Got anxiety? Religion and political polarization today

The swift but powerful wrath of Farnaz:

THIS HOMOPHOBIC, XENOPHOBIC BIGOT BLOGGER WAS BANNED FROM ONFAITH UNDER SEVERAL PSEUDONYMS, including, CCNL.

HE IS BANNED. PLEASE CONTACT ELIZABETH TENETY SO THAT WE DO NOT HAVE TO BE HARASSED ANOTHER DAY BY THIS TROLL.

(I always wondered what happened to CCNL)

What I'd like to know is why the authoress uses an official photo (above) that must be at least 30 years out of date.

THIS HOMOPHOBIC, XENOPHOBIC BIGOT BLOGGER WAS BANNED FROM ONFAITH UNDER SEVERAL PSEUDONYMS, including, CCNL.

HE IS BANNED. PLEASE CONTACT ELIZABETH TENETY SO THAT WE DO NOT HAVE TO BE HARASSED ANOTHER DAY BY THIS TROLL.
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Recognizing the greatest con jobs pulled on humankind and the guilty con men will go a long way in solving the sticky issues revolving around religions.

The Guilty:

- Mohammed and his mythical friend Gabriel

- Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

- Joe Smith and his mythical friend Moroni

- the Jewish scribes with the mythical Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses and Job

Posted by: rambollini-1 | November 19, 2010 9:27 AM

You bet I'm afraid of Palin's theocon bullies and thugs who would deny certain religions the right to build houses of worship and disenfranchise gay and Mexican citizens their Constitutional rights.
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When did a Palin theocon ever suggest Mexico should disenfranchise its citizens' rights under its constitution?

Posted by: WmarkW | November 19, 2010 12:41 PM

My bad - I should have written both gay and Mexican US citizens. The answer for the latter then is Arizona and the Fourth Amendment.

Religion itself is a small player in the political polarization. Conservatives are more often religious because they have a strong set of values that comes with the doctrine but singling out one aspect as the major cause of polarization is unfair.

The biggest single cause of polarization, IMHO, is the failure of the Democratic Party to deliver the promised spending cuts after they got #41 to swallow his tax pledge. Who wants to compromise with folks who do not honor deals?

You bet I'm afraid of Palin's theocon bullies and thugs who would deny certain religions the right to build houses of worship and disenfranchise gay and Mexican citizens their Constitutional rights.
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When did a Palin theocon ever suggest Mexico should disenfranchise its citizens' rights under its constitution?

You bet I'm afraid of Palin's theocon bullies and thugs who would deny certain religions the right to build houses of worship and disenfranchise gay and Mexican citizens their Constitutional rights.

They are a threat to America no less than the Taliban.

"Do not be anxious," Jesus says. But did he? Not necessarily-

See:

http://www.faithfutures.org/JDB/jdb082.html

Recognizing the greatest con jobs pulled on humankind and the guilty con men will go a long way in solving the sticky issues revolving around religions.

The Guilty:

- Mohammed and his mythical friend Gabriel

- Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

- Joe Smith and his mythical friend Moroni

- the Jewish scribes with the mythical Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses and Job

Does this close the itals?

Also, will someone *please* close the italics somewhere on this page? :)

Speaking of things that we really need to go back and pay attention to. :)

Ever wonder why 'The Terrorists' occupy the same space as 'Total Destruction Of The World Forever' in some heads?

Cause. We. Haven't Healed. From. The. Bomb.

Dig?

(I think I might be pleading, here. But, Reverend. The reason it's still insane is cause so many people of our generations *are* insane. The Godsforsaken Cold War.

If you *didn't* ignore it till it went away, you probably ended up badly. If this strategy succeeded, you ended up in charge of the GOP and majore financial institutions, still worried about queers and commies...

Cause that apparently *worked.*

The only problem is, Reagan pushing the button may be one thing.. What's been going on all along is another.

Dig, Reverend? Preachers got too used to the idea, 'No one can deal with the big issues.' And they preach that now, even if the big issues at the moment both can and urgently must be dealt with. And have been a long time.

(Note to the below: Most of our troubles today are about *denial.* In the Cold War, not only was denial all one could *do,* mostly, it actually apeared to *work,* even if the real problems were festering while we wondered if Reagan was senile enough today to light up the planet like a microwave dinner with a fork in it.

Dig? This is the hard part about not being in the big religions, ... the big religions don't want to admit how spiritually-messed up all that stuff was while they were scared too. They look for other 'causes.' And that's usually a minority. Note how when the Berlin Wall came down, the witch-hunts began.

""Liberals hope everybody will "see reason" and calm down. It doesn't work. Why not?""

Because people who won't see reason by now don't *want* to, Ma'am.

Seeing reason would mean that we're in a heap of trouble, which is neither conveniently and tidily the 'end of the world' nor 'out of our hands' like the Cold War threat of arbitrary doom many of us grew up under, but rather *all too real, gritty, and *not* random (or divine) arbitrary total death requiring wither an 'ultimate answer,' or 'total denial,'

But rather something all too practical, actually needing actual attention in ways we can and must actually do actual things about, rather than 'die with the most toys/Christian brownie points.

Can't you see? For our generation and at least one back, it's *still* about The. Bomb.

When I think of this, I thank the Gods every day that kids now growing up *don't know. The Bomb.*

What they also don't know is that a lot of the stuff they *did* grow up with is that crazy *because,* like the Christian Apocalypse so much conflated with it, (And which in fact seeks to replace it, even by actually trying to convert the US Air Force,) ...is actually why everyone's so messed up, or how far that goes, or what life would be like *without* all the permutations of that sort of 'Messed up' that comes of *all* their elders having lives under that big Sword of Damocles for *all* our formative years.

We're *all* messed up by 'The Bomb,' Ma'am. Some try and use it, many try and capitalize upon it,

But few have *healed* from that.

'A Bomb' is one thing. But 'The Bomb' is something people of certain ages still get triggered by.

These are the kids we prayed or protested or worked or fought would get to live.

The theocrats want to try to shape them to their fears, our fears, anyone's fears. I guess I observe they aren't that powerful about it, actually.

and just blaming someone and absolving onesself

The Tea Partier's and the religious right whine that it is other people (e.g. African Americans, immigrants, secular believers and nonbelievers, etc) who are responsible for their problems, which are actually reversible by eduction and hard work.
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Who doesn't finish high school?

Hispanics 18%
Blacks 10%
Whites 5%
Asians 4%

Seventy percent of black children are born without fathers and a highly disproportionate number of them will end up in prison. 44% of Hispanics in the US are not literate in English.

And people say the problem is white's non-acceptance of diversity.

Susan, your religious message is still based on dialogue between reasonable people. People on the fear narrative are immune to reason. The fear or persecution narrative is a powerful story that connects to their anxiety about the rapid changes wrought by the modern world. These people feel their way of life is under threat and will be lost forever. In a sense they are right; uneducated middle-class hayseeds are headed toward extinction. Unfortunately, they will persist as uneducated lower-class hayseeds with even more fear and anxiety. Such people are a danger to themselves and to our country.

The problem with the persecution narrative is that it provides a rationale for very bad behavior by blaming other people for their misery when most of their difficulties are self-induced. The Tea Partier's and the religious right whine that it is other people (e.g. African Americans, immigrants, secular believers and nonbelievers, etc) who are responsible for their problems, which are actually reversible by eduction and hard work. Instead, they suggest that they are a peaceful people, but are being forced by non-believing infidels to oppose TYRANNY with violence in the name of FREEDOM. And of course, violence is justified because FREEDOM needs to be periodically fertilized with the blood of patriots.

Before Nixon, the black vote was reasonably split between parties, other minorities were barely a blip at the election booth, and there was no women's vote that was noticeably different than men's voting pattern, or gay issues commanding their own attention.

I'm sure we could narrow the political spectrum a lot by dis-enfranchising some demographic groups. And if we didn't need issues targeted at specific demographics.

I'm not advocating here; just describing and explaining.

It seems like the one thing, perhaps the only thing, a broad range of Americans can agree upon today is how divided we are as a nation.

No argument there.

The authoress is right: We have radically irreconcilable understandings of what it means to be a human being, if you think you created yourself. And we have radically irreconcilable understandings of the meaning and purpose of sex and marriage, if you think they are separable from the Creator's plan, or if you think the sexes are interchangeable.

So far, so good. But then, the authoress just can't help herself. She proceeds to place blame and ascribe sinister motives.

It's not her side's fault, of course. It's our fault, for daring to resist her side's vicious and ceaseless assaults on marriage, family, sexual morality, human dignity, decency, virtue, faith, orthodoxy, patriotism, and authentic values and culture.

resentments inflamed by the continuing economic downturn and its constant and looming threat to our economic security

Translation: The rednecks are just bitterly clinging to God and guns.

Given that the authoress starts from the premise that anyone who does not share her opinions is motivated by fear, anger, and ignorance, her call to "come together" rings rather hollow indeed.

The humanist who only see fear used by the religious fails to perceive humanity...(Global warming, nuclear holocaust, U.S. Imperialism, Hugo Chavez, Kim Jung Il, Castro, ACLU, etc.) This very article subtly warns about fear of bullying thereby building the very environment of fear the author claims to reject. "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline." said Solomon.

Of course religion plays a large part in fear! Muslim terriorists defend their terrorism partly by their interpretation of the Quran, regardless of whether or not the majority of Muslims agree with their interpretation.
They defend the other part by depicting American and European goodwill towards Israel as being anti-Arab.
Then, of course, the Israelies label anyone who dares disagree with them as anti-semetic.
Most Americans side with Israel because Americans are more familiar with or are Jewish and do not have nearly as much interaction with Arabs or Muslims.
Americans and Europeans are more confortable with being seen as anti-Islamic than being accused of anti-semitism. This just fuels the fire for the Taliban.

Again your liberal perspective blinds you to the persistent anti-Christian message that is perpetrated through, for example, schools that magnify the crusades and Salem witch trials about Christianity while magnifying Muhammad and good jihad about Islam. Further, show me a Hollywood blockbuster that is positive toward Christianity. Or a sitcom? Secularism has persisted in trying to deligitimize all religion and now we are surprised at "pushback" from the religious? What about all the "fear mongering" that is produced about "back alley abortions", repressed females, repressed (everybody, homosexual, sexual, black, latino, fat people, ...). To label fear as a tactic of the conservative religious is to be blind to humanity. The humanist who only sees fear among the religious is blind to humanity.

Religion has value to many in handling a personal crisis. When the crisis is broader, religion justifies blaming, and, depending on which one, retribution.

The three main Abrahamic religions have always stoked fear to stay relevant: Confess your sins or you'll spend eternity in hell/perform these rites or be damned/attack the infidels or be denied paradise. "But God loves you!" completes the enigma.