Quote:
Originally posted by Griff
No. From previous commentary, you generally condemn all Catholics all the time. This is just a convenient opportunity to exploit a breach. If you really want to live in a democracy, you have to understand that folks who think differently from you get to vote as well.
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...but that they cannot and should not impose their will upon those who disagree with them. One of the arguments for a republic like the United States instead of a true democracy is that it prevents a 'tyranny of the majority'.
Religious/social rules that have stood the test of time
Killing is wrong.
Stealing is wrong.
Religious/social rules that have failed.
Drinking alcohol is wrong.
Pornography is wrong.
Doing business on a Sunday is wrong.
Unconventional sex is wrong.
Allowing non-Christians in some hotels, country clubs, and businesses is wrong.
I'm not even going to go into women's suffarage and civil rights, since the church was on both sides of these issues. Sometimes religion brings out the best in us, and sometimes it absolves the worst behavior we can come up with.
Sometimes it was the Catholic church, sometimes it was the Protestants, but their have been times when 'community standards' went beyond keeping your lawn trimmed and your house painted to who you were.
This is not restricted to Christianity. There are a number of organizations which spend their time keeping Christians from being persecuted in non-Christian countries. It can happen wherever a single religion becomes dominant in a country and decides to make it's laws fit itself.
Fortunately, our goverment resists this the way the human body resists an invading microbe. We pick and choose those concepts which can be applied to all and make that Federal law, and leave as much to the states and communities as we can. This insures that there will always be some corner of the country where those who disagree on some set of social rules can go.
Even our prejudices work towards insuring a balance. We have religious factions as much as any country in the middle east. It is just the separation of church and state which gives each of them the security in knowing that the other cannot seize power.
I am sure that Catholics in this country are happy that an Evangelical like Bush cannot impose his will more directly than he already has. His stance on pornography and abortion might be in line with the Vatican, but there are other items which would set their teeth on edge.