Evangelical Christian Fundamentalism and American Politics

Is it not possible that such an element, but theistically minded rather than Straussian, might gain such a centrality of power?

Wow. Some real decrepit stuff being thrown around in this debate. When I return tomorrow, I will address each and every issue. Some things are so right, they couldn't possibly be wrong and you want to walk all over them from some deranged science unheard of in any real world. It is sickening what some of you have to say and you are afraid of the religious zealots?

Politically and socially the "left" has been in control in the US since the 1850s at least. (Not necessarilly every second of that time but for the bulk of it..) and both our laws and social policies have been moving leftward at a plodding rate since then with the fastest moving period being between 1930 and 1975 or so.

Whatever their rationale, we ended up with groups of disaffecetd citzens and when they complained those on the left basically told them to shut up and live with it. This was "progress"! It's the "will of the people"!

Well, all those little groups started talking to each other and started coordinating their activites and as a result they began to influence politcal events and social policy (which is what Butterfly has mentioned a few times now). And every court ruling on piddly stupid issues like the forced removal of nativity scenes on public property and the removal of "under God" from the Pledge of Allegience drove more and more "centerist" people to recognize alot of the silliness going on. Every "win" for the left added fuel (people/groups) to the right. At the same time a lot of people who were for many of left leaning programs saw a lot of other left-leaning groups going to far and the organized left fractured.

All of those gave the right more power and that shift in power has the same effect as weight does on that see-saw. Power, like weight, causes the see-saw to tip and suddenly the right found it's feet on the ground and the left has it's feet up in the air kicking wildly.

That tipping of the see-saw is what happened in 2000.

Sorry. This opinion of yours is horseshit. A heaping, steaming pile of it.

I think that is a bad analogy...........

Offensive is always offensive and should be disallowed unless the meeting is an offensive language club, or some other organization that has offensive language as a by-law. In that case she should leave.

In a public forum, it is wrong.

However, to insinuate that Secular is representative of offensive language and Christian isn't is an absurd analogy..........

That's a very different twist than what I got from that story Sophia!

Wow. Some real decrepit stuff being thrown around in this debate. When I return tomorrow, I will address each and every issue. Some things are so right, they couldn't possibly be wrong and you want to walk all over them from some deranged science unheard of in any real world. It is sickening what some of you have to say and you are afraid of the religious zealots?

MichaelAllen wrote:

Wow. Some real decrepit stuff being thrown around in this debate. When I return tomorrow, I will address each and every issue. Some things are so right, they couldn't possibly be wrong and you want to walk all over them from some deranged science unheard of in any real world. It is sickening what some of you have to say and you are afraid of the religious zealots?

"decrepit". "deranged". "sickening".

Yeah, gotta say I'm reallly looking forward to your next post.

Try not to spit on your monitor...

--The Party calls for the United States monetary system to be returned to the gold standard (2000).

--Congress ... should withhold appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in such cases involving abortion, religious freedom, and all rights guaranteed under the Bill of Rights.

--The Party supports the immediate adoption of American English as the official language of Texas and of the United States of America....

--The Party calls upon the Texas Legislature and the United States Congress to repeal any and all laws that infringe upon the right of individual citizens to keep and bear arms as guaranteed by the 2nd Amendment to the United States Constitution; and to reject the establishment of any mechanism to process, license, record, register or monitor the ownership of guns.

--The Party believes that the practice of sodomy tears at the fabric of society, contributes to the breakdown of the family unit, and leads to the spread of dangerous, communicable diseases.... The party opposes the decriminalization of sodomy.

--We support the elimination of public funding for organizations that advocate or support abortion. We urge the reversal of Roe v. Wade.

--We call for the abolition of the U. S. Department of Education and the prohibition of the transfer of any of its functions to any other federal agency.

--We support the requirement that schools teaching sex education must teach directive abstinence until heterosexual marriage with an uninfected person as the only safe and healthy means of preventing sexually transmitted diseases, the spread of AIDS, and pregnancies in unwed students, and is also a way to build strong and lasting relationships.

--The Republican Party of Texas reaffirms the United States of America is a Christian nation, which was founded on fundamental Judeo-Christian principles based on the Holy Bible (2002)

--Our Party pledges to do everything within its power to restore the original intent of the First Amendment of the United States and dispel the myth of the separation of Church and State. We support the right of individuals and state and local governments to display the Ten Commandments on public property subject to their control (2002) (similar language in the 2000 platform).

--Since Secular Humanism is recognized by the United States Supreme Court as a religion, and our government-funded schools are prohibited from teaching any religion, the Party believes that Secular Humanism and New Age Religion in any form should be subjected to the same state and federal laws as any other recognized religion.

--We support individual teachers' right to teach creation science in Texas public schools.

--We support and strongly urge Congress to pass a Religious Freedom Amendment which provides: "Neither the United States nor any State shall prohibit student-sponsored prayer in public schools, nor compose any official student prayer or compel joining therein."

--The Party supports amendment of the Americans with Disabilities Act to exclude from its definition those persons with infectious diseases, substance addiction, learning disabilities, behavior disorders, homosexual practices and mental stress thereby reducing abuse of the Act (2002)(similar language in the 2000 platform).

--The Party supports an orderly transition to a system of private pensions based on the concept of individual retirement accounts, and gradually phasing out the Social Security tax.

--We urge that the IRS be abolished and the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution be repealed.

--We further urge that the personal income tax, inheritance (death) tax, gift tax, capital gains, corporate income tax, and payroll tax be eliminated. We recommend the implementation of a national retail sales tax, with the provision that a two-thirds majority of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate is required to raise the rate (2002).

--The Party believes the Minimum Wage Law should be repealed and that wages should be determined by the free market conditions prevalent in each individual market (2002)(similar language in the 2000 platform).

--We demand that our federal legislators vote only for balanced budgets. Social Security should be taken off budget. In case of a budget surplus it should never be used to increase spending, but rather to pay off debt or be returned to the United States taxpayer.

--The Party believes it is in the best interest of the citizens of the United States that we immediately rescind our membership in, as well as all financial and military contributions to, the United Nations.

--The Party urges Congress to support HJR 77, the Panama and America Security Act, which declare the Carter-Torrijos Treaty null and void. We support re-establishing United States control over the Canal in order to retain our military bases in Panama, to preserve our right to transit through the Canal, and to prevent the establishment of Chinese missile bases in Panama.

The leaders of the larger groups feed the fear and hatred that "Christians" feel toward anything that is outside of their experience.

-Education is bad because it leads to independent thought, which might lead to questioning one's leaders and the "scripture" that they use to establish their authority.

-Affirmative action is bad because it might lead to an "other" achieving parity or surpassing your standard of living.

-Welfare is bad, because it denies the notion that poverty=sinfulness, and therefore wealth=godliness, and instead indirectly involves the citizenry in the care of those many consider to be "undesireable".

-Homosexuality is bad because it represents the separation between sexual desire and reproduction. If non-reproductive sex is made acceptable and not a furtive event, then biblical notions of social control may be invalidated.

-Abortion is bad because not because it represents the death of a foetus, but because it implies the personal control of a woman over her own body.

-Internationalization is bad because it represents the acknowledgement that the US is not an exceptional institution, but part of a wider community of nations, therefore also implying that other forms of governments, and by extension other ideologies are also valid.

-Freedom of dissent is bad because it allows the expression of opinions counter to those of the movement's leadership, thereby possibly instilling dissention among the governed.