The Theocracy's of the Middle East are horrible places aren't they? No respect for women or other religions. Our founding fathers left England because of a Theocratic government.

Internally, No one wants to take away our religious freedoms that we currently enjoy here in America. I do not wish to see the end of Christmas, Easter, In God we Trust..or any of the other things our country has that shows a love of God. We need to be on guard that those American organizations that wish to impose their religious beliefs on all, regardless of other's belief systems, do not succeed. As Ulysses S. Grant said:
Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church, and the private school, supported entirely by private contributions. Keep the church and state forever separate.

As for the other blogger..he cherry picks what he wants to prove his own points..just like Bush did when he drug us into the War in Iraq. Its a shame the other blogger can't think for himself and write his own words instead of relying on the words of an individual that spouts only hate-filled diatribes that make little, if any sense.

Dusty, well said.  I think we've all seen the horrors that are brought when governments take on the mantle of religion.  It's bad for religion, bad for government and very bad for the people.

Doc, speaking directly to the Muslim extremists, they are certainly a threat.  We would do a better job of combating them by helping to create conditions in their countries where they would have a harder time recuiting followers and undercutting governments that rely on the exploitation of natural resources over the productivity of their populations.

Manger scenes in front of city hall give me hives. That's why I don't like 'em. I will bitch passionately, from the core of my being, about manger scenes in front of city hall.  Every year, when I get the "itch", I know that someone plopped a manger scene in front of city hall. One year, it was so bad, I had a welt on my stomach that looked like a manger scene in front of city hall.

Tom, what I like about you is that while others simply "bitch," you are  actually thinking about positive solutions, and proposing them.  For criticism to be effective, it must be constructive, and it must involve both critical thinking and creative thinking.  Everything else is just cynicism for the sake of cynicism. 

As for those of you that have taken this blog post to mean I don't care about keeping religion and politics separate, I not only care, but my care and concern goes even further than issues of relgion.  I care about radical ideologies of all varieties (involving both religious and anti-religious world views) mixing with politics.  Either can have deleterious effects on civilization as we know it.  

Furthermore, I vehemently object to restricting the identified threat to religion, and Christianity, in particular.   Most secular humanists don't get emotional at all when a religion other than Christianity is involved in acts that threaten our way of life and the freedoms we hold dear.   Most act like Theocratically-fueled extremist Muslims pose no threat whatsoever to our way of life.  Most are more worried about the next manger scene siting than the next terrorist attack.  Most have never been visibly angry or upset over victims of a suicide bomb. 

Furthermore, you may have missed the theme of this Theocracy thread, which involves "triaging" the Theocracy  issues in terms of which form of theocratic manifestation represents the most imminent threat.   Safety and security issues should be paramount.  We can't experience our freedoms if we're not around to experience them. 

Doc, part of the reason you seem to see more reaction to a local manger scene than to a suicide bombing is that the manager scene issues can be resolved locally with direct action by regular citizens.  A suicide bombing a) is not ongoing and b) correcting the underlying conditions that cause them would require massive geopolitical changes.  We argue about how these things should be addressed here, for instance in the discussion over Pelosi's trip to Syria. 

Certainly the Muslim radical terrorists are a huge threat today. And I personally have little fear that the U.S. would ever become a theocracy. But the biggest threats in any society are always internal. That is the fear that some bloggers have. Like everything else in America, there are special interests, and God is one of them. I can think of worse special interests, but as a Republic, and not a strict Democracy, those that do not believe in a deity are protected. Just because we are a free society and anti communist, doesn't mean America will turn into Joe McCarthy's America. And just because the vast majority of Americans believe in God, doesn't mean we are Pat Robertson's America.

In America, there should be room for all views because morality is a universal thing, not just the domain of certain ideaologies. Atheist does not mean immoral or a socialist, but on the same count those with religious views should be shown respect because after all, we homo sapiens have little knowledge of the cosmos around us, no matter how arrogantly we think we have it figured out. Deep inside, humans know the difference between right and wrong. Some think it is divinely placed there, others think it is a chemical reaction based on species cooperation.

Today is a special day in world history no matter which view you may take. It is a time of reflection and should be so even for atheists. It is symbolic for all, that one may sacrifice for the many. The atheist will say that this symbolism is mythic, but myths have helped  formed our morals for many millenia.

With that I say Happy Easter to Christians, agnostics, atheists, and all those Americans who understand the significance of sacrifice.

In other words doc..we need to keep it moderate in our goverment, in the middle? I agree with that.

A moderate or an "antiextremist," either will do, dusty.  I hope you had a great Easter.

I would prefer an "antiextremist" BLT, since moderates aren't necessarily (actively) doing what they can to reign in the fringes of their respective groups.

   one   i'll try again speaking of extremists, let's not forget the abortion doctors who were assasinated by our extremists who with the approval local local church  members, took years to capture.

I'd like to see you name one church in Bakersfield, or one local minister or priest that approves of the assasination of doctors who perform abortions.  This is the kind of reckless, irresponsible talk that reinforces stereotypes of evangelical Christians as extreme right-wing nuts. 

I'm still waiting.........................

Under Bush the United States has become a Theocracy lite, but a theocracy none the less. Is that bad, that depends on your point of view. If Christianity rules your life, you can only see the dangers on the other side. if you are not a Christan, you don't count. In any event, we should not worry, they way we are trouncing those Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan, they will soon be Christian too.


J. McCain, 2007