Sunday, March 28, 2010

The State as Religion

The Beacon Blog has a thought provoking post entitled, Nothing Outside the State, in which it postulates that for some people, the State has become their religion.  I agree with A Conservative Blog for Peace who says that this is true for both the right and the left.  There is no area of our lives in which the state does not have a say.  It regulates us from the moment we are born (and before) to the moment we die.  It makes common transactions  into unbearably complicated and frustratingly impossible labyrinths.

By becoming all-pervasive, the state leaves us unable to follow our own consciences and our own faith. The state makes our decisions for us, about what we teach our children, about life, and about death.

Over the years, there has been much hand wringing over the possibility of religion becoming (too) political.  I think, now, the opposite has happened.  (People's) politics has become (their) religion.  Most Americans are happy with neither party, and those who operate within the two party system are extremists who seem unable to work with members of the other party, and, often, with those in their own party as well.  They see their party and its platform as a kind of fundamentalist scripture from which they dare not deviate.  This does not bode well for the future of the United States.

4 comments:

  1. honestly, i think religion needs to be kept out of politics. the only time i ever agree with it is when it comes to abortion and the rights of the unborn, and traditional marriage. otherwise, it needs to be kept out of politics.

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  2. Here comes 1984. Another good flick is Equilibrium. Both talk about the same thing.

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  3. Haven't seen Equilibrium. I'll have to look for it.

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