tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6383741895455123821.post5057889918725610826..comments2024-02-04T14:05:34.412-08:00Comments on Rim Country Gazette: We are a nation of laws, not religionJames Keyworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16778065398076170813noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6383741895455123821.post-86757843622877572752012-07-27T08:41:33.621-07:002012-07-27T08:41:33.621-07:00What an ill-informed knee-jerk reaction to the wor...What an ill-informed knee-jerk reaction to the word "religion"!<br /><br />"Judeo-Christian VALUES" are not a "religion." They are the kind of values that embody most of the Ten Commandments. If you take out the commandments that refer to God and worshiping HIM, you are left with:<br /><br />Honor thy parents (Social security is a form of this)<br /><br />Thou shalt not kill. <br /><br />Thou shalt not steal. <br /><br />Thou shalt not commit adultery. <br /> <br />Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain (Perjury)<br /><br />Thou shalt keep holy the Sabbath. (this actually provided for a “day of rest” and I think it’s safe to say Americans truly look forward to their “weekend.”) <br /><br />Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's "stuff." (Can lead to interference with property rights)<br /><br />Other aspects of Judeo-Christian principles include the idea of taking care of family, not being cruel to servants and animals, honesty and fairness in business dealings, forgiving those who have wronged us -- these things are embodied in our laws.<br /><br />These are things that enable us to live together as a society, REGARDLESS of religious affiliation. It doesn't matter if we hold these principles BECAUSE we are Jews or Christians, these "Judeo-Christian values" were the basis of our constitution and laws.<br /><br />Contrast with other religious principles that we do NOT find in this country:<br /><br />Reverence for, and even worship of, animals. Animals are our companions and servants; we do not place ourselves beneath them. Try prodding a cow to get off the road so you can pass by in India and see what happens -- to YOU.<br /><br />A caste system, that believes that we are born to be rich or poor (clean or unclean) and cannot rise above our birth. Here we believe (or say we do) that all are created equal, with equal chance to succeed or fail.<br /><br />Those are just a couple of NON-Judeo-Christian RELIGIOUS principles that we do NOT embody in this country. There are many more, but I haven't made a study of world religions to come up with more examples. Certainly, some individuals who follow those religions might believe those things, but they have not made it into our Constitution or our laws.<br /><br />So to the apparent atheist who has such a problem with the concept of "Judeo-Christian principles," get past the terminology and discover what it really means. It doesn't mean we are all either Christians or Jews, it just means that the moral code of the Judeo-Christian bible was the moral code our Founding Fathers felt would make for a peaceful and ordered society, with fairness and opportunity for all. If our Founding Fathers had been Buddhists, or Muslims, or Hindus, we might have a very different Constitution. But they came from Judeo-Christian backgrounds, and those moral codes are what formed the basis for our Constitution.<br /><br />Those values are embraced by the majority of the world's population because they provide fairness and order, respecting both individual rights and community rights. The point of Bob Edwards' column was that we are turning away from these values as individuals, and therefore as a nation, in favor of instant gratification and success for "ME" no matter whom "I" have to stomp on to attain it.<br /><br />Fairness and kindness require self-sacrifice. Selfishness does not. All you have to do is watch C-SPAN to see selfishness in action. No compromise, no giving in, no crumbs thrown to the opposition, the Republicans want only to protect themselves and their rich supporters; the Democrats want only to vilify their opponents and keep free money flowing to people who in many cases are obtaining it fraudulently. <br /><br />The Judeo-Christian value-based solution lies somewhere in between, and we are losing our ability to make the personal sacrifices needed to implement it.<br /><br />Before you condemn something, you ought to learn exactly what it means.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6383741895455123821.post-5329178893781879652012-07-26T23:00:12.549-07:002012-07-26T23:00:12.549-07:00As you like to base your arguemtn on the Constitut...As you like to base your arguemtn on the Constitution, it also does not include the phrase, "separation between church and state." Another one of the founding fathers said that the Constitution is only for a moral and religious people, that it is wholely inadequate for any other.<br />Your last sentence, "Perhaps there are some laws that we can enact to spare lives by preventing a sociopath like James Holmes from gaining access to that many rounds in those types of weapons." Any law that would have stopped him would stop everyone. Up to the point of his terrible crime, he had no criminal record, was not considered to be insane; in fact, he was considered to be brilliant. Maybe that should be on the list of prohibited possessors of firearms - no brilliant people can purchase or have a gun in their possession. There, that would have stopped him!<br />Something that the Left seems to ignore is that laws restrict the law abiding citizen and strip him of his rights (in the case of gun control); but do nothing to stop the criminal. More restrictive gun control laws only play to the advantage of the criminal.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com