Just like the word "Liberal," the word "Fundamentalist" seems to have taken on a new meaning.
Why is that?
Fundamentalist gangs in Afghanistan are beating women on the street just for showing any part of their hair or even an ankle.
Does this sound reasonable?
Why is it that the words "Jewish", "Muslim", "Christian", and "Islamic" seem to always precede the word "Fundamentalist," and a description of an act of extreme hatred or prejudice follows it? Fundamentalism is the reason that in the middle-east right now, children are being taught from birth that their only reason for existing is to kill Jews, and in order to get into heaven, they must suicidally blow themselves up, taking as many souls with them as they can!
Remember when Afghan Fundamentalists dynamited giant Buddhist statues, all centuries-old and irreplaceable monuments to a culture, just because they didn't agree with their religion?
Could we be heading towards having Christian Fundamentalist groups cruising the streets and fining public buildings for not having Christmas decorations up or crucifixes over their door? Could a bill hit Congress banning the word "holiday," replacing it with "Christian" or "Christmas"? Happy holidays! As if pretty lights, Santa Claus, and chopped-down pine trees have anything to do with the birth of Christ or why we still revere him over 2000 years later.
Could a bill be heading to Congress this minute to destroy any faces on Mt. Rushmore that even vaguely represented the Democratic Party's point of view because the Congress is Republican? Don't laugh; and before you think I'm just being paranoid, there are bills that have been introduced repeatedly encouraging replacing Democrats on our currency with Ronald Reagan on the $10 bill and/or the dime. Even our national airport was renamed after him. Will a huge battle result in Congress, after the Democrats take it back, over whether to have Reagan's name taken back off the building again?
Could someone actually take Kennedy's name off of the airport? Don't laugh-don't scoff; Cape Canaveral the city in Florica with all the launch pads, used to be known as Cape Kennedy, but the name was changed because of a twist in the opposite political direction!
Is it me?
I'm beginning to feel as if, oh I don't know, that if someone feels powerless in their life, if they have no respect, or no one loves them, then all they'd have to do is evoke the name of God, or wave the Bible around, memorize the Constitution or the Torah enough to quote it, and convince a few people that they just might speak for God, George Washington, Allah, or Mohamed, or better yet, that he's speaking through them, and suddenly they feel power because everyone else gets the "what if" syndrome. What if he actually is speaking for God, and even if he isn't, would St. Peter judge me at the gates for not believing him?
When you use God, suddenly people fear you, as if cursing you is cursing God. The fundamentalists have somehow also made the words "Christian", "Flag," and "American" to mean the same thing. It's like their new "holy trinity," as though you can't believe in one unless you believe in all three; and if you don't, they might convincingly brand you a heathen, a traitor, or worse: a Liberal. The opposite is true too; if you see a Flag bumper sticker, or the whole back window of a pick up truck taken up with a flag graphic, do you say, "There goes a Democrat?" No, the republicans have taken ownership of our national banner!
When did this happen?
Why did this happen?
People like the late Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson raise untold, untaxed millions and billions a year. They say it's to help the hungry little children in some far-flung country, but when you see their lavish homes, the huge university campuses that they command, and the elaborate church grounds with dozens of ornate buildings, you know without a doubt where the money came from for that, don't you?
And yet everyone keeps sending it!
You're also buying politicians whose only qualifications are that they're up for sale! But by giving it to the Falwells of this world, you're giving them the power, not you. No one in Congress knows what anyone stands for any more, because they stand for whoever contributed the most to their campaign, their sponsors, instead of their own or our views! Members of Congress don't represent their constituents any more; they represent their financial sponsors!
I miss a time when being on the "Left" or being on the "Right" was respected as an opinion, as a party affiliation, from people who respected a different point of view as much as their own.
Why are the days gone, and I remember them well, when a President got elected and suddenly the rancor disappeared; everyone shook hands and we all stood behind him united as a country because "we the people" elected him. Now, we're all bad losers. If we didn't vote for him, we immediately plan to do our damnedest to bring him down or discredit him. We're so divided now, no longer "indivisible, with liberty and justice for all" any more. Just look at the popular election vote results for 2000 and 2004 for proof of how much this country is divided, with liberty and justice now being the possession only of those who can afford to buy it.
Any more, when I see the word "Fundamentalist," an article follows on war, oppression, hatred, or judgment. It has happened in each generation, and will happen again. Our culture today is being fed by the self-righteous fundamentalist community whereby someone has to be hated in the name of "morality" in order to make people agree with their radical ideas. To be one, means they are right and everyone else is wrong.
Is this the only way to unite a nation; to find someone to hate as a collective group, so we can claim something in common?
Why is that?
Fundamentalist gangs in Afghanistan are beating women on the street just for showing any part of their hair or even an ankle.
Does this sound reasonable?
Why is it that the words "Jewish", "Muslim", "Christian", and "Islamic" seem to always precede the word "Fundamentalist," and a description of an act of extreme hatred or prejudice follows it? Fundamentalism is the reason that in the middle-east right now, children are being taught from birth that their only reason for existing is to kill Jews, and in order to get into heaven, they must suicidally blow themselves up, taking as many souls with them as they can!
Remember when Afghan Fundamentalists dynamited giant Buddhist statues, all centuries-old and irreplaceable monuments to a culture, just because they didn't agree with their religion?
Could we be heading towards having Christian Fundamentalist groups cruising the streets and fining public buildings for not having Christmas decorations up or crucifixes over their door? Could a bill hit Congress banning the word "holiday," replacing it with "Christian" or "Christmas"? Happy holidays! As if pretty lights, Santa Claus, and chopped-down pine trees have anything to do with the birth of Christ or why we still revere him over 2000 years later.
Could a bill be heading to Congress this minute to destroy any faces on Mt. Rushmore that even vaguely represented the Democratic Party's point of view because the Congress is Republican? Don't laugh; and before you think I'm just being paranoid, there are bills that have been introduced repeatedly encouraging replacing Democrats on our currency with Ronald Reagan on the $10 bill and/or the dime. Even our national airport was renamed after him. Will a huge battle result in Congress, after the Democrats take it back, over whether to have Reagan's name taken back off the building again?
Could someone actually take Kennedy's name off of the airport? Don't laugh-don't scoff; Cape Canaveral the city in Florica with all the launch pads, used to be known as Cape Kennedy, but the name was changed because of a twist in the opposite political direction!
Is it me?
I'm beginning to feel as if, oh I don't know, that if someone feels powerless in their life, if they have no respect, or no one loves them, then all they'd have to do is evoke the name of God, or wave the Bible around, memorize the Constitution or the Torah enough to quote it, and convince a few people that they just might speak for God, George Washington, Allah, or Mohamed, or better yet, that he's speaking through them, and suddenly they feel power because everyone else gets the "what if" syndrome. What if he actually is speaking for God, and even if he isn't, would St. Peter judge me at the gates for not believing him?
When you use God, suddenly people fear you, as if cursing you is cursing God. The fundamentalists have somehow also made the words "Christian", "Flag," and "American" to mean the same thing. It's like their new "holy trinity," as though you can't believe in one unless you believe in all three; and if you don't, they might convincingly brand you a heathen, a traitor, or worse: a Liberal. The opposite is true too; if you see a Flag bumper sticker, or the whole back window of a pick up truck taken up with a flag graphic, do you say, "There goes a Democrat?" No, the republicans have taken ownership of our national banner!
When did this happen?
Why did this happen?
People like the late Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson raise untold, untaxed millions and billions a year. They say it's to help the hungry little children in some far-flung country, but when you see their lavish homes, the huge university campuses that they command, and the elaborate church grounds with dozens of ornate buildings, you know without a doubt where the money came from for that, don't you?
And yet everyone keeps sending it!
You're also buying politicians whose only qualifications are that they're up for sale! But by giving it to the Falwells of this world, you're giving them the power, not you. No one in Congress knows what anyone stands for any more, because they stand for whoever contributed the most to their campaign, their sponsors, instead of their own or our views! Members of Congress don't represent their constituents any more; they represent their financial sponsors!
I miss a time when being on the "Left" or being on the "Right" was respected as an opinion, as a party affiliation, from people who respected a different point of view as much as their own.
Why are the days gone, and I remember them well, when a President got elected and suddenly the rancor disappeared; everyone shook hands and we all stood behind him united as a country because "we the people" elected him. Now, we're all bad losers. If we didn't vote for him, we immediately plan to do our damnedest to bring him down or discredit him. We're so divided now, no longer "indivisible, with liberty and justice for all" any more. Just look at the popular election vote results for 2000 and 2004 for proof of how much this country is divided, with liberty and justice now being the possession only of those who can afford to buy it.
Any more, when I see the word "Fundamentalist," an article follows on war, oppression, hatred, or judgment. It has happened in each generation, and will happen again. Our culture today is being fed by the self-righteous fundamentalist community whereby someone has to be hated in the name of "morality" in order to make people agree with their radical ideas. To be one, means they are right and everyone else is wrong.
Is this the only way to unite a nation; to find someone to hate as a collective group, so we can claim something in common?
Why?
Did voting this or that way keep us out of war?
Did voting this or that way prevent 9/11?
Did voting this or that way make our economy go from great news to great deficits?
I'll leave you to your own conclusions...
without the author's permission
© 2006 by Jet in Columbus
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