Fwd: Re: NP - What's So Bad About Theocracy, Anyway?

[Paul Mackin]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Re: NP - What's So Bad About Theocracy, Anyway?
Date: 	Fri, 22 Jun 2012 17:16:24 -0400
From: 	Paul Mackin <mackin.paul at verizon.net>
To: 	Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com>



On 6/22/2012 3:54 PM, Ian Livingston wrote:
> I agree with you almost completely, Joseph, except for this one point: 
> Jesus is never anti-authoritarian. Instead, he separates church from 
> state. Render unto Caesar and all that. The state is the state, it is 
> not compatible with religion. That is one of the chief points of 
> differentiation between Christianity and Islam. Mohammed's state is 
> theocratic. "St" Paul comes across as quite theocratic, also. He 
> engineered the true schism in Christianity. All other sectarian 
> divisions are minor after Paul's diversion from Jesus' teachings, the 
> almost inevitable subsequent union of Caesar and Christ, and the 
> advent of militant christianity in Rome. Now, I'm no christian, but I 
> think this Voris guy is as ridiculous as Paul and Constantine, so he 
> scares me a little.

Possible quibble: How could Paul be theocratic?


>
> On Fri, Jun 15, 2012 at 8:47 AM, Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net 
> <mailto:brook7 at sover.net>> wrote:
>
>      Christian is a loaded word whose ownership should not be conceded
>     to theocratic killers. What we live in is a classic agonistic
>     state religion of imperial dominance with roots in an upperclass
>     ant-colonial revolution, now shading into a weird blend of
>     plutocracy and militarism which uses personal greed and Old
>     Testament homophobia and glorifications of ethnic cleansing as
>      pressure valves and scape goats when popular revolution looms.
>      Even the edited Jesus of the fucked over New Testament  was
>      peaceful and anti-authoritarian.  It would be impossible to
>     construct the Cristian Right from a popular consensus about what
>     Jesus taught in the New Testament. Where would they fit the Sermon
>     on the Mount or the constant sharing of food?
>     Unfortunately fascism has become a loaded word, but the
>     combination of militarism, corporate power and colonial power
>     structures along with the changing face of the big enemy(
>     Communism, Islam, Terror, Brownness, Blackness, Yellowness,
>     Redness,  ), the claim to absolute imperial power of life and
>     death all point to that word as being as accurate a description of
>     the US as any I can think of.
>     On Jun 15, 2012, at 11:05 AM, Madeleine Maudlin wrote:
>
>     > Don't we already live in a Christian theocracy?
>     >
>     > "Ugh!"
>     > "Boo!"
>     > "Yawn!"
>     >
>     > On Fri, Jun 15, 2012 at 9:59 AM, David Morris
>     <fqmorris at gmail.com <mailto:fqmorris at gmail.com>> wrote:
>     >
>     http://www.dangerousminds.net/comments/not_parody_alert_whats_so_bad_about_theocracy_anyway
>     >
>     > You may recall Michael Voris from this video, “What’s So Bad About
>     > Theocracy, Anyway?” that explains why the United States needs a
>     > Christian dictator.
>     >
>     > It’s simple: pro-gay, pro-abortion “parasitic” liberals get to vote.
>     >
>     > Voris is the controversial star of the formerly named “Real Catholic
>     > TV” web series. Yesterday, the conservative crusader announced that
>     > his show will henceforth be known as “Church Militant TV” and
>     that he
>     > will be relaunching his brand (The Archdiocese of Detroit have
>     > sensibly asserted that Voris was not authorized to speak for the
>     real
>     > Catholic Church and so now he’s using this more appropriate name).
>     >
>     > You probably think this is an Onion parody, don’t you?
>     >
>     > It’s not.
>     >
>
>
>
>
> -- 
> "Less than any man have I  excuse for prejudice; and I feel for all 
> creeds the warm sympathy of one who has come to learn that even the 
> trust in reason is a precarious faith, and that we are all fragments 
> of darkness groping for the sun. I know no more about the ultimates 
> than the simplest urchin in the streets." -- Will Durant





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