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

[Ian Livingston]

A reasonable quibble. Paul seems at pains in his letters to be in the
business of codifying a set of rules by which christians should live. Most
of his rules come from the OT, some seem novel in flavor, if not in
substance. He seems at odds with Rome as he knew it, but his endeavors at
establishing enclaves seems vaguely political. I wouldn't intend to stretch
into his intentions too awfully far, but his epistles are commonly
consulted in preference to Jesus' reputed teachings when neocon/christians
argue for a christian state. That is my point in suggesting he seems
theocratic. He seems so by current interpretation in some circles.

On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 2:18 PM, Paul Mackin <mackin.paul at verizon.net>wrote:

>
>
>
> -------- 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> <mackin.paul at verizon.net>  To: Ian
> Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com> <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> 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>
>> 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
>
>
>
>
>
>
>


-- 
"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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