RELIGION AND POLITICS ................... religion and politics

Are we better than others?

And if so, who are we to begin with???

All this political debate in our country has really split everyone into two big groups – I should call them group 1 and group 2 to avoid the labels that are so prevalent these days like “libs” and “cons” or “democrats” and “republicans” or “socialist” and “fascists” or “lefties” and “wingers”.

Either of these groups is likely to compromise 51% of the population at any given time depending on how badly the 49% group has fucked things up in the recent past.

But I don’t want to stick with the bland group 1 and group 2 designation so I’ll just call them like I see them………

Politically, I like to put people into two different subsets – and I like to call them “enlightened” and “close-minded”.

For me, they are very easy to distinguish and very, very easy to label within the first sixty seconds of any conversation.

Enlightened people tend to be those willing to have an honest conversation about current topics without resorting to talking about “the good ole days” or “how things used to be”.

The close-minded folk tend to rely on those arguments mostly when engaged in conversation about any hot-button topics.

The other way to spot a “close-minder” is that they generally will never deviate from the belief that their subset of the population is right and everyone should be just like them if they want to share in the responsibility and spoils of an advanced civilization.

In other words, among all the various races and religions and economic variables that we have in our world – only those that are within the parameters of where they exist (or think they exist) have a right to speak with authority.

But beyond the political arena, There is another place where the same exact thing goes on each and every day.

And that is the RELIGIOUS ARENA.

The place where the “rubber meets the road”, so to speak and it is the most troubling of these two categories for me to digest.

I’m not even sure how to label these two things……”Those that believe the Truth (as I see it)” and “Those that are wrong”?? I’m not quite sure.

This may go back to my youth when I experienced parents that only wanted their children to hang out with other “church folk” and not the unwashed among us.

And it wasn’t that they wanted them to hang out with just Christians….no, no, no – it had to be their particular brand of Christianity because the others were so, so um, corrupting!

I can still remember the whispers about the sacrifices they did at the Catholic church……….

And those danged Jews, well shoot, they weren’t even really religious – they were like foreigners!

Is there something inherent in our denominational separations that make us instinctively think that the way we do it is superior?

Are we indoctrinated from an early age to think that our way is THE WAY?

Do we think that we are morally superior?

I have personally been told that even though I’m a Christian – and a faithful one at that – that I am not “saved” because I don’t do things they way they’re “supposed” to be done.

Tongue in cheek??? Not sure………….

When did we lose the designation of our heritage?

What happened to the Irish and Italians and Polish and English and French and African among us and become all one homogenized group sorted by these two factors:

RELIGION AND POLITICS?

I, for one, am sick of this. Why can’t we all just be people on a journey with pluses and minuses? Things we’re good at and things we need to work on.

Why does it have to be so harsh all the time?

Why does the fat man on the radio spew such hate? Why do we need our news from a “commentator” instead of just getting the news and us deciding what it means?

Why do you think you are superior and therefore need to save me from myself?

This is the height of arrogance and not at all what we are called to be in this world.

Belittling someone because they think differently from you is the worst kind of insult you can show.

But worse than that, is the cult-like reverence that some folks show towards their beliefs.

We have made many jokes about “drinking the kool-aid” – but that reference goes back to Jonestown and most folks know what it means. But do you realize with horror the implications of that?

I say let’s all be kinder and more gentle with each other.

So in this celebration of the 40th anniversary of Woodstock and all the “stupid hippy ideals” that it held……how about let’s remember to “smile on your brother and everybody get together and try to love one another”.

Right now???

Peace.