Hey RF!
op-ed from the Christian Science Monitor:
Is politics the new religion?
I think politics and religion have honestly been intertwined as long as they've been around, so I'm not sure this is entirely "new." However, it does seem like as Americans have become increasingly polarized (and less formally religious) in recent years that we often approach politics with a kind of religious zeal and dogmatism. We view those who don't think like us as evil, we listen to sources that simply reinforce our own beliefs, and we regard our view as "The Truth" and refuse to even consider that we may be wrong.
Judge not, lest ye be judged. So, how can we choose a political party if we can't judge if they are good or bad?
Each political party has good and bad aspects. (Republicans: war, greed, pollution--Democrats: abortion (sometimes of live babies), separation of church and state yet insist that evolution is taught while creationism is not). They are package deals....You can't help the poor without also allowing abortion.
Intertwining religion and politics diminishes religion. The Religious Right (which should believe "thou shalt not kill" ended up with a hot head who didn't wait to find proof of involvement in terrorism, but attacked peaceful nations and ended up killing many innocent women and children). Wars disrupt utilities, and cause resentment for centuries to come. Torture camps, though said to save lives (didn't save any lives), are strictly against God's commandments.
We've allowed Satan's fear, greed, and avid desire to destroy God's miraculous creations to cloud our judgement. President W. Bush issued Orange Alerts to get us to support his war (a war that obviously is on the side of Satan).
We should support religion without linking it to politics to avoid supporting Satan.
Now that the US has erred and warred on Iraq, it is too difficult to say "sorry" "wrong target" "wrong enemy." Each successive president thinks that the previous president was justified in attacking, so they continue the useless wars. We should bear in mind that Congress and President Bill Clinton signed the War Powers Resolution of 1998 to oust Saddam Hussein from power using propaganda.
Many put their faith in Canadian Rush Limbaugh, not realizing that he tells convincing lies to support his party.
Still others put their faith in preachers who do bad things (Reverend Jim and Tammy Fay Bakker ran off with donations for starving African kids). When we use faith, and don't require proof, we tend to make a lot of mistakes.
Many presidents hope to heal the rift in America that keeps the parties separate. How can they do that....give only half the money to the rich that they were going to give before? We either do or we do not support the tactics of the parties.
In modern times, we've seen Watergate, the Iran Contra scandal, and were lied into wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (all Republican scandals). Yet, in recent times, we see that the Democratic party is not clean either. Bernie Sanders was cheated out of office by the DNC (which should have helped his changes, not hurt them). Hillary Clinton was caught red handed getting debate questions before a debate. Hillary announced that she wanted to nuke Russia (very hot headed) for hacking her campaign manager's emails (John Podesta's). Hillary, more recently, was aghast that misinformation about the COVID vaccine was keeping some from getting the vaccine, so she suggested taking away their free speech and banning their messages from public forums. I pointed out that a charismatic leader should be able to use facts (expert opinions) and logic to convince the masses that they are wrong, and there is no need to end free speech.
Biden appears to have bribed his way to the presidency (vote for Biden and Biden will give you a COVID stimulus), and (Biden lets illegals into America later to make them citizens, so that grateful new Americans (who broke US laws by merely being in America) will later vote for Biden).
Illegal immigrants are getting food stamps, medical care, and educations, while America's homeless are being ignored. On the other hand, wouldn't Jesus feed the hungry and cure the sick, no matter who they were and no matter how rich they were?
It makes no sense to intertwine politics and religion while politicians are constantly caught cheating.