We’ve had several discussions in this space regarding the Christian majority in our country, and of the efforts expended by activists asserting that majority into the public realm. These efforts range from religious displays in public buildings; religious slogans on our currency and modifications to our Pledge of Allegiance; a fabricated “War on Christmas” leading to boycotts of businesses for the "sin" of inclusiveness; to the attempts at mind control by school textbook review committees.
It is the protections our Founders wrote into our Constitution that prevent the activists within the Christian majority, or any majority, from running roughshod over the rest of us.
It is the protections our Founders wrote into our Constitution that prevent the activists within the Christian majority, or any majority, from running roughshod over the rest of us.
There is a very strong reason that our Founders placed such importance on protecting the minority from the will of the majority. They had personal experience with religious persecution and were determined that it would never happen in the United States. Other countries are not so fortunate, and the minority is paying the price. We should learn a lesson from this.
###
Posts
2 Comments:
During a class on the history of science this was knocked home forcefully: the founding fathers had experience not only with generations of ancestors' difficulties when the powers of church and state overlapped, but could witness those problems "first hand" in their contemporary world. US Christians see radical Islam and Sharia law as alien, and are thus incapable of recognizing how similar their own political/philosophical leanings are. I'm afraid the problem is that most in the US have forgotten, or more likely, never learned, the nightmares that inevitably follow a merging of state and religious power. At the risk of being cliche, those who forget the past are bound to repeat it.
It seems to be those who, for whatever reason, never learned, in support of those not heeding the lessons of the past, that are consistently pushing for a "return" of Jesus to the classrooms and in our government.
This has been on an upswing since about the end of the first World War, and the trend roughly parallels a downtrend in the educational standings of American students in relation to other countries. It would be interesting to see an overlay graph.
Post a Comment