- Reviews & Essays
- Puritanism in America
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Click hereI have been around for a long time and I have enjoyed watching the religious right wing zealots slowly lose their choke hold on individual freedoms. From the dark days of the fifties where you couldn't even say pregnant or show a toilet on TV to the present where you might even get the chance to see bare bosoms (even if only after ten PM) we have made great gains. However, these people are still out there waiting to pounce on your freedoms. There are constantly looking for a chance to rally their troops for the attack. I know this 'silent majority' can no longer be a majority and still they are influencing political leaders on both sides. I look in awe at the power they wield even now and you know the average age must be eighty. As I saw the congregations getting older, I foresaw them dying out and America becoming a truly free country. Of course, I was wrong and the only sense I can make from this is it must be, a 'circle the wagons' mentality. This tight grouping makes their numbers appear to be so strong, while freedom-loving people tend to splinter into different groups according to their individual ideas.
Let me just insert right here that I am not anti-church and I would fight for your right to worship as you please. That is, as long as my freedom is not compromised by your religion. I was raised in the church by two very religious parents and when they were alive, I would never argue religion with them. Once I was old enough to make my own decisions, I quit going to church and my parent accepted my choice. What I'm trying to say is if I choose a secular life that should be my right as much as going to church is yours. Now after saying that, where do I start? Does it bug you as much as me, to have a somber group of people knocking on your door to, 'talk to you about god.' It seems the only way you can get rid of them is to be rude. I believe they think politeness is a sign of weakness as they try to wear you down. Have you seen them at the bus stops? Now that is sadistic, here you are waiting for the bus and they're there preaching to the captive audience. It makes you wonder how these poor bus riders keep from going berserk and really doing damage to these street preachers. I know this sounds as I'm getting off target here but where do they get the right to take away my freedom to stand unmolested at a public bus stop? What about their children that they drag around with them, all dressed up in their little suits and dresses? This has to be at least close to child abuse, and yet has anybody done anything for these children, or are they afraid of offending the church?
I guess what bothers me the most with these zealots is that they lump what they call sin with morality. They say I can't commit a sin and be a moral person and that is where I disagree. I feel that I am moral, among other things, I believe in the 'golden rule', I believe in helping my fellow man, and I believe in trying to save the environment. However because I might smoke a little pot now and then and not only do I like some kinds of kinky sex I like to write about it even more. To the church, this makes me immoral and they don't care what I do for my fellow man or the universe. Unbelievably I still feel this is their right to believe this way but what I don't believe is that they have a right to make what I do against the law.
Abortion is another hot topic and I really hate to get into it but I must. Again, the churchers have made this a difficult subject to defend. Who can be pro-abortion, who can say they support the termination of pregnancies? To hear the pro-lifers you are nothing but baby-killers if you support the right of a woman to choose. Yet if you talk rationally, how can you not support a woman being able to choose if she wants to bring a child into this overcrowded world we live in. How could someone in his or her right mind say it's all right to murder somebody who works in a place where they perform abortions, it just ludicrous. I live close to a clinic that must perform or at least give counseling on abortions because there are protesters out in front almost every day. This is their right and there is no way I would deny them their protest. It is just if I happen to drive by and I see them berating some poor scared female I just want to jump out of my car and escort her inside. What a woman does with her pregnancy is her decision and hers alone. The father of the child, her parents, or even the church has no right to try to influence her. I not saying they can't give advice if asked but to push your beliefs on someone whose life will be forever changed by this decision has to be hers to make.
I realize this piece is going to get me a lot of hate mail but that is something I can live with. I have wrestled with all this for a long time now and I feel it is time to get it off my chest. As I have already stated I have no problem with people following any religion they feel comfortable with, my problem begins when people try to make me accept their beliefs and their beliefs alone.
- COMMENTS
bottovarnisalmost 3 years agono hate mail here! I consider myself religious but I agree with everything you said.
Pro choice people are not pro abortion, they are pro choice. There are a lot of variants in "moral behavior" but not in forced belief...evil stuff this is. Thank you!
Anonymousover 14 years ago....you wasted a lot of your time pointing out obvious instances of hypocrisy from the many "limousine liberals" in this country but how does that refute what the author and others are saying.Me,I hate both major political parties but it sounds like you've sucked at the tit of one of them for a long time now eh?-pistolpackinpete
Anonymousover 14 years agoIt's Bush's fault. We abort babies "for the sake of the children." Algore has profited by hundreds of millions of your dollars by selling fear of "global warming", even while the earth has been cooling since 1998. Michael Moore's condemnation of capitalism has earned him over $200 million throughout his career. The right to an abortion is a clear and well defined right spelled out directly in the Constitution, yet the "right to keep and bear arms" means you have no rights to either own or carry a firearm. Algore promotes low carbon emissions while flying all across the world in private airplanes. Alec Baldwin promotes himself as a great family man, then screams at his 11 year old daughter, calling her "a disgusting little pig." Bill Maher says on national tv that you're too stupid to make your own decisions and need to be dragged over to his point of view. Rosie O'Donnell says that if you own a gun, you should be put in prison, but then required her bodyguards to obtain concealed carry permits to guard her children IN THEIR SCHOOL. While condemning Dick Cheney for owning Haliburton stock, Michael Moore owned several million dollars of Haliburton stock. Nancy Pelosi constantly promotes unions and their workers, yet bans union workers from her hotels, restaurants, and wineries. The liberal media constantly promoted Cindy Sheehan when she bashed George W. Bush. Yet, when Cindy started bashing Nancy Pelosi, the liberal media blackballed her and refused to put her on air. Barbra Streisand promotes free speech, yet sued a non-profit historical society when they published a single picture of her Malibu home. Senator Ted Kennedy promoted alternative energy sources like wind power, but then used all of his political might to kill a wind farm that would have been visible from his oceanfront compound. Michael Moore bashed HMOs in a movie, while profiting from owning stock in several HMOs. Liberal Barbra Streisand promotes consumerism as being unhealthy, yet has an annual bill of $22,000 for watering her lawn. Bill and Hillary Clinton constantly promote the benefits of average Americans paying higher taxes, then use lucrative tax shelters to pay less in taxes, including claiming a tax deduction for donating a pair of his used underwear to charity. Senator Al Franken has charged several individuals, groups, and even a university of being racist, yet fewer than 1 percent of Franken's employees are black. Ralph Nader promotes the benefits of unions, yet fired his own employees when they attempted to unionize. Michael Moore is perhaps the greatest proponent of unions in the US, yet he outsources production on his films to Canada so he won't have to use union workers and pay union wages. California Senator Feinstein willingly admitted she would ban all guns in the US, even while maintaining her own concealed carry permit and owning a firearm for protection. Throughout his career, Senator Ted Kennedy constantly voted to disarm Americans and prevent them from protecting themselves, even while his own bodyguard owned and carried a pistol and 2 sub-machine guns. When his illegal bodyguard was caught, Kennedy claimed the guns were for his protection. Handgun Control's Sarah Brady promotes banning most firearms, even though she and her husband own a large collection of fully automatic machine guns. While constantly excoriating private companies that accepted government bailout money and calling for them to give the money back, MSNBC host Keith Olbermann accepted a $3.5 million pay raise, which came shortly after MSNBC's parent company accepted billions in government bailout money. Olbermann has refused to give back the money. Candidate Barack Obama many times denounced the FISA courts under President George W. Bush. Yet, when offered the opportunity to ban the FISA courts, President Barack Obama did an about face. Under President Obama, the FISA courts are operating under the same guidelines as they did during President Bush's presidency. In 2003, Barack Obama told the AFL/CIO that he was a proponent of a single payer universal healthcare system. In 2008, Obama said he never promoted a single payer universal healthcare system. Barack Obama once said that keeping our soldiers in Iraq long enough to win the war was a "moral obligation." Just six months later, Obama declared that the US "should have brought the troops home yesterday." While campaigning, candidate Obama declared, "Lobbyists won't find a job in my White House." As of today, 30 of President Obama's senior administration officials have served as lobbyists in just the past 5 years. Candidate Obama pledged to post bills on the internet for 5 days before signing them. President Obama first broke this pledge only 9 days into his administration and has broken this pledge dozens of times since... Just remember 1 thing about all these examples of liberal hipocrisy: It's all Bush's fault.
