Religion vs Faith vs Hate

Some would ask what the difference is here, but it is to me quite simple. Faith is belief in a higher being, while religion is following a certain set of rules and beliefs making up an organized faith.

One is about knowing God, while the other is worshipping Allah, Jehovah, Elohim, Yahweh, Krishna, etc. One is about freedom, the other about limits. Religion should be about helping us to get closer to God and not about narrowly defining how that can only take place. Unfortunately too many times each religion has its own view of Salvation that makes it only possible for their way to be the only way to God.

This narrow definition of Salvation puts up barriers between all of us. I have friends that are very dear to me and we agree on many things, but they are Baptists and believe deeply that Muslims, Hindus, Jews, Catholics, Presbyterians, etc. are all going to hell.

Is it not this same view point that has pitted Muslims like bin Laden and his followers against the rest of the world and even most of their own religion? It is this religous bigotry that prevents happiness in our world. It is not the only reason, but it is an important one.

To quote John Lennon:
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

Imagine a world without hate. Wait, what has hate to do with God? Everything. Religion can become the worst ISM in the world, and the most hateful and most destructive. Some would say certain political followings are religious in context and in their dogma. That only the true believers are right, only the true believers have rights, and only true believers should live. Is this not what we see in religious wars? Is this not what we saw in Nazi Germany in the 30's and 40's? Is this not what we saw in Soviet Russia and Communist China? Did we not see this in the Spanish Inquisition? National Socialism and Communism are both as much a religion as Christianity or Islam.

What is key here is that hate has a lot to do with the worst of what man can do to man. God tells us to love one another, but religion can get in the way and allow us instead to hate. Do you think God would want us to blow each other up in his name?

According to Jonathan Swift, the author of Gulliver's Travels, "We have enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another." I heard that as a college student many years ago and used it as a prisim through which I viewed religion AND God. As I grew older and wiser I discovered that Swift was in error. The quote should be--

"We have enough religion to make us hate, but not enough FAITH to make us love one another."

After I learned to separate the two ideas I was able to see that faith is about God only, while religion is about man and his own issues.

As a youth I thought hate was the opposite of love. Not true either; the opposite of love is apathy. Hate is love turned sideways, upside down, and inside out.

God created love, man created hate.

Imagine a world with no hate. Imagine a world where faith is stronger than religion, where love is stronger than hate. That is a world I want to live in and to leave to my grandchildren.

Disposable

Where is the fundamental difference between Capital Punishment and Abortion?

One is done to convicted murderers and the other against innocent babies? Well, yes. One is sanctioned by the state and the other allowed by the state. Well, yes.

Okay, what about similarities? Both are done with chemicals (at least in the US). Both are untimely. Both affect those directly involved in a bad way. They both say that life is disposable in our society.

There have been volumes written on each subject separately and together. The end result is that do we really want to add to the 'landfills' of our lives? Do we really need to kids learning that if you don't want something to throw it away? Do we want them to learn that if something is inconvenient to kill it? Do we want to cheapen life anymore than it already is?

Think about it for a second - you are finished with that chicken sandwich, toss it in the garbage. Throw away that old dress or shirt you are tired of. How about that couch you got when you moved into your first apartment? Then there is that baby that is going to be a real pain in your social life and cramp you going to college.

To me and lot's of people the fact that someone has murdered their fellow man/woman is enough for them to forfeit their life. I have believed this for a long time as well, but I have never been able to reconcile someone's ability to kill a baby within themselves. So I sat down and went over the message we are sending to our society - that life is disposable, period.

I cannot tell my kids this and I am loath to even tell them what capital punishment or abortion is.

The answer to this problem is - to outlaw abortion and capital punishment, but with other alternatives. For abortion this is adoption, pure and simple. This includes cases of incest and rape. The alternative to capital punishment is a deep, dark hole. I'm sure I'll write a post about our penal system, but for now the Death Row needs to be a place without creature comforts and be somewhere without possibility of escape.

I know this won't be easy to implement, but what else can we do?

Left Wing versus Right Wing

There really is no such thing as Left Wing and Right Wing. Political opinion and views are on a continuum like a circle, neither starting nor ending. They are part of the same circular political spectrum.

The bottom is occupied by the centrist view point. You might call it a moderate, or with those that don't have a political point of view at all. This is probably where most people live, politically. This is a safe place to be and doesn't require much thought, or more importantly, doesn't require any friction or fighting. Centrists don't blow up each other for a centrist ideology.

From there you have to go to the right or the left, conservative or liberal. They are depicted with a great deal of space on the lower part of the circle because they occupy a great deal of differing levels of intensity. With respect for each other these 3 groups can and do co-exist in peace and must work together for the sake of representative democracies.

Let that sink in for a moment. I went to college in a very liberal town known for its hippie views, and was discovering my conservative identity. The one thing I learned from talking and arguing with both sides of a political situation was that both sides had good and bad thoughts. Put simply - Liberals remind Conservatives to feel, and Conservatives remind Liberals to think.

Now from this spot the going gets a little tougher. Liberals can become leftists and then socialists, while conservatives can become so many different things that I couldn't label or they can speed right past Go and turn into fascists. They don't get the $200. Either way this is where democracy has taken a back seat to an ISM. Whether it be socialISM/communISM or fascISM the people will start to suffer from lessing freedoms and basic protections from the state. At this point there is no respect for differing points of view and those that oppose the state are dealt with... or made to disappear. Of course there is always the re-education camp or Gulag.

At the top of the spectrum, or the most unstable point in the circle, is complete totalitarianISM. Whether it be a communist regime under the title of People's Democratic Republic of Blahblah, or a fascist group called the National Socialist Party of Blahblah, the result is total and complete power in the hands of a small group of people or in one person. All freedoms belong to the state.

The important thing to remember with the circle is that the farther away from the bottom you go the more energy and power (or abuse of power) it takes to maintain control of the people. Also the farther way you go the fewer freedoms there are. As the state takes away freedoms they do so without the consent of the people and thus have to do so with the use of power. I don't mean losing the right to vote by convicted felons, I'm talking about the right of the people to protest, meet, or to form opposing political parties.

If you look at the line across the center of the circle the area above is the ISM Zone for a reason. This area doesn't have any safe places for political discourse. Almost everything is forced into a state of extremism. There is that damn ISM again.

ISM states mostly lead to other forms of ISM states. What did you say? If left alone (no outside intervention) an ISM state may have a revolution or change of power, but it will be to another form of an ISM state, or the same kind.

Political or military coups can lead from a Hunta to a communist regime, or from a monarchy to a dictatorship, or... It is rare and wonderful to see an ISM state replaced with the seeds of democracy. This is not something that happens overnight. Look at the pain that the former USSR is going through. They are still not a democracy, but they are much closer than they were 20 years ago.

The one thing I learned from putting this idea together while in school many years ago is that no one prospers in a ISM state and as long as there is respect for each other that ALL situations can be resolved together, from one side of the circle to the other (below the ISM Zone). And most importantly that both sides MUST co-exist much like light and dark, hot and cold, yin and yang. Really what this means is that within us all are a little of the other side no matter what we say our political views are. Within each liberal is a little conservative and each conservative has a little liberal within them.

Yes, even Ann Coulter has a little liberal within her. It is probably screaming its ass off, but it's there.

A Beginning...

All things have a beginning, a start, an origin, an alpha. So it is with this blog. I am not a politician nor do I aspire to that position. I'm nothing but a student of the body politic, a man that has lived long enough to have an opinion on most all matters.

What I offer you is a chance to read my thoughts on American political discourse and have your say as well. All I ask is that you be respectful of my opinion and others. While I am a Texan by birth I am an American by citizenship.

This blog will be a notebook for me to share what thoughts I have on matters facing America and American today, in the past and tomorrow. My opinions will be based upon political necessity, weighing alternatives, and in the end doing what is right for most people today and in the future. I firmly believe that a people that forget history are doomed to repeat it, but I don't believe in stewing in past mistakes.

I do hold a political affiliation, but do not adhere to it to the exclusion of common sense. That affiliation will be a subject of a blog in the near future.

Maybe together we can come up with the answers to the problems of America that work today and tomorrow. Hopefully we can leave the ISMs out of this discourse.

Thanks for reading and sharing,

ALTRRR