re how to pray, etc.

[David Morris]

--- thomas kyhn rovsing hjoernet <tkrh at worldonline.dk> wrote:
> 
> >> 
> >> No, 'no religion is supposed to have an inherent political advantage', but
your 'supposed to', as far as I've understood, hasn't secured this ideal.
> 
> I think this is an indication:
> 
> 'It was in the period of the cold war with what President Truman always
called ''godless Communism'' that ''under God'' was added to the Pledge of
Allegiance. It was in World War II that ''God Bless America'' became the
country's unofficial anthem. Of World War I, President Wilson said that it
showed America marching to heights ''upon which there rests nothing but the
pure light of the justice of God,'' reflecting the ''glimmer of light which
came at Calvary, that first dawn which came with the Christian era.''' (Garry
Wills: 'With God on His Side', New York Times, March 30, 2003)

So you think a politician saying "God is on our side" priviledges a religion? 
It only is a public display of a personal belief.  Should, in your opinion, a
politician be forbidden to speak of his beliefs?  Again, if the public
disagrees with the beliefs/actions of a politician thet can vote him out.

> Bringing 'God' into the reasoning and the texts of the state gives a
privilege to those who believe in this God. It must be assumed that a president
when he addresses 'the people' addresses the whole people and not only those
who share his religious views. In this perspective it is problematic to make
use of religious referents that have no legitimacy outside of this religious
view.

Never does all of the audience of a president's speach agree with him.  I
suppose those that agree with him are "privileged" because they have a
like-minded soul in the seat of power.  That's the way democracy works.  Do you
suggest an alternative?  An individual politician's beliefs about God are no
different than his economic beliefs:  they shape his views and actions.  This
is not "problematic."  It is normal.  But a politicians references to God are
not usually for any other purpose than show, not belief.
 
> Also, the problem some schools have with teaching Darwin because the theory
of evolution is in conflict with the Bible, that is a political advantage.

School agendas are determined by those that foot the bill, but no public school
is allowed to profess any religion.  A few backwards school districts have
attempted to gut teaching Drawinism (do you notice the "ism" here), or have
"creationism" added to the agenda, but their success has been very limited,
because the majority usually has enough sense to resist these efforts.  BTW, I
have no objection to teaching that some believe in "Creationism" as another
point of view.  Comparing these two viewpoint in a classroom might be very
illuminating.

>> A politician may be religious, and he is entitled to be so.  His agenda may
spring from his own personal beliefs, and that is also legitimate.  If his
agenda is out of sinc with the active majority then he will be out of a job
very soon.
> 
> That's it, as long as a majority of voters is behind a politician he can
introduce the religious (that of the majority) into the political. This way,
the religion of the majority is privileged.  This is not to say that a
politician isn't entitled to being religious.

Right.  That's the way it works.  A point of view is "privileged" by the fact
that it is held by a person in the seat of power.  But this does not advantage
a *religion*, just a point of view.
 
> One of the problems with religion in politics is that it is beyond discussion
and critique, and, accordingly, beyond reasoning. If the realm of politics is
to be kept democratic, open to discussion, it is a bad move to introduce the
religious into it. 

Introducing a religious POV does not stop discussion.

BTW, this thread has drifted far from where it began, which was Doug's
objection to soldiers practicing their religion on the battlefield, a truly
idiotic POV, but standard for Doug's course.

David Morris




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