I'm pretty sure a majority of Americans think they agree with the sentence: "Live and Let Live".
Yet, we are at a moment, where over the last few days both representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and then Donald Trump a day later went mask-off in openly supporting "Christian Nationalism". I can't believe I have to have this kind of conversation out loud to my fellow Americans, but it's really not okay to decide you are a Christian Nationalist. Please don't just parse it for it's root words without understanding it's meaning. Please understand there is real context, history and insanity to that phrase. Please understand what is suddenly being openly supported by sitting members of our government after 5 years of dog-whistling in this direction. If you sincerely look at our nation and think the problem holding us back is a need to be more like a middle-eastern theocratic county, then I dare you to tell me why. Can you tell me without imposing your personal beliefs as the answer? In this huge world of 7 billion people, full of countless religions and cultures and histories and backgrounds, to impose your personal religious beliefs on others is insanely selfish on a personal level, and to do it by rule of law or proxy is a historical recipe for disaster. Not everyone thinks like you and not everyone believes like you and the reasonable way to exist in this world is to be okay with that simple reality. "Live and Let Live." "Do Unto Others as You Would Have Them Do Unto You.." The Golden Rule, in whatever form you know it, exists in almost all religions. Shared ethical principles find a common thread among religions of all backgrounds for a reason. But nothing good has ever come from human history in imposing your own version of subjective beliefs over others. I can't believe I have to have this conversation with America in 2022. If you have been brought up where your concept of morality is irreversibly connected to your religion, that's yours to own. That is your understanding of the world. But please understand that the concept of "ethics" actually stands on its own merits far outside of any one persons religion. Ethics and the study of morality have a grandiose history of philosophy outside of your personal religion or outside of any religion at all. Your single-minded view with fantastical stories from thousands of years ago, that stand on the same basis as anyone else's religion, should not be imposed on everyone else. If you have ever known me I feel pretty confident you've known me to be a pretty reasonable person in your direction. I make great effort to be tempered, nice, and at my best actively trying to make your world happier or easier. Yet, some portion of people reading this might be surprised to know that I've spent my entire adult life an atheist/agnostic. I don't mention my atheism/agnostic perspective much because, to put it simply, it didn't seem to be a helpful topic of conversation in my early adult life, no matter how much I wanted it to be. It's not a status that causes thoughtful conversation, as I fool-hardily hoped for far too long, but a status that is more likely met with vitriol based on actively motivated misunderstanding. But most people --- most people simply didn't want to have that kind of conversation. But not for some terrible or self-righteous reason. They were busy with life. They had to worry about more base concepts than have a "deep" conversation unprovoked. A conversation that was forced that would brush up against foundational concepts of ones self. that they may not have focused on in years or with great intensity. Or because they were simply busy -- had to worry about getting food on the table more. Or figuring out their future. Figuring out the next day -- there wasn't a luxury of overanalyzing broader concepts. But all this just to say -- not everyone is like you. Or me. Not everyone is at the same moment in their life, their year, their existence, as where you currently sit. Or have had the priviledge of being brought up in. Or the hardships that you've weathered through. We are all so different and for good reasons and the only way you make this world work is by accepting that and learning to make your table bigger. Not put up walls and force your momentary, subjective rules on others. But if it's helpful for you to understand that ethical nice people of all kinds, come from every walk-of-life, in every religion, in every country, and every background around the world, just know that I've been an Atheist the whole time you've known me. So if you are someone that somehow doesn't see the scary road that talk of accepting "Christian Nationalism" leads to, please take a moment to reflect. To google. To understand what that means and in the context of history and this country and this world. It's ties to White Nationalism and the KKK. It's obvious and direct reflection to "radical islam" that is born of the same type of often conservative, often misogynistic, often nationalist, often racially motivated mandated beliefs. It feels so odd to have to beg with adults to please not impose your bullshit on me and others from a governmental level. I thought we had some baselines in this country that weren't nearly this fragile. All this shouting of "freedom" and "Don't Tread on Me" is so crazily biased to how one side sees it, those words have no meaning when the people who mindlessly chant those concepts are the ones who push in this direction. And the continued deterioration in this direction is what leads to atrocity. That is what leads to backwards nations doing terrible things and create cycles of violence and in-fighting that self-perpetuates. Where people end up living in fear of having open discussions and free thoughts about who they really are. This is how you break previously free and open systems due to litmus tests and grotesque concepts of "loyalty" over buzz-words and cults of personality. Please. Please understand that a vote for anyone standing with the Cult of Trump is a continued vote in a very dangerous direction that holds many people captive. And for what? Ask yourself; "For what? What is the end game of this type of talk?" Because there isn't a peaceful end game to this type of talk. Because this isn't new. History is repeating itself. And this isn't a path you want humanity to run its course with. |
The Author
is a thirty-something guy who hasn't been able to look away from politics since 2010. Around the time he got tired of staring at religion. Archives
June 2020
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