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The Oxymoron of Christian Patriotism
"Religion is 100% Bullshit. Therefore, anyone
who believes in a religion has bullshit for brains!"
The politically incorrect quote you just read comes from the mind of an unlearner who considers himself too old to "play nice" with people's feelings anymore. The man fancies himself as a sort of third millennium Howard Beale, one of the main characters in the critically acclaimed movie Network, now over three decades old. In that film, Beale uses the medium of television to empower people to stand up for the truth, only to see that truth ultimately succumb to television's power as he and his audience are reduced to minuscule ratings and multinational cogs. The gnawing angst of that film still echoes on the airwaves of today and reaches into the hearts of unlearners everywhere. Beale's mantra, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" has unfortunately become the same muted and powerless sentiment of internet truth seekers. Despite a glut of information, more than centuries old, about the nefarious aims of our global elite, humanity has forsaken the call to do something. Instead, we gather in communities of information sharing, falsely content that our knowledge of the game is more than enough to stop it from succeeding. Our enlightenment is the radiation of computer monitors in the darkened rooms of our homes. We are a global network of mutes, screaming at each other through the clickety-clack of keyboard strokes. Perhaps one of the reasons for our impotence is that our quest for the truth is schizophrenic. We convince ourselves that certain things are lies and other things, equally false, are not. There is no better illustration of this point than with religion. The savvy writers of Network attempted to cultivate this point as well. When the public reaction to Beale's revelations about the state of the world boosted his network's ratings like a rocket, the station executives quickly designed a studio set to maximize his sway over the masses. They chose to present Beale as a modern day prophet, complete with an enormous stain-glass window as his backdrop. In case that not-so-subtle invention was missed, Beale was surrounded with a cast of characters that played on the public's appetite for magic and gossip. Religion is the age-old circus of fools, where the truth is not as important as being entertained by illusions. This point is lost on the so called Christian Patriot Movement and other religious fundamentalists combating the inequities of their society. Most Christian Patriots are aware of our government's long history of lies and assaults on our constitution, yet will defend the Bible as the unalterable true word of god until their last dying breath. This is not heroism, but foolishness. Religion is the original sin of man, the first government of lies, and the primary source of horror throughout our history. The "unalterable" word of god has been altered so many times as to beggar belief. Each of those alterations had less to do with distilling divine truth as it did to further the agenda of a particular group's claim to power over others. This editor used to search for the happy compromise between people's religious beliefs and the quest for human empowerment. But, truth be told, no such compromise is possible IF the goal we are all trying to achieve is the creation of a society where truth is the guiding operating principle. It is not the aim of this editorial to catalogue all the lies found in each particular religion. That task is too numerous for one man alone. Lucky for us, dedicated persons have already done the leg work in this area. What is left for us to do is to summon our courage and face the truth. You will see, among other things, that religion has always been a central pillar in the establishment of the state. No belief system has lived long that has had the truth as its central principle, for the States we have constructed thus far can not exist in that bright light and must stamp it out wherever it begins to flare. Just as nations hide behind shadows of "national security", our religions hide from sincere inquiries behind dogma, myth and fear-mongering. The truly human world must be guided by principles that come from the human. This is a tough pill to swallow for fundamentalists, who are more than ready to shuck off their earthly forms to frolic with their mythological deities. To them, humanity is the problem, perhaps one that is perpetually unsolvable until our collective extinction from the universe arrives. Is the human divine? Perhaps, perhaps not. But divine is a human word, which should ever-so-simply illustrate who the true master is. Unlearners are committed to exploring that human potential to its fullest while we are still here, living and breathing in an intelligently created universe. Unfortunately, we have been given residence in the slum-section of ignorance. Can the neighborhood be reformed? Not as long as the crack-addicts and drug dealers rule the streets, given protection by an all too corrupt police force, stealing just as much from you through law and obfuscation as the evildoers in the alley do through force and numbers. Smiling on it all is the god that never lived, covering his non-existent ears to the mournful prayers of the all-too-scared humans locked in their tiny homes. To the Christian Patriots who've swallowed their moral indignation and actually read this far, there is more than hope waiting for you. There is a power in your chest that, until now, you thought had to do with the mythological god of your scriptures or the stars and stripes waving in your yards. If you will have just a bit more courage and patience, you will tap into the power of the unlearned and find all you need to exist as the free person you've always desired to be. What country you actually live in won't matter after that. Whose Life are You Living? |
