Letters to the Editor
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Will an American Theocracy Be as Bad as Commnunist Totalitarianism?
After being succored on freedom who wants all the religious meddling of a theocracy? OK, some people do. And, there's no denying, that's a frightening proposition. But unless the entire infrastructure of America were to be replaced, a theocratic revolution would be impossible. Unless you consider a tangential bill to honor the name of God that gets buried and forgotten by most legislators a real coup.
I'm a secularist and want to keep it that way. But I must say, if I were part of the faithful I would have more to worry about than secularists do. And too often secularists don't see that because in pursuing their objectives they'd like to secularize society the way the religious right wants to convert it. In different ways, they're missionaries of a different stripe.
Sure, there were a few Crusades, and quite possibly more people died in the name of God than anyone else, but it wouldn't be easy to prove. There's an argument that more people died in the name of Marx and Lenin than God. 100 million, 200 million? Don't forget the Holocaust; without communism Hitler wouldn't have come to power.
Marx emphatically insisted, "Now, the root for mankind is man." Well, what if God has a telos for humankind? Atheists, can you prove God doesn't have a telos? Absolutely not. What if God does have a purpose and we're not realizing it? That's a valid question until it can be empirically shown to be irrelevant. And it's not irrelevant because a bunch of nuts want to change the world in God's name. The problem is that too many zealots insist they know just what God intends and want the rest of us to conform. And, of course, their interpretation of God's telos is different from another faction's interpretation. (Have you read the Iranian president's letter yet? It's scary. Check truthout for a copy.)
You can trace the roots of atheistic Marxism back to the Enlightenment - the same source for modern liberal democracies. Convinced that the ancient regime and its affiliation with the Church had exploited common citizens they hauled out the blades and chopped a lot of heads off. Then Napoleon chopped more heads off in the name of freedom. Eventually, Prussia felt obliged to retaliate. And not long after God was banished from the Western stage the world almost ended. Seeing all this madness, no wonder Islam and Christian fundamentalism grew by leaps and bounds. The wild secularist activities during most of the 20th century were Exhibit A for proving the devil was dominant.
The aim here, since the God question hasn't been and probably won't be answered successfully until proof is obtained, is for moderation. If you believe God doesn't want you to have an abortion or sodomize another human or pray 5 times a day then follow that regiment. And if you believe that these are absurd practices then by all means follow an alternative humane way of living. And let each of these factions live in peace as long as each lets the other live in peace. That's all we're asking. Like peace, give moderation a chance.
Amen.