Sad
Only logged in members can reply and interact with the post.
Join SimilarWorlds for FREE »

Let us be honest with one another. There is a new religion forming in the United States.

At the center of this religion are a mythical group of people known as the Founding Fathers. (Please note that there are apparently no founding mothers.) Practitioners of this religion insist that all new laws must be in keeping with what the Founding Fathers desired. Would they, for example, have approved of homosexuals being allowed to marry? (I suspect they would not, as such a thing was unheard of in their day.) Would they have approved of restitution being paid to persons of African descent? (They would not have, as they considered persons of African descent to be property.)

Even those persons who lean leftward in their politics are not immune to this religion. They point out the intent of the Founding Fathers when discussing such issues as the Second Amendment and gun violence. It is not enough for practitioners of this religion to acknowledge that these men helped found the United States. No, according to them, we must always consider the will of the Founding Fathers. It has become a rather specific form of ancestor worship.
This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »
SW-User
Honesty? Who knows what that is. I think that when we start looking to the past (however gloriously envisaged) to determine our future then the game is already up. As I see it we are by-passing our unique selves. Then again, it has been said that for things to remain the same then they must change - but a bit too early in the morning to get my head around that; I'm only on my second coffee.

The Founding Fathers? What was it they inscribed to their own glory and justification?

[i]We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.[/i]

Well, as Jung said:- "You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do."

I'm thinking of how the indigenous population of North America were duped and cheated. Then the on-going history of slavery. "All equal, with rights, deserving of liberty" Enough said.

Really, although it is true that to protect ourselves we must protect others, and that in protecting others we protect ourselves, nevertheless as I see it "salvation" or "enlightenment" (whatever you want to call it) is an individual thing. I don't believe in Kingdoms of Heaven upon earth, and a great deal of suffering has resulted from seeking to create them. So if there is a new religion forming, count me out.

[i]Remake what has gone by and work with what comes. If you don’t remake, you are stuck deeply somewhere[/i]
(Joshu)