baliberal

The Intolerant Christian

“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God.”Epicurus

I plan to post on this blog a series of posts, which I will call The Intolerant Christian. These posts are not intended to be an all-encompassing philosophical treatise on the interaction of religion and politics in America, although I hope mythoughts are at least somewhat instructional regarding what may be the most important issue confronting American democracy today. America has reached a new stage in the relationship between its political and religious leaders, and the institutions they represent. A very powerful religiously inspired element within our society is determined to base all political ideas and ideals, all of their decisions and actions, solely on their limited vision of what a Christian society should be and do. The Intolerant Christians that I refer to throughout this series of posts, primarily consists of people who are socially conservative and belong to evangelistic and fundamentalist Protestant denominations, but also includes many conservative Catholics, who all believe that America was founded as, and should remain a Christian nation. These are the people who have what I believe is an extremely dangerous worldview. Not all Christians believe this way, however even moderate and liberal Christians are too often willing to excuse the behavior of these conservative Christians because they believe that “at least they are trying to do the right thing”. This is a threat to the basic pluralistic nature of American society, and to the democratic political culture of American civilization. This religiously inspired element embraces an “ends justifies the means” mentality that has been embraced by The Intolerant Christians of modern America. If this movement is successful in imposing its vision upon the nation, it will result in an America that is an intolerant theocracy, and will mean the end of liberal democracy as we know it.

Our founding fathers wisely warned against a possible “tyranny of the majority”. To avoid this possibility they created a constitutional form of government that protected the rights of the minorities, as well as the freedom to worship as we please. A “Tyranny of the Theocrats” led by Intolerant Christians who believe that all of the solutions they propose for our society are “inspired by God” is a nightmare that these wise leaders attempted to avoid. Referring to so many of those who believe in the Christian God as intolerant Christians is certainly harsh. But I believe it accurately portrays their attitudes, if not their intentions. In order to understand why this description of the such a large percentage of the Christian population of modern America is accurate, I will evaluate briefly the history of Christianity, in order to reveal where the potential for such behavior emanates. Unfortunately, Christians have engaged in “intolerant” acts in the name of God almost from the moment of the crucifixion. Christian apologists have always excused the inhuman acts of Christians by saying that it is not God, or Christianity, that inspires evil, but insists that these actions are merely the result of the misinterpretation of God’s will by imperfect men. But one cannot deny that they always claim that what they are doing, every evil or un-Christian thing, has been done in the name of God!

# posted by badick @ 9:20 PM