Blog Against Theocracy: Season of Faux Patriotism

Since we are in the latest blogswarm for Blog Against Theocracy, I thought I’d bring up something that I’ve mentioned before…

We are currently in the Season of Faux Patriotism. It starts on Memorial Day and carries on through to Labor Day. This is the time when politicians at all levels of government wrap themselves up in the American flag and then proceed to deface it by declaring themselves how much of a “patriot” they are and how much they think the rest of us SHOULD be.

In the past, the Season of Faux Patriotism has been highlighted by repeated attempts to get a Constitutional amendment passed that would prohibit flag burning. Fortunately the removal of many of the conservative and neoconservative influences in Congress has made that harder to pull off, but the threat is still there.

But even without that, those who practice Faux Patriotism continue to hammer in this idea that blind fanatical obedience to government is somehow an American virtue. This is often done during the Fourth of July, which celebrates when America’s founding fathers were absolutely AGAINST such things!

So how does theocracy play into this season of Faux Patriotism? Simple. For the phony patriots, religion is a major tool for mass conformity.

Organized religion preaches blind obedience to the masses. It encourages people to go through the motions just for the sake of going through the motions. It tells people that YOUR personal opinions are irrelevant, and that the opinions of the INSTITUTION (of which their minister, priest, pastor or other holy leader represents) is all that you need to be concerned with.

That’s power! And that’s the kind of power that politicians want on their side!

So what they to do is merge God and country together. They convince people that America is great, not because of its freedoms, but because GOD SAID SO! They preach that the freedoms that are our birthright are really nothing more than “privileges” that can be taken away if we say or do something to “offend God”. They write laws based on that belief, saying that GOD’S LAW trumps anything our founding fathers would have wanted for us. They argue endlessly that without THEIR religious beliefs incorporated into government, civilization itself collapses.

It’s all done to seize power and to destroy any kind of resistance to THEIR personal rule.

I’ll let you in on a dirty little secret: I’m not an atheist, but I have more respect for them and for what they believe in than I do for most theists! Do you know why? Because when they set down what they believe is right or wrong, they actually incorporate some THOUGHT behind it. They can’t say “because GOD says so!” For them, something is right or wrong because THEY believe that it is. And because of that, I think atheists are far better citizens, because they have a better chance of actually adhering to what THEY believe is right or wrong versus what is DICTATED to them by others.

But of course, that’s an INDIVIDUAL concept… and that is something that a power-hungry politician absolutely DOES NOT WANT to see!

Like I said, I’m not an atheist, but my beliefs are my own. That is the ultimate definition of what Freedom of Religion is about, and I know that you cannot get there if you don’t have the Separation of Church and State to keep one religious belief from trumping all others. And that’s also why I abhor politicians who try to take away my beliefs and override them with someone else’s through laws and regulations. I don’t care if the tyrant is Muslim or Christian, elected or appointed or anointed, if they act to deface freedom, they earn my bile and they earn my fervent opposition to their cause.