Now We Choose to Belong

Wrong again begone. I think gays should have the same rights as everyone else no more no less.

Religions have a somewhat subtle attribute that makes them more than a little incompatible with certain forms of government. The Godless communists were/are actually religion-less and not God-less. One can never stop another from believing in God(s) but can stop the fellow on the street corner with the bull horn..."our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ..." Our Lord and savior is Joe Stalin and no other shall have a voice or be represented and live to tell about it.

Religions are governments that template the old, (still is?) USSR government types -run by a central committee and ruled with an iron fist. That explains the fledgling communists states of early 20th century attempting to, actually in the case of China, put religions out of business. Religions compete with government for the loyalty of the commons.

As you so eloquently noted, religions are extensions of families creating communities. There's a sense of belonging, baptized, wedded and burried all three. In eastern Europe in particular the parish priest was the first one consulted when there was conflict within the community. He was judge and jury and his word was final. Call it religion but it's really government.

Just maybe the PEW report is telling us that Americans have become a little paranoid -can't decide which master to try serving. The notion of our freedom seems to be in conflict with the human need for community -sense of belonging. We're all Americans and that idea has been literally shoved down throats with the civil rights and other "every one's equal" movement.

Evangelical is another way of saying not so fast to all that equality -everyone isn't going to heaven when they die so there is still a better class of people. Gays in particular are not entitled to rights.

"We hold these truths to be self evident, all men are created equal..." Now we know Moses, Jesus, Muhammad and the parish priest were NOT created equal -the better class of people begins with them. And, what sort of a person would stoop to being equal to a gay?

Maybe Americans are actually beginning to believe their own words but can't quite shake the shackles of the better class of people running their lives? So they are now wandering from ministry to ministry looking to integrate into the better class yet feeling there's something fundamentally wrong with being there?

Where does all that lead is a fairly good question -could give some insight into mid east future? As things now stand getting Sh ii and Sunni to agree they're equal seems to be an impossible task. The bitter truth -free elections do not a democracy make. They could spell the end to religion and that gives the better class of people something to worry about.

While WAPO readers discuss America's religious infidelities-- The Iranian parliament is discussing a new penal code, under which citizens who convert from another religion will face execution. People wake up!

THE PRICE OF FAITHLESSNESS

Iran to Punish Apostasy with Death

Apostasy -- or the formal renunciation of religion -- is already punishable in Iran with death. But now, Iran wants to make the death penalty for apostasy part of the penal code. The European Union is concerned and has asked Iran to reconsider.

The European Union this week sent a letter to authorities in Iran expressing its concern over a proposed change to the penal code that would make apostasy punishable by death.

The EU is responding to news that the Islamic Republic is planning to subject "apostasy, heresy and witchcraft" to the Hudud -- the body of fixed punishments assigned to crimes that are considered violations of the "claims of God." Other Hadud crimes include alcohol consumption, theft, highway robbery and illegal sexual intercourse.

As the news agency Reuters reported earlier this week, the EU, which opposes the death penalty as a matter of policy, expressed "acute concern" over the proposed penal code revision.

"These articles clearly violate the Islamic Republic of Iran's commitments under the international human rights conventions," Slovenian leaders, who currently head the rotating EU presidency, wrote in a statement.

"The EU calls upon the Iranian authorities, both in government and parliament, to modify the draft penal code in order to respect the obligations."

The death penalty has already been applied to apostates in Iran -- but this was never, since the founding of the Islamic Republic in 1979, institutionalized as a matter of legal practice.

Iran typically dismisses Western criticism of its legal system, claiming that Islamic law is fundamentally different.

The main concern seems to be arising from the Baha'i faith, which forms a religious minority in Iran but, unlike Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism, is not officially recognized by the regime.

On Thursday, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that the Baha'i community in Germany is particularly worried about the fate of three Iranian Baha'i, who were arrested in 2006 in the southern Iranian city of Schiras for having founded a center for Baha'i children and youth. They were sentenced to four years imprisonment and are said to be in a secret service rather than normal prison.

At the beginning of February, the EU officially protested the sentence and expressed its concern about the "worsening situation for ethnic and religious minorities in Iran, in particular that of the Baha'i." The Iranian court defended its decision on the basis that the Baha'i, in promoting their faith, were spreading propaganda "against the Islamic regime."

The Baha'i faith developed out of Shia Islam in the 19th century and its followers have been subject to discrimination for generations.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,538466,00.html

You said it all with, "No, choosing to have a faith rather than belong to one is not healthy or sick, it’s just who we are."

The PEW report is just one of many indications that we are going to stay who we are and not become some version of a religion controlled country. That's in spite of 'official' religions recognized by our many governments as well as 'unofficial' ones that are not.

The momentum, as you point out and the PEW report says, is towards us becoming less and less controlled by religion. If we take that one step farther along, predict the future a bit it's clear that religion is on the decline.

The question is not so much about us but about the rest of the world. Will Islam in particular ever change, get to be like us? Only taxes will tell.

How long will Americans live with the very reasonable thought that the next terrorist attack, one that dwarfs 9-11, is being planned at a tax exempt mosque using unaccounted dollars that are also tax deductible? Americans do pay attention to their neighbors even though it's not nice.

Looking ahead, the PEW report says in a very subtle way that church property will be taxed just like the real property of witch doctors, palm readers, mojo bone tossers, the lot of 'unofficial' religions. Did I leave Voodoo out?

Religion cannot be recognized as such by the government without violating the 1st amendment. It cannot receive tax breaks without being recognized as such. Calling religions charitable organizations is a laugher -the dodge that's presently used to get around the constitution. We could simply say Islamic faiths aren't official like Scientology while still recognizing Jewish and Christian faiths. Let the congress chew on that one.

Maybe tomorrow is already here and just hasn't been recognized?