Celebrating Independence
I just put up the flag to celebrate the Fourth of July. Right next to it, I put up a Kerry/Edwards campaign poster which includes an American flag, to make it apparent that by flying the flag I do not endorse George W. Bush, who tried to usurp the meaning of the Fourth by saying we should fly the flag today to “thank the men and women defending our freedom”, his way of attempting to bolster support for his now unpopular invasion of Iraq.
On July 4, 1776, the American colonies declared independence from England and George III. Among the freedoms that came with that independence, after it was confirmed with victory in the hard fought Revolutionary War, was religious freedom. The most important aspect of American religious freedom is not the right to worship as we choose, otherwise we would all be spending the Fourth in some church listening to the drone of a patriotic cleric and singing God Bless America [and by implication, no one else], rather than shattering the peace with fireworks and gorging ourselves at the picnic table.
The religious freedom we celebrate is actually the freedom from a government endorsed religion. That is why we celebrate the Fourth in a non-religious way. To this day, the Church of England still has a say about such important personal matters as how Chuck, the future King, can properly marry the woman with whom he committed adultery. Of course that is no problem for a Church that was founded out of frustration with a Pope who had problems with Henry VIII being a serial groom. What is a problem for the Church of England is whether gays can be Bishops. But at least they have women priests, something the Pope still cannot abide.
Tony Blair and George II are two self-proclaimed born again Christians on a Crusade apparently to substitute democracy for Islamic controlled government. True, Saddam did not impose a government religion, but he was a brutal dictator, and he was not a Christian. Now the Sunnis and the Shia, who disagree about who was the rightful successor to Mohammed about 1,300 years ago, are free to continue their disagreement by blowing each other up in the name of Allah.
In the US, we resolve religious controversies through the rule of law, such as the two decisions last week by our Supreme Court regarding the place of Ten Commandments monuments on government property. By 5-4 votes the Court allowed one monument and nixed the other, the difference being the unacceptable one was sincere and the acceptable one was to promote a Cecil B. DeMille movie.
Does anyone believe that 229 years from now the Iraqi people will be celebrating the day the Christian Coalition freed Iraq? If so, then you probably were also one of the people who bid on the autographed picture of Jesus on E-Bay.
On July 4, 1776, the American colonies declared independence from England and George III. Among the freedoms that came with that independence, after it was confirmed with victory in the hard fought Revolutionary War, was religious freedom. The most important aspect of American religious freedom is not the right to worship as we choose, otherwise we would all be spending the Fourth in some church listening to the drone of a patriotic cleric and singing God Bless America [and by implication, no one else], rather than shattering the peace with fireworks and gorging ourselves at the picnic table.
The religious freedom we celebrate is actually the freedom from a government endorsed religion. That is why we celebrate the Fourth in a non-religious way. To this day, the Church of England still has a say about such important personal matters as how Chuck, the future King, can properly marry the woman with whom he committed adultery. Of course that is no problem for a Church that was founded out of frustration with a Pope who had problems with Henry VIII being a serial groom. What is a problem for the Church of England is whether gays can be Bishops. But at least they have women priests, something the Pope still cannot abide.
Tony Blair and George II are two self-proclaimed born again Christians on a Crusade apparently to substitute democracy for Islamic controlled government. True, Saddam did not impose a government religion, but he was a brutal dictator, and he was not a Christian. Now the Sunnis and the Shia, who disagree about who was the rightful successor to Mohammed about 1,300 years ago, are free to continue their disagreement by blowing each other up in the name of Allah.
In the US, we resolve religious controversies through the rule of law, such as the two decisions last week by our Supreme Court regarding the place of Ten Commandments monuments on government property. By 5-4 votes the Court allowed one monument and nixed the other, the difference being the unacceptable one was sincere and the acceptable one was to promote a Cecil B. DeMille movie.
Does anyone believe that 229 years from now the Iraqi people will be celebrating the day the Christian Coalition freed Iraq? If so, then you probably were also one of the people who bid on the autographed picture of Jesus on E-Bay.
posted by Tom Blake | 10:15 AM
1 Comments:
For the first time since I've been in Thailand, I decided to celebrate independence day.
Actually Nat and I were out with my American friend and his girlfriend and had nothing bettter to do, so we decided to check out the annual picnic the VFW and other American groups hold every year at a local internatinal school.
While we weren't forced to pray, we were subjected to another American favorite: Ultra-over-the-top security.
Arrivig at the place,which is down a residential street, we noticed that the road had been closed off about 300 metres before the school. We then had to walk and navigate a series of fences before reaching the entrance, where we had to pass through metal detectors and have our bags X-rayed.
The Thais with us thought it was all very funny, and wanted to know if American's always have to be x-rayed just to go to a picnic.
This is of course in a country that actually has a very real and tangible threat from Islamic extremists. A place where Buddhists and governement representatives are being beheaded in the Deep South on almost a daily basis. A place where since January 2004 more than 1,000 people have been killed by "terror" attacks.
But we need x-rays and metal detectors just to go eat ribs and play tug of war.
But those were some damn good ribs.
Chris in Bangkok
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