Just read Ezra Levant’s ‘Christmas column’. It sums up the problem rather well…
It has taken me a long time to write this post, because I just can’t seem to get the proper wording.
But, there is no easy way of saying this…
The ‘conservative movement’ or ‘right wing’ includes what is referred to as ‘the religious right’.
I am not referring to people who are conservative, but just happen to be religious. Not at all. Rather, I am referring to the people who see themselves as ‘conservatives’ because they have what they consider to be ‘conservative social values’. But, their social values are not so much ‘conservative’ as ‘old-fashioned’, or, even better description would be ‘religiously motivated’.
There is no problem with holding these views – even though they mistakenly think them to be ‘conservative’. Where the problem comes is that many of these people wish to impose these so-called ‘conservative’ values on all of our society: they think that in order to be a ‘conservative’ a person must subscribe to their brand of religious ‘morality’.
To much of this ‘religious right’, ‘freedom of religion’ appears to mean replacing the religious oppression of every member of the society by another religious faction by the religious oppression of every member of the society according to their own religious dogma. All else they call ‘moral relativism’…
And, they say this as if it were a bad thing!
Legislating one religious group’s morality to rule everybody is not freedom!
Which, I rather thought, is the whole point of separating the State from the Church (or Synagogue, or Mosque, or whatever other temple may wish to influence the State).
In a free society, the citizens must not permit anyone to legislate morality or to turn religious prejudices into laws which rule the land!
Most of you have doubtlessly heard a variation of this statement:
“Our Western values of freedom of speech and religion are deeply rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition and it was time we became true to our roots!”
This statement is so ludicrous, I do not know where to start…or even if I need to…to debunk it!
It is in the scientific revolution that our society has its roots!
It is through the rejection of Judeo-Christian principles that we have gained freedom of speech and freedom of religion!
In ancient Greece, thinkers and philosophers (‘yellow horses’ included) reasoned out that so much of what was happening around them – and which was attributed to deities – was no more and no less than natural phenomena. This freed their thinking of the blind desire to be servants to invisible, intangible deities. Their now unfettered minds were free to reason – truly reason – about their surroundings. This led to new advances in science and technology, raising everyone’s standard of living.
The beginning of the end of this era of free thought was ‘the conversion of Constantine’ to Christianity. The event that marked the final end, the ‘death blow’ to the religious tolerance which people then took for granted, the demise of the very ancient Greek civilization, was the brutal murder of Hypatia of Alexandria.
Hypatia grew up in the famed Library of Alexandria, as her father, Theon, the astronomer and mathematician,was the second last curator of the library. She became the last (if one is to take Carl Sagan’s word for it).
Famous for her breadth and depth of knowledge and wisdom beyond her years, Hypatia was a much sought after teacher, astronomer, philosopher and mathematician in her own right. Historical records indisputably demonstrate that she headed up the Neoplatonic school of Philosophy at the main site of the Alexandrian Library, the Museum (named for the Muses). She was highly respected – even by Christians, many of whom attended her lectures.
St. Cyril, the Christian Bishop of Alexandria at that time, was attempting to fuse the power of the state with religion – with himself in full charge of ruling Alexandria. Famously – and illegally – his mob of ‘monks’ leveled all the synagogues of Alexandria and expelled the Jews. He destroyed the churches of Christian sects he deemed too moderate. But, he did not forget the ‘pagans’!
Cyril declared that ‘learning and intellectual pursuits’ kept people form ‘religious fervor’ and therefore had to be destroyed. His predecessor (and uncle) had started, by burning thousands of scrolls which recorded scientific knowledge. Cyril continued.
And, he could not suffer the popular symbol of Greek learning and wisdom, Hypatia, to live.
A mob of Christians, led by St. Cyril’s right-hand henchman, Peter, dragged Hypatia from her carriage/chariot and stripped her naked, dragged her through the streets, into a Christian Church, placed her on the altar and scraped her flesh off her bones with sharp oyster shells. They then set her on fire, in an attempt to disguise the crime…
The end of the ancient Greek period of enlightenment ended when Christians took the reigns of secular power in the Roman empire, burned and destroyed libraries, and imposed ‘Christian morality’ on all the land!
Yes, this ascension of Christianity into a position of power brought us – what was it? Ah, yes, the Dark Ages.
And when science began to re-emerge in our society, when Copernicus made his observations, what did the Christian culture respond with? What was the most widely printed and circulated (aside from the Bible) book Christiandom produced then? Ah, that wonderful treatise on religious tolerance and love between all humans: Malleus Maleficarum!
It had excellent instructions on opening inter-faith dialogues!
Are these the Judeo-Christian principles in which our modern freedoms are rooted?
Is this what we want to return to?
Because that is what theocracies inevitably degenerate into!
If you listen to the ‘religious right’, that would seem to be the plan….except that they truly seem to think this is ‘freedom’.
That is why I think that so many people do not wish to be associated with ‘the right wing’: very few people wish to be lumped together with the people who wish to impose their religious ‘morals’ onto the whole society.
The worst thing is that our society is, slowly but incrementally, submitting to Islamic religious ‘morals’ – and this push is coming from the ‘left’, under the guise of ‘tolerance’. Which it is not. Again, I do not understand how so many people can have such a large blind spot.
Fighting imposition of Islamic ‘morals’ on our society by attempting to impose Christian ‘morals’ on us instead is not the way to win back our freedom!
If we do not recognize that, we are doomed…
Xanthippa's Chamberpot 