The Talibanization of America.
Siem Reap, Cambodia, June 22nd, 2024.
Salaroche

What happened to the separation of church and State in America? Wasn’t America supposed to be the land of religious freedom? Well, not really. It turns out it was only supposed to be that way. Yes, the First Amendment to the Constitution says that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion", but that mandate pertains explicitly to Congress, no one else. Any other interpretation of it has always depended on the weak, but general consensus that religion shouldn’t be mixed with politics.

But that consensus was terminated in December of 1999 when, during a Republican presidential debate, George W. Bush told the audience that Jesus was his favorite political philosopher. Since then, it has all gone downhill for religious freedom in America and a boon to Christian Nationalism. Is it any wonder that for Gov. Jeff Landry of Louisiana the 1st Amendment doesn’t mean diddly-squat? Given the rising tide of Christian Nationalism across America, Landry’s state-wide edict to impose the display of the ten commandments in all State public schools was just a foregone result.

Clarification: I’m not a religious person. I don’t follow the doctrines prescribed in any religious philosophy, be it Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Taoism, or anything else. I embrace my own transcendental philosophy largely based on the premises explained in Jnana Yoga.

From my International, non-religious vantage point, therefore, learning that the State of Louisiana is imposing the ten commandments on their youth raises an ominous red flag. From my perspective, Gov. Jeff Landry looks like an Iranian Mufti issuing a fatwa, or a Saudi Arabian Imam announcing a new religious dictate, or even a Taliban Mullah imposing a new religious restriction on the Afghan population.

Jeff Landry is way out of line in mixing politics and religion. The founding fathers, the framers of the Constitution, didn’t mention not even once the term Christianity in that document. The term “creator” is mentioned in the Declaration of Independence, but it doesn’t specify WHO that “creator” is. No doubt the founding fathers had a secular form of government in mind when they conceived the American Democratic Experiment.

But now we have large numbers of Americans seeking political power using religious extremism as a tool to force everyone else to toe their authoritarian line. From my non-Christian perspective, the way I see this situation is this: Assuming that the Christ of the bible existed, he was perhaps the humblest, most indiscriminating man to have ever walked this earth. Yet, large numbers of his American followers are some of the most arrogant, most intransigent, intolerant, hatred-filled, pigheaded bigots on earth.

I don’t call those people “Christians”, I call them CINOS: Christians In Name Only. Those CINOs don’t want us all Americans to be free. They don't even want you to follow Christ, for to follow Christ would mean to follow the dictum "do unto others", which they don't do. They just want you to follow them so that you will give them political power. They just want us all to live under their misguided, highly-mistaken, authoritarian, pseudo-religious impositions. They want to Talibanize America.

No religion should ever be mandated by government edict in the United States. Theocracy was never meant to be, nor will it ever become, neither the American form of government, nor the guiding principle behind the American way of life. Religion is a very personal issue. It should be left to each of us to decide, first, whether we want to be religious or not and, second, which religion we want to belong to.

We don't want any Theocratic, Taliban-like, government in the United States. So, hey Jeff Landry! You Christo-Fascist moron! Keep all government-mandated, religious impositions out of America’s classrooms!

To read an arcticle that elaborates on the subject, please click here.

Salaroche