Let me say just say this: Folks who don't think tyranny can't happen in the
USA are like a frog boiling to death by bringing its water temperature up
gradually so the poor stupid critter doesn't become alarmed.
_
7 November 2022 LNP Lancaster Online >>>letter to the editor
A PLEA FOR ECUMENISM???ONE WORLD RELIGION???
Christian nationalism and the old gods
The question is not whether or not God, but a matter of what god we have.
A god functions to certify cultural values. Hitherto, many have been the gods of tribal glorification, only to die of obsolescence. When called to go forward, devotees of the old ways chose to become even more recalcitrant and vindictive. Too readily, gods served as a religious cloak for male dominance, militarism, white supremacy, xenophobia and gynophobia.
During a Götterdämmerung (twilight of the gods), distinguishing between the religious and the irreligious is fraught with perspective bias. In a cloud of confusion, the dying gods rage mightily, and an emerging affirming spirit is repelled by their crudity. Abject credulity is rightly matched by excoriating scorn.
Among the old gods, Christian nationalism is a travesty against a universal God. I perceive it to be the ultimate blasphemy. Retribution is an armageddon of its own making. Using God to justify violence is an offense to religious sensibilities.
In the face of today’s potential planetary catastrophe, religion is called upon to go global and adopt a cosmic theology. No one tradition will be in sole control. As the world is disintegrating, we must come together in common affirmation, “We, the planetary people.”
Yes, there comes a point at which the behavior of the old gods is so abhorrent that they must die that humanity might live. In transcending our differences, we can find our unity.
The gods are who we are. What God shall we be?
Eugene Clemens Elizabethtown
Isaiah 41:21“Present the case for your idols,”
says the LORD.
“Let them show what they can do,”
says the King of Israel.
a
22“Let them try to tell us what happened long ago
so that we may consider the evidence.
Or let them tell us what the future holds,
so we can know what’s going to happen.
23Yes, tell us what will occur in the days ahead.
Then we will know
you are gods.
In fact, do anything—good or bad!
Do something that will amaze and frighten us.
24But no! You are less than nothing and can do nothing at all.
Those who choose you pollute themselves.