The cult of the "Religious" Radical Right -- which is 100%
radical, but only pseudo-religious -- has several major hangups.
Its adherents/lemmings all are ---
-- Busybodies
-- Uncompasionate to concerns they disagree with
-- Control-Freakish
-- Inflexible
-- Disrespective of several personal liberties
-- People who views everything in terms of "absolutes"
-- People who deplore "moral relativism"
-- Opposed to granting across-the-board equal rights to all
-- Buttinskies
-- Brainwsahed/programmed by false/Un-Biblical dogmas
-- Intolerant of *private* behaviors they don't like (even
though those are none of their business.
-- Steeped in the silly (and almost always wrong/phony) jargon
they employ to belittle legitimate aspects of society.
(E.g., Ignoring the U.S. Constitution's system of checks
and balances, and hatefully claiming that the legitimate
formation of Judicial Law is "legislating from the bench"
by "activist judges." On the other hand, if the decision
is one that they *favor*, then these terms are never used,
and the judges suddenly are nice, "constructionist." ones.
So much for the "absolutes." A judge could easily be a
hated "activist" judge on one decision, and then be a beloved
"constructionist" judge on another. (However, in reality, this
seldom happens. Most judges who kowtow to the RRR cult's
agendas do so very consistently, while the egalitarian judges
almost always rule fairly, which makes them anathema to the
cultists.)
Of course, many things ARE properly expressed as absolutes.
Every action that any person can take which carries a significant
risk of doing overt harm to others is absolutely wrong. Every
case of a person doing harm, *purposely*, to others, is wrong.
That pretty much covers the absolutes. If a person's behavior
does NO overt harm to others, or to the possessions of others,
then whether or not the behavior is worthy of criticism becomes a
judgment call. A valid judgment call requires THINKING on the
part of the person who chooses to judge the behavior or action.
And a *thinking* person will **weigh** all of the relevant pros and
cons that apply to the case. BEFORE making his judgment call.
Of course, part of the mix in the factors necessary for
consideration is whether or not the behavior/action/decision
up for judgment by a peer is a **personal** and **private** one.
IF so, then the **thinking** person will immediately back off,
and recognize that NO judgment call is either necessary or
appropriate. Because in such intances, that which is being
considered is NONE of their business. (The only exception
to that is in the case when the person whose actions are
being considered *solicits* the opinion of the one who's doing
the considering.)
This evaluation process, when done properly, generally is
tested against the Golden Rule.
The RRR cultists are notorious for making *their* judgment
calls on the basis of that which they call "absolutes." And to
them, if ANYTHING in the Bible even *hints* that someone's
behavior might be "sinful," then they judge. Harshly. Worse
yet, if the Bible says absolutely NOTHING against the
behavior/decision being considered, BUT one of the cult's
**phony** dogmas is being "violated," (e.g., choosing to have
an abortion), then the person being judged is automatically
condemned.
RRR cultists make the HUGE mistake of somehow regarding
themselves to be **enforcers** of Biblical precepts (and worse,
some of their leaders' own humanly-concocted ones, such as
regarding anything to be wrong with abortion) against society
in general. However, the Bible in NO WAY appoints or author-
izes **any** such Gestapo.
Nor, for that matter, does the Bible matter at all to literally
tens of millions of Americans. Per the Gallup Poll, 83% of
Americans profess Christianity. Let's add 1% to cover the
Jews, who use the Old Testament. That leaves 16%. And
that adds up to 46,000,000 people!! 46 MILLION!
BOTTOM LINE: The reasonable employment of "moral
relativism" is in actuality strong evidence of why God put
humanity on the earth with the capability to think and reason,
rather than populate the earth with a race of automatons. It
gives people the capability to be FAIR and COMPASSIONATE.
(Which is in keeping with Jesus' prime directive -- that His
followers show love and compassion to their neighbors. Any
person who supports agendas which would mindlessly and
hatefully impose immense hardship and misery upon millions
of people, and deprive them of equal rights over matters that
are personal, private, irrelevant, and trivial (such as their
opposition to same-sex marriage, which would harm NO one),
is in direct violation of Jesus' directive. And thus, if he claims
to be a Christian, he is the worst of hypocrites.
The agendas of the RRR Cult are totally devoid of any
redeeming social significance. Demonstrably, and proven
by the cultists constantly and consistently. Thus, there IS
an "absolute" that comes into play: they are ABSOLUTELY
wrong.
-- Craig Chilton
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