It has been said many times before but it bears repeating...
A very nice article from Victor Davis Hanson on NationalReview.com this morning on the borderline insane hatred of President Bush by the Left. Davis lists a number of factors from Bush's southern twang to his abandonment of the East Coast establishment in favor of Texas values, but what really sticks out was this statement...
>>>Similarly, Bush's Christianity seems evangelical and literal. It comes across as disturbing to liberals of the country who see religion as a mere social formality at best, useful for weddings and funerals, perhaps comforting at Christmas and Easter of course, but otherwise a potential threat to the full expression of lifestyle "choices."
American politicos like their candidates to be Episcopalian, Unitarian, or Congregationalist, perhaps even mainstream but quiet Methodists or Presbyterians. Baptists of the southern flavor, or anything not found in a New England township, reflect a real belief in the literalness of the Bible — primordial ideas that religion is not a social necessity but a fire-and-brimstone path to eternal salvation. <<<
This is so very true. Religion is a useful beast as long as you don't really believe in it. Belief in Adam & Eve, Noah, Moses, the Virgin Birth and the Resurrection are all verboten. Religion means boring but inoffensive preachers who officiate weddings in churches for people who will never darken the door of said church again (unless it is for someone else's wedding or a funeral). This is where we must draw the line between "religion" and "faith". Religion is something we do, faith is who we are. A "religious" person pulls religion out like a shield, something to use to comfort a grieving person or to add an air of formality to a wedding. Witness the empty references to deity that followed September 11th. Everyone was all in to religion to comfort themselves and then promptly forgot about it when it became inconvenient. The empty platitude of sympathy "in our hearts and prayers" has become a mantra. Those who say this are likely never found in prayer, so it is an empty muttering.
People of faith place all of their hopes on the world to come. There is no utopia to be found in this life and seeking such is invariably going to be disappointing. Just ask the people of the former Soviet Union, or those trapped in the despair of housing projects or the oppressed people of North Korea and Vietnam. This is not a defeatist attitude but one of hope. Those without faith must hope for an end to life that is annihilation. That is their best case scenario. It must be a sad existance to hope there is no afterlife as described in the Bible of fear of what that might mean.
No comments:
Post a Comment