#religion #uspol
Sigh. Religion, and its insidious influence on politics in the US is *the reason* that the country is moving towards an oppressive theocracy.
My dear old friend is, on Facebook (blech) calling on all her (good) Christian friends to stand up to the (bad) self-identified Christian-dominated SCOTUS.
Why can't they see that you can't combat the scourge of religion tainting policy by 'religioning harder'. Doing that simply adds credibility to the religiously motivated in SCOTUS.
#religion #uspol
@lightweight
While I agree that religion itself is a net negative, and am an atheist myself, this ruling is entirely about subjugation and authoritarian impulses to establish control, with SCOTUS and the GOP using religion as a cover for their true motives, much like they are doing with their legal justifications in this decision. I doubt they care about their professed religion or its teachings any more than they care about interpreting the Constitution correctly.
Your friend may be Christian, but she is correct to oppose this ruling even if she is framing it in her mind in partially religious terms. It is a ruling without compassion, mercy, or understanding of the other person; a deeply unethical, and as your girlfriend would probably put it, deeply unchristian ruling. The fact that she uses a long dead Jew as a source of moral guidance is immaterial to the fact that she has correctly seen evil; indeed, it would not surprise me if her precise reasons match your own.
The issue of religion is one that cannot be settled quickly or forcefully, but must be correct over long stretches of time with subtle methods like debate, discussion, and inquiry. It is a subtle disease, and those who have it can be good as well as bad. The issue of authoritarianism, however, can and must be corrected swiftly. It is a virulent poison, and those who partake of it fall swiftly into evil and corruption.
When evil is advancing with fangs bared, claws outstretched, and bearing shackles of oppression ready to be slammed onto its victims, all good folk must put the subtle methods away and fight the encroaching evil in unision. Do not fault your friend for having religion, but be thankful that she can see through the façade of the court and see the same monster you see.
#religion #uspol
@mathlover thanks for that. My real concern is that by appealing to the (implicitly good) practitioners of her espoused religion, she legitimises the religious claims and undercurrents of the SCOTUS. That, I think, undermines both the subtle and explicit efforts to alter their very dangerous trajectory.
#religion #uspol
In my view, she is no more legitimizing the religious views of the SCOTUS than Bartolomé de las Casas, a Dominican friar, was in opposing the (similarly religiously couched) colonial abuse of native groups in the Spanish Empire.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartolom%C3%A9_de_las_Casas
Just because both groups here are using religion does not mean that they legitimize each other. In your friend's case, she uses religion as a moral guide; on the other hand, SCOTUS is using religion as a cudgel and a cloak.
