The only difference between this argument and the ones made by Trump, or Boebert, or MTG is…Trump's 'big lie' was enabled by years of Americans being 'force fed' lies from religion: columnist https://t.co/p5BuF5bpZh
— Raw Story (@RawStory) July 6, 2021
Well, there is no difference. “Force-fed lies” is a cop-out that absolves us of responsibility, and above all, we hate being responsible. “Force-fed lies” is the “aliens invaded and tricked us into being this way!”
For better or worse, this is who we are. No one made us be this way: not God, not religion, not body-snatchers. We choose what we believe, what we think, what we do. When the consequences of those choices are too great, we look around for someone to blame. “Outside forces” are a favorite choice. There are no outside forces. Even the God of Abraham only offers guidance, and leaves us to our own devices. We are in charge; and that is a terrible burden.
Or a glorious purpose; depending on how you look at it.
From what I've heard and seen of the Trump gang, the insurrectionists, they don't seem to be any bigger on following the teachings of Jesus and the Prophets than Trump is. It's something I noticed, queer bashers and women attackers aren't notable in their adherence to the prohibitions on taking the Lord's name in vain, not bearing false witness, etc.
ReplyDeleteI went to the Daily Beast and read the thing this is based on, the Raw Story use of it is highly distorted and dishonest. David Rothkopf does criticize lies told by churches, synagogues, etc. but he doesn't single them out and he doesn't universalize it into blaming religion exclusively like the guy at Raw Story does. While I've got some problems with some of what he says, like his way too lofty view of science, here's a sample of what he said:
ReplyDeleteOur parents lie to us. Our churches, synagogues, and mosques lie to us. Our schools lie to us. Hollywood lies to us. Madison Avenue lies to us. The media lies to us. Our leaders lie to us. Our friends lie to us. (They do. Going to the gym couldn’t hurt.)
and:
There are other big lies, of course. Some are related to the religious lies—like the divine right of kings or the lie that the clergy somehow are more in touch with truth than, say, scientists who actually devote their lives to studying the truth. Some come from political leaders. For example, the lie that to die in war is glorious is one that has done irreparable damage for eons. It has been disproven for thousands of years and yet remains so essential to getting young men and women to give up their lives to serve the ambitions of the rich and powerful that it endures. You know many of the other lies that have lived for centuries—about the superiority of races or genders or nationalities, about patriotism, about comforting ideas like that everything is for the best or things work out in the end. It’s not. They don’t. Read a book.
We dress these lies up in protective cloaks. You will burn in Hell for all eternity if you don’t believe one set of lies. You are betraying your country if you don’t believe in the merits of a particular war. Don’t question your elders. If a teacher says it it must be true. Priests and rabbis and imams are tighter with the Alleged Almighty than you. (Do you capitalize the “a” in alleged when you are using it to question the existence of a God?)
So it's just the Raw Story treatment of religion which is, ironically enough, a lie.
I should know better than to trust RS.
ReplyDelete