While this is not my usual format of the written word, I felt that it was a subject that needed addressed
According to the Constitution, the government is not to establish a national religion and is supposed to look at all people the same.This is the separation of "church and state".The question rises , does it treat all religions or the lack of a religion with the same respect? A bigger question is what gives the United States government the right to push another country towards accepting a faith that is not the faith of that country and why is it so selective on which country to do it to?
Friday, January 22, was a story in the Philadelphia Inquirer concerning a defense contract company, Trijicon of Wixom, Mich, agreeing to remove references to the Christian bible from combat rifle sights made for the U.S. military, a major buyer of the company's gear.The inscriptions are not obvious and appear in raised lettering at the end of the stock number. Trijicon of says it will also provide to the armed forces free of charge modification kits to remove the Scripture citations from the telescoping sights already in use.The references to Bible passages raised concerns that the citations break a government rule that bars proselytizing by American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, which are predominantly Muslim countries.
YET, the US State Department has asked the Israeli Foreign Ministry to decrease Yad l'Achim activities against missionaries.Yad l'Achim is an Israeli organization that works to keep Christian missionaries from attempting to convert Jews within the borders of Israel.The new State Department report on worldwide freedom of religion gives Israel a failing grade with regard to its level of religious tolerance, even though the practice of other faiths is protected by Israeli law.
In January 2009 the U.S. Secretary of State re-designated Saudi Arabia as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act for violations of religious freedom. In connection with this designation, the Secretary issued a waiver of sanctions "to further the purposes of the Act." Saudi Arabia being a country that allows NO other religion except Islam within its borders.
This news story about Trijicon only shows the double standard of the US government. While they absolutely can't take a chance of insulting their oil peddling "allies" with spreading another faith, even so completely cryptically hidden, they press Israel to allow Christian missionaries free run within Israel's borders to convert Jews away from their faith.
This is showing favor of one religion and its desire to extend itself over the survival of another.Yes, the Constitution is only here in the States, but the US government needs to recognize the sovereignty of another country to protect its own culture,life and faith and the right of that country to protect those within its own borders in a civilized way. I wonder how these Washington pundits would feel if a foreign country insisted that the United States allow Islamic, Buddhist or whatever "missionaries" free reign try and change the culture, religions, and life here to what they think it should be?
Comments (3)
The double standard of the US Government in regards to religion goes back much farther than it's blind ideals toward Isreal. If you remember the US Government was overzealous in their taking of rightful land of the American Indian. During the 1880's when the land rushes were popular only with whites and freed slaves, Indian tribes of the Mid West and Western US fought and lost for their rights to worship and live as they please. They were forced onto reservations, stripped of their freedoms, their children taken away to Indian schools to learn to be "civilized" and forced to take Christian names, all to please a select few so they could make a profit.
Had the missionaries and US Government not been so blind, they would have noticed that Indian society was more civilized than their own. They lived within their means, hunted only for the food they would need to feed their families, and took care of elders and children of the tribe, regardless of who they were or their status within the tribe. There was no monetary system because Indians planted their own vegetables, hunted their own meat, and made their own clothing and housing from what ever was in their surroundings. They had no need to buy anything, as land, in the Native American Indian religions is not owned by any one man or government. To the Indian the land owns the people not the other way around.
So you see it is not uncommon for the US Government to have skewed ideals on what is "right" or just. To them slaughtering millions of Indians was the answer to making them "civil". Their answer to any ideal they do not understand is to bring in their own ideals and then send other peoples children to fight and die to force them into place. All for ideas that are neither right nor just in the name of "Democracy". How democratic is it to impliment ideals by brute force? Isn't this the same method that terrorists such as the Taliban use in the Middle East to force Islam?
I think the better question is when will the American people stand up and say "no more"! No more sending troops to countries that niether want our help or our ideals. No more sending "economic aid" to countries that sponsor terrorist training camps, simply because they supply oil. No more pressuring other countries and religions to convert to Christianity by slandering the very ideals of the religion by calling it "Democracy". Whether you believe in Abraham, Christ, Allah or none of the above should be of no one else's concern but their own. That is true democracy, when will we see that?
@ljcooper67 - Thank you for reading my blog.I have to say that I agree with the vast majority of the points you made.From the concepts of Manifest Destiny of the mid 1800's that the United States was destined to expand across the continent, by force, as used against Native Americans, if necessary to the interpretation of Kipling's poem, White Man's Burden, as a Eurocentric view of the world, in which non-European cultures are seen as childlike to justify the mass slave trade of Africans, America was built on the backs and blood of others.You would be hard pressed though to name any country or civilization that wasn't.
You do have to admit that we have evolved in many ways since those days, though to say that the end justifies the means would be parroting the biggest lie even made up.It is often used in a negative way. If the end justifies the means, then spurious ends, such as the supremacy of the third Reich, and justify unethical means, such as destroying anyone who gets in the way of this end. Or, the if the glory of God and the fulfillment of His wishes is the end, then burning people who are in the way of this is justified. Or if spreading the word of the Gospel is the end, then using deceptive and other questionable means to achieve this end is justified. Thus, people may say, when disputing certain well-publicized efforts to forward goals they don't share, "Uh-huh. The end justifies the means." That is, you are relying on the same arguments that have justified every horror known to man.
While we have few to no excuses about the ignorant concepts we used to create this country, it is still one of the best places on earth to live. Having been to a few dozen others, I would be hard pressed to pick another where I would rather be.As for our present mistakes of assuming we hav ethe right to play parent or police to the world,those changes to rectify that rest in all our hands as Americans through the power of the vote. That is why I always say if you can vote,then do it. Apathy towards what our elected leaders and the belief that some one else will fix the prolems are what led to the problems of today.
And to spread Christianity.. is blind. Christ walked the earth, not forcing people to join him.. (this is me assuming he was real. There are no facts...) but people followed him because he was very wise, not because he forced them. If other countries want to follow the United States, we have to set a good example, not force it. Government officials minds are so bogged with money and oil that they forget the law of love and free will. It is sad. If other countries want to kill each other, let them do it! (I do believe the U.S. stopping Hitler was the right thing though, that was a mass scale of horror) That is the only way they will come to a true understanding, through mistakes. To earn your wings you must fall and fall.. over and over again. All you can do is step back and pray for them.
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