I think that some of these kinds of conservatives see themselves as "born again," whereas others see themselves as straight-up "born." I learned about Puritanism in high school, and it freaked me out because grace trumped good deeds when it came to getting into heaven. These people who see "others" as bad also feel that they possess grace - so they are off the hook. Whereas mud sticks to the rest of us.

SAP

Once again, Lance, an excellent post. Kudos, sir.

Doug K

there may also be a Calvinist aspect - since they are already saved, the unconditionally elect, they are free to commit any sin.

harry near indy

great post, lance.

now folks, i ask you -- who among you with a certain amount of intelligence and courage would believe that jesus's death on the cross was for the redemption of mankind's sins, and those who don't accept that fact are heretical sinners/sinning heretics?

this is why i'm not a christian, altho i am a deist.

Lance

Pepper, Doug, the concept of grace and the Calvinism are part and parcel, as the Puritans were Calvinists, and I think you're both right. This is what I was trying to get at when I said that their religion excuses them in the very act of committing a sin. I didn't do it. Thanks for following up.

Doctor B, I wish you could remember where you read it too, because it sounds as though whoever wrote it said it better and more succinctly than I did. Also, Blue Girl has a quote from Viscount LaCart on certain religious conservatives' attitude toward authority, which says, basically, they don't really have a sense of right and wrong, they practice an obedience to an authority they trust to tell them what's right and what's wrong. At the moment the authorities they trust run the state, as you point out, and those authorities are telling them all kinds of lies.

Kevin Wolf

What disturbs me most with religious conservatives is their willingness to criminalize what they disagree with - that is, what they casually (if I can say that since there's usually spittal flying when they get going) categorize as sin. Fornication, homosexuality, drugs (medical marijuana), etc. If they don't like it no law shall be passed to decriminalize or - God forbid - APPROVE such behavior. People can't be left to decide things for themselves nor may they live in peace. They deserve not peace. Verily, they shall be eternally damned (but in the meantime we'll give 'em as much shit as we can right here on earth). Damned Heathens!

Chris

I enjoyed visiting a website that had something coherent to read. I have recently made it back into politics, with more fervor than ever. The culmination of my research into the conservative social structurs is a rather simple response to culture.

I believe past and present evidence supports my claim that although some of the reasons previously listed above are in fact correct, the true answer is that most conservatives refuse to embrace a new culture. Particularly, one that listens to anyone but them and obeys most laws. In the past, most children went to church, school, and the occasional picknick. This is not ture of the so called X-Generation. They seem to prefer to go to work or just be at home with their families.

The truth of the matter lies with how certain agendas are being formed in our society today, I personally believe the mems Dawkins described is appropriate for an answer. It used to be that concerned citizens got together to talk about issues, now it is much easier to log on and find your answer on any website of your choice. Examine the debate over pornography on the internet, rather simple in nature, but complex in form. Religious conservatives claimed they would clean up the internet and make it safe for children to use, but look at the language they used to describe these sites. The important question was never raised until the last minute, which was one of parental accountability. My argument is one which states that if the religious movement that touts personal responsibility would actually be responsible, most of these issue would be policed by themselves.

If one is to believe that ninety-six percent of americans are Christians, then one could easily postulate that of that ninety-six percent, what is the relative percentage of those that espouse the same views at Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and James Dobson. My guess is that it is not very many.

Stewart Dean

I grew up in the South, and so I have a to-the-bone appreciation of what Lance is talking about....I think it's really impossible for someone for the Rest Of The United States to have much more than a mental apprehension of this. Or as it is said about abortion, 'If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament'.
My line is about Born-Again fundies that they have a Get-Out-Of-Sin-Free card.
More comments at:
http://www.sdean.net/pol/GodNotEvangelical.htm

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