| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"ShyDavid" |
| Date: |
07 Sep 2003 03:05:31 PM |
| Object: |
Does God need government's help? |
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/tue/opinion/news_mz1e2cohen.html
RICHARD COHEN
Does God need government's help?
Richard Cohen
THE WASHINGTON POST
September 2, 2003
In April of 1966, Time magazine asked in a famous cover, "Is God
Dead?" The cover triggered an enormous controversy, especially at
Emory University, where a theologian had sparked matters by
propounding something called "Christian Atheism." Now all these years
later, the answer to Time's question is clear. God is not dead, but
he's on welfare.
I do not mean to be either cavalier or sacrilegious, but it occurs to
me that the God so often discussed nowadays seems as dependent on the
government as a "welfare mother." For some reason, the Almighty needs
government assistance to make his presence known. Either the schools
must have [coerced] prayer or government buildings must have a
religious reminder - say, the Ten Commandments - or else, somehow, he
will be banished from our lives or our consciousness.
I am not a religious person, but neither am I particularly hostile to
religion. It hardly ruins my day to confront a religious symbol or to
see a Christmas tree in some public space. I have even survived a
crucifix placed on the wall of a public school classroom where, as a
wee student, I used to visit while delivering messages from the
school's office. This was good duty, since it got me out of class for
the day.
But I have to wonder about a God that is so dependent on government
for his virtual existence that secular laws could virtually obliterate
his presence, or who needs the help of lawmakers to assert his place
in our lives. This, more of less, was the argument of Alabama's Chief
Justice Roy Moore, who had a statue of the[sic] Ten Commandments
placed in the rotunda of the state Supreme Court building. When he was
instructed by higher courts and sounder minds to remove the thing, he
responded that the state was being told "it could not acknowledge
God." He has since been suspended from office.
Moore's position was initially supported by much of the conservative
movement, religious and political - including Alabama's attorney
general, Bill Pryor, who ultimately told Moore to obey the law. Moore
lost his backing only when he defied the higher courts - impermissible
for a judge.
In other words, his tactics, not his beliefs, were too much for his
more reasonable supporters. As The Wall Street Journal editorialized,
Moore was turning out to be a vehicle for the ACLU and others to raise
money: "For the sake of preserving 'religious expression' in public
life, we hope he backs off and finds another battle to fight another
day."
No doubt he will. But no doubt, too, Moore is a lesson to us all -
including his supporters. The statute had to be a reminder to anyone
who entered what Moore clearly thought of as his courthouse that
religion - and a particular one at that - was intertwined with law in
that building. That was the case because, if for no other reason, the
judge said so over and over again. He went too far.
But it is the nature of religion to go too far. That is its history -
in the distant past and just yesterday as well. All over the world,
people are hideously butchered in the name of God, which is to say
condemned to death on account of an accident of birth. (This, after
all, is how most of us get our religious convictions.) Religion can
have a hard time being tolerant. To many adherents, the stakes are too
high.
I am at a loss to explain this mentality. But I am at a loss, too, to
explain why the all-powerful deity needs some [public] school teacher
to lead a prayer - why, for instance, the religious do not tend to
this matter before their children leave for class. I do not understand
why a God who once smote with abandon and authored miracles that
science could never explain needs a statute here or a display there to
remind us of his omnipresence.
The only explanation is that these are not, solely, subtle reminders
of a higher authority - higher than the law, for instance - but
not-so-subtle attempts at using government to set things straight:
yours is a misguided religion, a back-of-the-bus belief that is not
quite what the state prefers.
Get with the program.
Religious minorities in this country fiercely hold to their beliefs
with no help whatsoever from the government, save constitutional
protections. They, not Moore and his supporters, ought to be our
lesson for the day. Their God is vibrant and strong and very much a
presence in their lives - not dead and not on the dole, either.
Cohen can be reached via e-mail at
.
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| User: "Mark K. Bilbo" |
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| Title: Re: Does God need government's help? |
07 Sep 2003 03:22:10 PM |
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On Sun, 07 Sep 2003 20:05:31 +0000, ShyDavid wrote:
Does God need government's help?
Apparently.
Ya know, for such an all powerful being, he sure can't seem to do anything
on his own...
--
Mark K. Bilbo
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| User: "ShyDavid" |
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| Title: Re: Does God need government's help? |
07 Sep 2003 06:04:51 PM |
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On Sun, 07 Sep 2003 15:22:10 -0500, "Mark K. Bilbo"
<iskanipa-y@hoo.com> wrote:
On Sun, 07 Sep 2003 20:05:31 +0000, ShyDavid wrote:
Does God need government's help?
Apparently.
Ya know, for such an all powerful being, he sure can't seem
to do anything on his own...
It also seems to need a hell of a lot of money.
--
Mark K. Bilbo
.
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| User: "Mark K. Bilbo" |
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| Title: Re: Does God need government's help? |
07 Sep 2003 07:20:05 PM |
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On Sun, 07 Sep 2003 23:04:51 +0000, ShyDavid wrote:
On Sun, 07 Sep 2003 15:22:10 -0500, "Mark K. Bilbo" <iskanipa-y@hoo.com>
wrote:
On Sun, 07 Sep 2003 20:05:31 +0000, ShyDavid wrote:
Does God need government's help?
Apparently.
Ya know, for such an all powerful being, he sure can't seem to do
anything on his own...
It also seems to need a hell of a lot of money.
What *IS* this with the "creator of the universe" needing cash?
Can't he just *poof some up?
--
Mark K. Bilbo
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| User: "Bill Jarrell" |
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| Title: Re: Does God need government's help? |
08 Sep 2003 12:02:15 AM |
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"Mark K. Bilbo" <iskanipa-y@hoo.com> wrote in message news:<pan.2003.09.08.00.20.05.183861@eac.org>...
On Sun, 07 Sep 2003 23:04:51 +0000, ShyDavid wrote:
On Sun, 07 Sep 2003 15:22:10 -0500, "Mark K. Bilbo" <iskanipa-y@hoo.com>
wrote:
On Sun, 07 Sep 2003 20:05:31 +0000, ShyDavid wrote:
Does God need government's help?
Apparently.
Ya know, for such an all powerful being, he sure can't seem to do
anything on his own...
It also seems to need a hell of a lot of money.
What *IS* this with the "creator of the universe" needing cash?
Can't he just *poof some up?
If God is as conservative as some people claim He supports the gold
standard so He'd have to make some gold to back up the cash.
.
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| User: "Bill Jarrell" |
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| Title: Re: Does God need government's help? |
08 Sep 2003 12:02:17 AM |
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"Mark K. Bilbo" <iskanipa-y@hoo.com> wrote in message news:<pan.2003.09.08.00.20.05.183861@eac.org>...
On Sun, 07 Sep 2003 23:04:51 +0000, ShyDavid wrote:
On Sun, 07 Sep 2003 15:22:10 -0500, "Mark K. Bilbo" <iskanipa-y@hoo.com>
wrote:
On Sun, 07 Sep 2003 20:05:31 +0000, ShyDavid wrote:
Does God need government's help?
Apparently.
Ya know, for such an all powerful being, he sure can't seem to do
anything on his own...
It also seems to need a hell of a lot of money.
What *IS* this with the "creator of the universe" needing cash?
Can't he just *poof some up?
If God is as conservative as some people claim He supports the gold
standard so He'd have to make some gold to back up the cash.
.
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| User: "Hector Plasmic" |
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| Title: Re: Does God need government's help? |
11 Sep 2003 03:23:30 PM |
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"Mark K. Bilbo" <iskanipa-y@hoo.com> wrote in message news:<pan.2003.09.08.00.20.05.183861@eac.org>...
It also seems to need a hell of a lot of money.
What *IS* this with the "creator of the universe"
needing cash?
Can't he just *poof some up?
Hey, *hey*, HEY! God does not "poof," okay? Richard Simmons poofs, not God.
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| User: "Thomas P." |
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| Title: Re: Does God need government's help? |
11 Sep 2003 10:27:55 PM |
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On 11 Sep 2003 13:23:30 -0700, (Hector Plasmic)
wrote:
"Mark K. Bilbo" <iskanipa-y@hoo.com> wrote in message news:<pan.2003.09.08.00.20.05.183861@eac.org>...
It also seems to need a hell of a lot of money.
What *IS* this with the "creator of the universe"
needing cash?
Can't he just *poof some up?
Hey, *hey*, HEY! God does not "poof," okay? Richard Simmons poofs, not God.
And Richard earns his own money.
Thomas P.
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