Religion and Politics

After the election
01/09/2007

Happy New Year to all!!!!

I’m getting back in the saddle again and getting things put into motion. This is one of those projects I’m putting into motion.

I’d also like to pass on an article posted by Deb Hogenson that speaks to this issue as well and provides exactly the core of the problem I have known about since I my days in grad school in urban planning some 6 years ago, namely, social isolation and the non-existence of community.

“The holy blitz rolls on”

The Christian right is a “deeply anti-democratic movement” that gains force by exploiting Americans’ fears, argues Chris Hedges. Salon talks with the former New York Times reporter about his fearless new book, “American Fascists.”

http://www.therochesterdemocrat.com/index.php/print/book_review_american_fascists_the_holy_blitz_rolls_on

The added benefit of understanding John Dean’s book and the research he used in conjunction with the Salon interview, is to understand the mechanisms that are being used to give these people some identity and a sense of belonging to something greater than themselves and not treated as just a cog in the economic machinery. They GET something from what they are doing that enables them to FEEL like they matter in some intangible way. It is not as much about achieving concrete results as much as having a feeling of hope and a sense of trust.

Anyway, I asked for volunteers who are willing to form a group to begin countering and counter-balancing the right wing extremists. This involves research, discussion, and developing our own material to use in our state and in our communities.

What I have in mind is to develop not only counter arguments, but to use these as material to carry on a “conversation” in the Letters to the Editor section of newspapers ala The Federalist Papers.

Please let me know if you are interested. I already have a couple volunteers, but now that the new year has begun and things loom for this year, I would like to reissue the request and get confirmation on who is willing to work on this.

- Margie A. Hoyt Watonwan Co. A/C

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On 11/6/06, Margie Hoyt wrote:

Dear Brian, Donna, Andy, members of the SCC and the DFL,

It is critically important to heed John Dean’s warning (c-span talk about his book “Conservatives Without Conscience” aired 9/5/06, re-broadcast this morning) about what the right-wing authoritarians are going to do when they lose some seats in this election. They are nothing if not persistent, and when they lose, they re-double their efforts to win the next time.

The “Conservative Movement” which includes Young America’s Foundation that works on college campuses across America has Tim Pawlenty as one of its supporters. In fact, check this out: http://www.minnesotaacademy.com/

With this in mind, and after a much deserved rest and party following the next SCC meeting on Dec. 16th, I want to know what we, the DFL, can do to begin countering YAF and the Conservative Movement in Minnesota. This is NOT an intellectual exercise. This is about developing real strategies and tactics and a serious ground game to counter the authoritarianism at work in the Republican Party and in the religious right that is leading us down the path to totalitarianism that John Dean wrote about in his book.

I hope to hear some thoughts once this election cycle is over.

- Margie A. Hoyt Watonwan Co. A/C

I am encouraged that others are interested in this subject for indeed it is a very serious matter.

War, denial of liberty and justice, and murder, has been justified for centuries in the name of religion.

Today we are threatened with loss of American Civil Rights and our liberties by a neo-con right that seeks to repeal the separation of church and state, tries to usurp Executive powers not granted by our U.S. Constitution to the presidency, wants to establish a State religion, seeks to change our Constitution to permit all of this, and who uses elected agents, sworn to uphold our Constitution, to implement those changes.

These are challenging times and for those of us that live in the North Central region of the U.S. we have a very different cultural view of religion and politics from many in the deep South where education levels are low, Church involvement is an identity of community at a social level but is theologically abrupt to a point where appeals to prejudice and fixed ideas replaces reason.

Other churches appeal to reason at one level yet they have a history of denying the use of it when it conflicts with church dogma.

In those nations where a state religion exists, it is a short trip to societal killing of people whom church leaders demonize. A passage into fascism and totalitarianism is another easy trip for such societies. As a case in point look at Islam, look at Ireland, look at much of the history of South America, and note that ideology can become as God Himself when Communism and Socialism are postured as a form of state ideology.

I find it impossible to subscribe to the agenda of the religious right and have walked out of Church when I felt that church leaders have crossed boundaries that they had no right to cross.

I am sympathetic to the IRS on denial of tax exempt status to those who choose to violate separation of church and state regulations for those become nothing more than unregistered PACS.

I am hoping our newly elected officials will become more adamant on this subject and pass laws affirming much of the Supreme Court rulings upholding Separation rulings, plus Civil Rights laws, and affirmation of our individual rights and liberties as described in our Bill of Rights.

Finally I am comfortable with the notion of using Church as a means of coming together with fellow worshipers to celebrate God and life itself but feel that my relationship with God is a very private matter and is nobody else’s business and that especially includes government and Church Administrators.