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"Persecution" is a strong word. A case can be made that a soft persecution of Christianity is heating up in this country, as Obama's HHS mandate might prove, but I prefer to use "persecution" in a more conventional sense. You know - jails and labor camps, firing squads, dispossession, that kind of thing.
State-sponsored discrimination, disfavor, restrictions, handicaps, etc. do not always rise to the level of persecution.
1. Any society needs a set of common values and beliefs to function well - a social consensus. There may exist legitimate diversity within certain limits, and a degree of tolerance outside those limits, but ....... there must be limits.
2. It is important that those values and beliefs be rooted in truth. A society based on false beliefs about God and man leads to tyranny.
3. Politics is, at minimum, about carefully ensuring that the state does not impose a false worldview on its citizens, and about creating an environment for the truth to flourish.
4. The United States has lost the social consensus it once had - a consensus that was unique in the world for its breadth and tolerance while at the same time committed to principles rooted in the Western Christian tradition. Large segments of the population now see our former consensus as narrow, bigoted, repressive, and even "theocratic".
5. The present situation is not sustainable. If our society continues to fracture in this way, then our politics will descend into greater tyranny and possibly even civil war.
Conclusion:
The only workable solution is a return to an explicit Christian state. The experiment whereby the government pretends "neutrality" is too easily exploited by secularists and the enemies of the Christian faith. The doctrine of religious pluralism is, paradoxically, a cleverly wielded tool of secularization.
I don't know whether this is possible for the entire country, or only for certain regions of the country, but t is essential in some form to the survival of anything resembling what once was America and the English-speaking Christian West.
Naturally some will ask "Which version of Christianity"? Catholicism? Presbyterianism? Methodism? Et al? In the first place, the federal government doesn't need to require belief from anybody but its civil servants, and this belief need only be expressed as a promise to respect and not to subvert the Christian faith and morality of the people.
Insofar as the federal government assists private institutions, schools and charities - and these, rather than the government, should provide the bulk of social services in the country - preference should be given to those which profess the Nicene Creed in the context of historically mainstream Christianity (Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant) and traditional expressions of morality.
Where has this ever worked? It worked relatively well all over the world until the mid-20th century. Canada, and especially the province of Quebec, was once a shining example of this kind of system, though it is now in the process of rejecting its past and enforcing a tyrannical secularism. There are still a few nations left today that have retained the concept - the Philippines, Malta, Lichtenstein - hardly repressive "theocracies" despite the squeals of secularists.
Well, this is certainly the WORST idea I've heard in a long long time.
Why would you think I disagreed with the verses you quoted? Have I told anyone not to pay their taxes? Have I been saying that our government is not legitimate and shouldn't be obeyed?
Just curious, stillkit: is it therefore your opinion that the American Revolution was an illegitimate revolt against a divinely established government?
You believe the American Revolution was illegitimate. Because the Bible says so. That position is not going to win a popularity contest around here either.
What do I think? To be completely honest, I agree with you.
There. A Southern Baptist and a Roman Catholic, peas in a pod. And sticking up for Protestant England, no less!
Last edited by WesternPilgrim; 02-25-2012 at 05:50 PM..
You believe the American Revolution was illegitimate. Because the Bible says so. That position is not going to win a popularity contest around here either.
What do I think? To be completely honest, I agree with you.
There. A Southern Baptist and a Roman Catholic, peas in a pod. And sticking up for Protestant England, no less!
Then doesn't it have to follow that changing the United States from what it is now, a form of internal revolt, would be equally illegitimate?
And, by the way, though you have not called for refusing to pay taxes, as you stated, your previous post left the definite impression that you don't like doing it because it's spent on things you don't like. May I remind you that the Lord loves a cheerful giver, not one who gives grudgingly.
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