[lit-ideas] Re: Religion/Stated, was Vote Bush if...
- From: Andy Amago <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 10:10:57 -0400 (GMT-04:00)
I heard an interesting discussion yesterday on religion and the state. The
U.S. is a very religious country by Western standards. 60-70% of Americans
take their religion seriously. Something like 10% of Europeans do. One of the
reasons put forth is the fact that in Europe the state and church are often
connected. In the U.S. we have constitutional separation of church and state.
It was suggested that when institutions are nationalized, interest is lost.
Ironically, the very attempt by fundamentalist Christians in this country
through the Bush administration to unite the Christian faith with the
constitution may signal its demise as it goes from a religious to a political
institution. Indeed, the expression (said by ???) that power corrupts but
absolute power corrupts absolutely was said about the Catholic church.
They didn't mention that in Iran the state and religion are connected. My
personal explanation is that the Muslim religion differs from Western religions
in that it is so much more authoritarian that it becomes life itself, and
therefore cannot be compared to the West.
Andy Amago
-----Original Message-----
From: JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx
Sent: Oct 30, 2004 8:59 AM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Vote Bush if...
You guys tell it to Theoria (Tom Hart et al) -- I'm afraid to. A hand would
likely come through my computer monitor and rip my head off. I keep trying
to figure out how to explain to my kids why all their Christian friends'
parents are for Bush (or have I mentioned this already?). The Baptists
because
he's an alleged Evangelical; the Catholics because of the stem cell and right
to life issues. <sigh>
Julie Krueger
trying not to despair
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