The recent grotesque (televised) view of the signing of an atavistic Louisiana Bill, mandating the exhibition at schools of the Biblical “Ten Commandments,” was witnessed by an entourage of perversely smiling, victorious “believers;” who, doubtlessly, and reductively, persisted in an ignorance of their earthly, material existence in a constitutional democracy. Their “other-worldly” and un-American accomplishment, was emblematic of the species of evangelical reductionism and resultant bias, which wreaked centuries of misery in the “Old World;” that America’s wise and prescient Founders, dedicated themselves to avert. Any cursory review of our Nation’s constitution will reveal the notable absence of reference to a Deity. In contrary fact, the “Establishment Clause” of the First Amendment, clearly and specifically, prohibits Congress from enacting any law, aiding or prohibiting the exercise of religion. It may well require more than another half-century and the expenditure of prodigious time and effort, despite the plethora of specifically mandated judicial precedent, that such evangelical wearers of horse blinders, exemplified by those deluded, joyfully celebrating souls in Louisiana, to fully process.
It is entirely conceivable that the “good folks” of the Cajun State were episodically emboldened by the recently unveiled immoral decline and corruption of SCOTUS by the shocking revelation of its unethical and irresponsible catering to the influential religious lobby in its recent determinations; the most impactful of which is the reversal of the significant precedent, established one-half century ago in Roe versus Wade. The referenced Cajun “faithful” may conceivably have been marching confidently with a recently acquired sense of principled support and encouragement, derived from the biased, Justice Alito’s brazenly revealed, symbolic, and grossly inappropriate, partisan flags.
Pragmatic social consideration would suggest that determined beliefs generally, should remain privately held, as an assurance of social concord with others of potentially differing points of view, en famille or publically. Such considerate and tactful sensitivity appears to have been universally banished from consideration by the determined, mono-focused evangelical religionist. The latter breed of individuals, it seems, seek to bask in some felt, self-generated impression of spiritual devotion and religious virtue, by intruding their nuanced views and shared religious beliefs on others, peaceably or by force. This neurotically undertaken obligation has provided the foundation for Man’s bulging cornucopia of historical cruelty; including pogroms and inquisitions, especially rife in the appropriately, branded, European “Dark Ages.” The phenomenon of religious belief, as wisely expressed by our Founding Fathers, is relegated to the determination of the citizen and not a matter of government.
In light of the universal understanding of the bright distinction between “fact” and “faith,” it boggles the mind to comprehend the eternal basis for the tragic results of the existential and insane need of one group, bearing its nuanced choice of faith, to convince others of a different mindset to share in their faith-based and non-factual beliefs. Untold tragedy and millions of gallons of human blood have been lost due to this neurotic need for the imposition of uniformity of irrational belief.
Humankind’s time is certainly far better and most productively spent on rational, enlightened, and useful aspirations to advance and improve the empirical quality of life, as opposed to a biased and tragic “group-think” cause, regarding uniform adherence to some identified, non-empirical ideation.
–p.
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