Religion

Religion And The Presidency

Ronald 1 Comment

The right wing in America tries to tell us we are a Christian nation, rather than a nation of a majority of the Christian faith.

The fact that the Constitution does not have a religious test, that we have separation of church and state, is ignored, as the right wing promotes its propaganda.

So they tell us the Founding Fathers were “good Christians”, when in fact, in many ways, they were not!

And they fail to accept that many of our Presidents have doubted organized religion entirely, or have been Deist, Unitarian or Quaker , which are seen as a few steps away from atheism by many experts.

For the record:

The following Presidents had NO specific religious affiliation:

Thomas Jefferson
Franklin Pierce
Abraham Lincoln
Andrew Johnson
Ulysses S. Grant
Rutherford B. Hayes
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Barack Obama

Deist Beliefs

George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
James Monroe
John Tyler

Unitarianism

John Adams
John Quincy Adams
Millard Fillmore
William Howard Taft

Quaker

Herbert Hoover
Richard Nixon

That makes 18 Presidents who do not fit the mold of a typical religious person.

At the same time, some Presidents have been very devout, including:

James A. Garfield
Benjamin Harrison
William McKinley
Woodrow Wilson
Jimmy Carter

The other half of our Presidents were irregular church goers, and in many cases, they were not very committed to their faiths, but would identify with a faith that was considered Christian, with John F. Kennedy the only Catholic President..

The largest number of Presidents (12) were Episcopalians; 8 were Presbyterians; 4 Methodists; 4 Baptists; 3 Disciples of Christ; 2 Congregationalists; and 2 Dutch Reformed Church.

Unemployment Compensation : Earned, Not Handout, And Stimulates Economy!

Ronald 2 Comments

It is sickening beyond belief to see Republicans, conservatives, and libertarians such as Rand Paul, who seem to think unemployment compensation is a handout, a welfare program, when it is precisely NOT that at all!

People who gain unemployment compensation have had to work to gain it, have lost their jobs through no fault of their own, have to prove they are looking for work to gain it, and it prevents people from losing their home, their food supply, their heat in the winter, their medicines needed to survive.

It stimulates the economy, and provides jobs, and works against the tremendous mental and physical stress that unemployed people go through daily.

Anyone who would say that people stay on unemployment because they are lazy are despicable human beings, and realize unemployed people are not living off the “fruit of the vine”, so to speak, but instead are dealing with absolute basics of survival!

No one should EVER be in a position where, because of hard economic times, that they go homeless, have to go for food to food banks, have no way to get medical care, or to stay warm. And that includes children, the silent victims of their parents’ bad luck!

A country that would cut unemployment compensation for those who deserve it, who would take away food as basic sustenance for human beings, but spend tons of money on their pets as worthy of their expenditure while ignoring the hungry, and would say that the minimum wage should never rise, and put human beings into a never ending cycle of poverty, is a nation that has a deep mental illness!

We cannot allow selfish, self centered, hard hearted, so called “religious” people to dictate that others should do without, all to avoid paying taxes, when one is fortunate, and owes more to his nation than those less fortunate.

We are talking about basic humanity and compassion, not about giving “free” stuff to people. We are talking about the whole point of human existence, to care about thy fellow man and woman!

The Most Significant Long Range Events Of 2013

Ronald 1 Comment

Now that we are in the last day of 2013, it is time to reflect on what the most significant long range events of 2013 are, events that will affect us in the future, and are signs of progress, which can never be reversed.

They include in no special order:

The accomplishment of national health care, a dream since Theodore Roosevelt first mentioned the concept in his Progressive Party campaign in 1912, later suggested by Harry Truman, partially enacted by Lyndon B. Johnson, attempted by Bill and Hillary Clinton unsuccessfully, promoted by Senator Ted Kennedy, and finally becoming law under Barack Obama. Even with all of the kinks and quirks now and in the future, national health care is here to stay, finally making America reach the stage of all other democracies in the world, but as usual the last to adopt social and economic reform, as compared to Europe, Canada, and Australia.

The acceptance by the Supreme Court of the concept of gay marriage, and the expansion from nine to eighteen states of acceptance of same sex marriage, and nothing will ever reverse what has happened, and eventually, the Supreme Court will mandate its legality throughout America, just as they did for interracial marriage in 1967. Many may not like it, but just as with interracial marriage, one does not have to engage in either interracial or same sex marriage, but it is nobody’s business to tell someone else who he or she is to love and to have the benefits of marriage, and no religious institution needs to accept it, as civil marriage will always be available.

The civil war raging in the Republican Party, which will determine if the party of Lincoln, TR, and Ike will survive or go into the dustbin of history, which Is certain, if the right wing Tea Party Movement is allowed to take over the party apparatus, and control the House and Senate Republican caucuses, and control major state governments around the nation. An extreme right wing Republican Party will not survive, and will give the Democrats such dominance that a moderate centrist party, maybe on the pattern of the Whig Party of Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John Quincy Adams and Abraham Lincoln in the 19th century, will then emerge as a valid alternative to the more leftist Democratic Party by comparison.

The rise of a permanent Democratic majority in the Electoral College, as Georgia, Texas, Arizona and North Carolina will turn “blue” over the rest of the second decade of the 21st century, due to the growth in the Hispanic-Latino population, and the alienation of women from the Republican Party, which is working to control the reproductive lives of women. Both groups will swing these Sun Belt States to the Democrats, and with the Atlantic Coast from New England down to Virginia, and the Pacific Coast and the Upper Midwest more “blue” all of the time, there will be no way that Democrats will lose the White House over the next couple of decades, whether they nominate Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden, or someone else, for the Presidency in 2016 and beyond.

The Supreme Court will turn more liberal, as over the remaining years of this decade, the likelihood of new Supreme Court appointments, as well as circuit and district courts, will fall to Democratic Presidents, who no longer have to worry about a filibuster proof majority of 60 votes. The need for only 51 votes or 50 with the Vice President breaking the tie, insures that the courts, and eventually the high Court, will take a different view over time on same sex marriage, abortion rights, civil rights, and civil liberties, reminding one over the next two decades (due to lifetime appointments) of the history of the Warren Court.

A happy 2014 to all my readers and contributors!

Pope Francis An Inspiration, But Like Barack Obama, He Will Have Major Critics Who Fear Change And Reform

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Pope Francis is a true inspiration to anyone who believes in the true teachings of Jesus Christ, concern for the poor, compassion for the sick, condemnation of materialism, and the understanding that all people, of whatever race, religion, nationality, gender, and sexual orientation, deserve equality and justice!

In so many ways, Pope Francis can be compared to Barack Obama, and just like Obama, he will engender hate and condemnation because he fights against prejudice and the evils of wealth, and the selfishness and greed which has arisen yet once again, on the basis of laissez faire capitalism and Social Darwinism, prevalent in the Gilded Age (late 19th century), the age of Imperialism, and resisted by the forces of change and reform in many nations in the 20th century.

But now, those evil forces have reared their ugly head again, and so the battle for progressivism is engaged in a great fight to combat those forces, within the Catholic Church, within organized religion in general, within the capitalistic economy which, in America, has no apparent problem , with the mounting acquisition of wealth by the top one percent, as poverty and the collapse of the middle class continually occur, with no conscience or concern by those who have the stack decked in their favor.

So the right wing forces, that include those who wish death on Barack Obama, will now focus also on the Pope, just as has always happened for those who promote reform and change, including in America, Presidents Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, and also Senator Robert Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

We should give thanks for the courage and compassion of our President, and even if we are not Catholic, the Pope, and pray for both men, that they will not fall before any attempted assassination threats of which Obama faces dozens every day!

We live in an age of great hate, and so much of it coming from so called “religious” people, who have no clue as to the true teachings of their faith, and are only out to enrich themselves!

The Triumph Of Science Over Ignorance In Texas

Ronald 1 Comment

Great news that the Texas State Board of Education has voted to approve science textbooks based on established science for the next decade, a massive victory over the forces of ignorance which attempted to promote religion in place of science in the curriculum, and wanted to deny the facts of evolution and global warming and climate change.

Since Texas has such a large student population, the decisions of the state board have a great effect not only on the Lone Star State, but also on the textbook materials used across the nation, as publishers shape their editorial plans on what Texas does.

But now the influence of the religious Right is still threatened over the teaching of Social Studies, including the study of American history and world history.

David Barton and his right wing forces, which claim to be historians when they are not any such thing, wish to cut down attention paid to ethnic minorities, women, labor, and the study of great reforms and reformers throughout history, and to promote the concept that religion was advocated as part of government by the Founding Fathers, when that is a total myth!

And also, they wish to promote the idea that we are a greater nation than any in the world, taking away attention from world civilizations, as if we magically became the nation we are, despite the fact that we have been influenced by cultures and influences from around the world.

So the battle for knowledge over ignorance and prejudice has won in the battle for science, but now must continue the good fight for the the legitimacy of history in the curriculum and the textbooks!

Republicans Need To Face Facts: Old White And Religious Males In South, Great Plains, and Mountain West Are A Dying Breed!

Ronald 7 Comments

The Republican Party seems to be unable to understand that their future is gloomy until they abandon the idea of old white and religious males in the South And Great Plains and Mountain West being enough to win elections.

This country wants total separation of church and state.

This country wants women, African Americans, Latinos, and Gays and Lesbians to be treated with dignity.

The young are voting in greater numbers, and they are voting Democratic, as they do not want the agenda of limited government, states rights, and religion in government that the Republicans are constantly trying to force on them.

The Civil War has been over for 150 years, and states rights will not be the dominant viewpoint of future generations.

Small national government disappeared in the time of the Great Depression 80 years ago, and it is NOT coming back.

This nation is becoming one of fewer whites, and more diversity, and nothing is going to stop that trend.

And women are liberated, and will NOT allow any man to dictate what they can and cannot do with their bodies and their futures.

Until and when the GOP understands these realties, they will be a losing party, and the benefits for the Democratic Party will grow by leaps and bounds!

Republican House Districts Worse Off Economically, But Vote GOP Anyway Due To Racism, Fear, And Religion!

Ronald 1 Comment

Statistics demonstrate that hard line Republican House districts, who have supported Tea Party candidates, and are vehemently anti Barack Obama, have a higher unemployment rate than the average House district.

The rate in the Tea Party districts is around ten percent, while the rate in other Congressional districts is 7.5 to 8 percent, a substantial difference.

One would think that the Republicans who represent these districts would wish to do anything and everything to encourage job growth, and to avoid the disarray of confrontations that undermine economic development, but instead it is the opposite,

When Barack Obama has promoted the need for infrastructure projects and educational investments, that has been enough to convince Tea Party types, plus the GOP leadership in both houses, to sit on their hands and refuse to cooperate in any fashion!

One would imagine that the voters of these districts, who elected these representatives, would begin to realize that they are playing politics, refusing to allow Barack Obama to have any ability to claim any progress economically, but at the expense of their constituents, who would benefit from such economic progress.

But instead, the emphasis is on fear of the “black” President from “Kenya”, obvious racism, and instead invoking religion, which should have no place in the public sphere, so we see emphasis on abortion and gay marriage to scare these constituents into voting for representatives who do not give a damn about them, and are even willing to cut food stamps, which benefit many of their own population, especially considering that the majority on food stamps nationally are white!

The ignorance and prejudice of so many people in these Tea Party districts, and other Republican districts, is absolutely mind boggling!

Cuts In Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Food Stamps): Is This The Moral And “Christian” Thing To Do?

Ronald Leave a comment

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Food Stamps), promoted in a bipartisan way by past Senators George McGovern (D) South Dakota and Bob Dole (R) Kansas, both nominees of their party for the Presidency, was designed to make certain that children, single mothers, the disabled, veterans, and the elderly would always have help in providing a decent amount of food for their nutrition and health, as hungry people get sick more often, and it undermines growth and accomplishment of children in particular.

A country which would allow its unfortunate poor to starve, to have inadequate nutrition, while at the same time providing subsidies to corporate farm interests is a country in spiritual trouble!

The average food stamp recipient receives $133 a month, about $1.50 a meal. Can anyone seriously believe that they can afford to eat at such a low cost? What it means is that toward the end of the month, there is no money for food, and children go to school hungry, and adults get sick from hunger and lack of nutrition.

Is this the moral and “Christian” thing to do? Apparently, Paul Ryan and Michele Bachmann and other Republicans are very eager to deny the poor the basic sustenance of life, while also opposing them gaining any health care coverage! So a new cut in food stamps is about to go into effect at the end of business today, despite Democratic attempts to prevent it. The average recipient will lose $36 per month of their present allotment!

And these and others in their party are insistent that women MUST carry pregnancies to term, but once a child is born, to hell with whether his or her mother has the ability to feed them and keep them healthy!

So the goal is to make them poor, keep them poor, and make sure the rich continue to gain tax cuts and benefits at the expense of the poor!

Are Paul Ryan and Michele Bachmann and others “good Christians”?

This is the hypocrisy of so called “religious” people who, unlike other good hearted Christians, fight against the message of their faith, to care about the poor, and do nothing to harm them. Shame on them!

A Third Party In The Offing: Not Likely!

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With the disgust over the disaster of the 113th Congress, and the GOP inspired government shutdown, the public opinion support for a third party has risen to its highest point in a decade, with 60 percent stating such a belief, in a Gallup Poll.

The frustration is understandable, but the American system of government has never moved toward a three party system, which would create the need for coalitions, and prevent passage of legislation, making it more difficult than the split Congress has demonstrated.

Third party history has been one of protest, and having an effect on who wins the Presidency, and promoting new ideas that often are later accepted by one or the other major political parties.

What is much more likely than a third party competing with the two major parties is a political realignment, with the Democrats likely to benefit by the civil war in the Republican Party.

And the Tea Party Movement is doomed, as the American people are catching on as to how destructive and negative that movement has been in the past four years.

The Republican Party has had a history of some great leaders and accomplishments, but their ability to compete is doomed, until and when they recognize that moving to the Far Right is a disaster, and that they must appeal to the voting groups that they have antagonized, including minorities, the young, woman, labor, and the struggling middle class.

And they must repudiate the hold of religion over their party, and emphasize tolerance, open mindedness, and a belief in the power of science, or else they will never be competing, and might be replaced by a new party!

The Destruction Of The Middle Class And The Working Poor By The Republican Party

Ronald 8 Comments

Republicans and conservatives do not want to admit it, but since the age of Ronald Reagan, they have effectively decimated the middle class, and heaped scorn on the poor.

This is reprehensible, particularly when they profess belief in God and call themselves “good Christians” as they work to slash food stamps for single mothers, children, the disabled and the working poor; oppose any rise in the minimum wage; support exporting of jobs to third world nations by greedy corporations; undermine respect for women and their basic human rights; and promote nativism and hate for ethnic minorities, as they try to survive in a nation rapidly becoming less white and Protestant by the day!

As it is, they are still able to convince struggling whites in the South and the hinterland to vote their fears, and blame all their troubles on the poor and the minorities, and progressive initiatives to help the working poor and the middle class.

But in the long run, this is a losing strategy, as now the GOP, allowing the KNOW NOTHING Tea Party Movement to have growing influence, are totally alienating the young, women, minorities, labor, gays, and educated people who care about their fellow man and woman.

So the Republican Party is rapidly becoming a dinosaur, and Ted Cruz and his buddies in the libertarian movement and the Tea Party crowd are destroying any hope of a future for the party of Lincoln, TR, and Eisenhower. They are rapidly becoming part of the dustbin of history!