Believe in Yourself

The United States was never meant to be a Theocracy under the control of Church or Evanglical discipline.

Courtesy: nevertoolate.biz

(PASO ROBLES, CA) - The seed of the Evangelical Movement in America is the Puritan Sect of old. The title, Puritan, is seldom mentioned today, but the Republican Party is infused with Puritan emotionalism and denunciation of Democratic principles it considers inconsistent with Puritan and Republican values of the Party of God.

Protestants won their freedom from Catholicism in the 18th Century, the same century in which Pilgrims and Puritans killed their last witch in America, and in which our Declaration of Independence was declared, followed by the approval of the Constitution which separated Church from State. But Evangelists have added another dimension to good intentions by renouncing what was written by the Founders as being contrary to their intentions, insisting that its own interpretation is correct. Pure nonsense of course, except to those who believe what they are told is true, the people who form the base of the Republican Party. `

Puritans came to America after their Pilgrim cousins where they settled among them. Both believed in witches, persons whose beliefs differed from and disturbed the tranquility of their community’s ideology. They killed their last so-called witch in America in 1720. Witchcraft was a holdover from Europe where Calvinists killed their last witch fifty years later, following the example set by Catholic Inquisitions used extensively prior to the Schism to prevent dissidents from fleeing the Catholic faith.

Pilgrims immigrated from Rotterdam, a Lutheran country, to which they fled to escape English religious tyranny. After twelve years, the Dutch encouraged them to emigrate giving them the Mayflower in which 120 Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts near Plymouth Rock in 1621. The colony succeeded with the help of Indians and moved inland where later their colony was joined by Puritans of the Calvinist faith. The colony was everything to the Pilgrims that became the seed for the Congregational church in America, while the Puritans, being supremely devout and of fundamentalist belief in the Bible and Jesus as Christ, and all that pertains to such belief, became the seed for the Evangelical Movement in America.

Unlike the Pilgrims, Puritans recognized the value of government, and used its religious beliefs to work themselves up to a level of control in Protestant hierarchies. Organization and insistent belief in the Bible and Jesus as Christ seems naturally to have elevated Evangelicals to the level of Holy See of the Republican Party of God where members are expected not to waver from what they preach as Gospel, and the Republican Holy See seems determined someday to impose its will on the people of the United States and beyond via the Republican Party.

During the Geo. W. Bush Administrations - Bush was a born again Christian - he was guided by the Holy See to believe virtually everything he was told and was expected to do. Fellow Travelers were assigned judgeships and positions of authority in government which Barack Obama still contends with. Rev. Parsley of Cincinnati fame preached that it was God’s will - he meant Jesus - that American Christians should destroy Islam, and America invaded Iraq, preemptively.

I believe Israel would be delighted if President Obama and the Democratic Party was defeated in November, because Israel would then have better luck getting the War Hawks of a Republican Administration to agree to a pre-emptive strike against Iran. I am hopeful President Obama will not cave in to the Israeli desire to force America into war against Iran. It may be in Israel’s interest, but I wonder how it would be in the interest of America. I am hopeful that by re-electing Barack Obama to a second term such an error can be avoided, at least for the time being, but I also have my doubts.

Consider this; we have a monolithic embassy in Iraq, guarded by thousands of non-fighting troops, which works with Iraqi’s to re-establish the viability of its oil production, as well as its government. In anticipation of an end to the Afghanistan war, talks are already being held to determine how many American bases should be built, and where, on Afghanistan territory.

All presidents seem to have committed to maintaining a foothold in countries where American troops have fought. Iran is sandwiched between Iraq and Afghanistan, which may explains why President Obama keeps diplomatic pressure on Iran. Nothing like three of a kind to excite the GOP’s desire for greater influence than it has now worldwide. Republicans don’t want to reduce military spending, and are more willing to go to war with Iran, but can we afford it? The greater expense to maintain the military would necessarily come from cutting entitlement programs at the expense of the lower classes.

An essential difference between the two parties is that Democrats want to protect and help citizens who need it while helping them to help themselves to rise within our society. The GOP is tied to the Evangelical See’s one-way philosophy which denounces President Obama as not being a Christian in the only sense Evangelists are capable of recognizing Truth.

Rev. Jeffrees’ comment about Mitt Romney not being Christian enough to be the nominee of the Republican Party comes to mind: remember?

The Holy See has declared war on women who it would drag by the hair back to the Middle Ages. It’s not going to happen! Women are knocking on the door of the Augusta Golf Club in Georgia for membership, a move contradictory to the attempt to turn back history’s clock and to subject women again to the misery of the past. Can’t you see it?

The GOP prefers to expand the U.S. foot print in the world at the expense of lower classes. Wars against Iraq and Afghanistan are wars of religion where victories are seldom quick, and never easy, as we have learned; but success, according to the plan of Evangelists, begins with the establishment of a foothold from which to spread the American Gospel of the Evangelical Holy See.

The first contingent of 200 Marines has landed in Northern Australia as the first of what will become an outpost from which to protect American interests in South Asia. Just another step in what I believe is the intension of Evangelism someday to rule the world by expansionism.

Perhaps the GOP is opposed to birth control because there may be a need for military volunteers, and for that reason the Far Right is not interested with catering to the lower classes, but women are determined to live as equals in a world where they can decide as individuals what is in their own best interest.

The United States was never meant to be a Theocracy under the control of Church or Evanglical discipline. No man, and that includes those of faith, can speak for God whose manner is inscrutable and impossible to interpret. God is what we are taught to believe is true, but no man is the true voice of God.

Evangelists attribute Natural Disasters to the will of Jesus based on what they have decided is what they prefer to believe. It is they who want to bend our will to theirs for the power it gives them. Pat Robertson believes the trade of Tim Tebow from Denver to the NY Giants was contrary to God’s will, for reasons too obvious to mention, and Pat would not be surprised to see Denver suffer as a result. Que será, será - whatever will be, will be.

Kenneth G. Ramey, Salem-News.com's Religion and Philosophy Writer, confronts the hard issues of politics and religion from a logical point of view that combines interesting insight with history into the truth, or lack thereof, that underlies the strengths and weaknesses of the Religious Right’s determination to use American politics for its own misguided, or selfish, interest. It’s rare for a writer to balance his writing between religious values and the secular guarantees of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights with the knowledge that Ken possesses, and to do it so effectively.

Ken was born in Minnesota but was raised in California since 1932. He is the youngest of four boys raised by his mother alone during the dark years of the Great Depression. He Graduated from SFSU in the 1970s when in his mid-forties, majoring in Spanish North American History, and added three years of post-graduate study, much of it in Philosophy and Religion. We live at a critical time in history and believe Ken's views represent the view of many who are tired of the commercialism and false interpretations about religion today. Watch for Ken's articles on religion, philosophy, politics and history. View articles written by Kenneth G. Ramey You can email Ken at: darken1@sbcglobal.net