Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Omitting God From America

Conservatives are such weird people.  I was just reading this letter which the Congressional Prayer Caucus sent to Obama, because they wanted Obama to issue a correction for not properly identifying their god as the source of America's greatness in speeches he's given.

Now, the first part of the correction I kind of understand, in that Obama said our national motto was "out of many one," which is only an unofficial national motto.  While our official national motto is "In God we trust."  And that's understandable, even if it's a bit lame, as E pluribus unum is one of our mottos, and it's really a lot better than the god one they came up with in the 50's.  But whatever.

But the other part is ridiculous, as they attack Obama for "omitting" God from his speeches, because he mentioned that we have unalienable rights, without mentioning who gave us these rights.  Similarly, they attack him for mentioning that we're united under one flag, without saying that we're "one nation under God."  They even went on to complain that he did this repeatedly, which proves that it wasn't accidental.

And I'm sorry, but that's just stupid.  It'd be one thing if he quoted from the Declaration of Independence or the Pledge of Alligence and skipped over the God parts.  But the idea that he's supposed to reference God every time he references the Declaration of Independence or the Pledge of Allegiance is absolutely moronic.  Seriously. 

Which Creator?

And the funny part is when they write:
The Declaration of Independence definitively recognizes God, our Creator, as the source of our rights.
But uh, that's not actually the case.  Because Jefferson surely could have written "they are endowed by God, their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights," had he wanted to.  But he didn't.  Hell, if he meant God, he could just have said "God," and left the Creator part out completely; as that would would have been implied.  But he didn't.  He didn't mention God at all. 

And the only use of the word "God," in the whole document is a reference to "Nature's God," which is most assuredly not His name.  Of course, "God" is merely God's nickname and not His name in any case, but there's certainly a distinction between "God" and "Nature's God."  And again, if they meant God, they would have said "God." 

And let's not forget that the Declaration quite clearly states that our rights are secured by the government, which derives its power from the consent of the governed.  And again, they could have said it derives power from God or that God secures our rights, but they didn't.  They didn't mention God at all.  Not by name, anyway.  It's as if they were being intentionally vague as to which Creator they were referring to, because it didn't really matter.  They had rights that couldn't be taken away, and it was up to men to take care of them.  And if they wanted biblical based laws, they certainly could have said so.

Now, maybe the Congressional Prayer Caucus might have some issues with Jefferson about this, as he certainly could have named which Creator he was referring to, and that's a conversation I'd really like to see.  I'm just imagining Michelle Bachman, Steve King and the rest of these freaks informing Jefferson of this omissions, right before he blows up on them and kicks them out of the bar they found him in.

And that's just something conservatives really don't let themselves think too much about, as to why it was that our Founding Fathers didn't bother mentioning God in the Declaration, or why they forgot to mention in the Constitution that all laws need to be based on the Bible.  And why they didn't think of "In God We Trust" as their national motto, or why they didn't force us all to recite a pledge to the flag.  Conservatives are all about turning the clock back to 1776, just as long as they get to keep the God stuff that came later.

6 comments:

mahakal said...

As you point out, they don't even know His name.

It would also be good to know what the Savior actually said according to someone who knew him directly. Rome conceals all that they can, they have always been what they have been concealing and worse.

Do you know what is the meaning of Christ?

Doctor Biobrain said...

But...they do know his name. It's Yahweh. Everyone knows that. Of course, they prefer to call him by his nickname, God, as it's kind of hard to be formal when you're talking about someone who's seen you poop.


As for the rest of this, I fail to see why you bother. It's utterly impossible for me to accept things on faith and I've explained that repeatedly. Whatever part of your brain that makes you believe in things is simply lacking in my brain, as I can't do it. I'd sooner believe in the Tooth Fairy than I'd believe in religion, and I just put a dollar under my daughter's pillow in exchange for a tooth; that's how little faith I have in that damn fairy. (True story, btw. I won't go into details here, but I once again established myself as Daddy of the Year tonight.)

And yeah, you've got your One True Religion and they've got their One True Religion, and that's great. Believe what works for you. Just like everyone else, you created your religion in your own image. And if that works for you, that's great. I just don't see why you imagine it means anything more than that. From my perspective, you're just like everyone else: In desperate search to find deeper meaning to life because you don't like to think that it's all random and pointless. But as they say, denial ain't just a river in Egypt.

Yeah, I'd like to think there was some sense to all this craziness, but it just doesn't add up. In the end, we just have to be nice to one another and hope for the best. The rest is self-deception.

mahakal said...

Your proud ignorance is as wrong as theirs.

Doctor Biobrain said...

Wow, that's a great point, Mahakal. I hadn't really thought of it like that before. I guess I HAVE been taking pride in my ignorance, as I actually don't know what I'm talking about. You're totally right about everything. I see that now.

Henceforth, I'm now a religious person who believes whatever the hell it is you think you believe. I've now learned the err of my ways. Thank you for being so patient with me, oh wise one. I wasn't worthy of the insults you hurled at me.

Doctor Biobrain said...

Joking aside, what am I supposed to do with these statements of yours? You're only writing this to make yourself feel better. This has nothing to do with me whatsoever. You're completely isolated inside yourself and any attempt by me to bring you out is attacked.

Why do you have to force your beliefs onto others? Why can't you let people believe what they want to believe, while acknowledging your own fallibility? I mean, you're the guy who thinks the vast majority of Christians are wrong about their own beliefs, and dare accuse ME of prideful ignorance. Are there no mirrors in your reality?

majii said...

The president doesn't owe them jack. I'm tired of conservatives' attempts to control the behavior and beliefs of others while screaming about how much they love the Constitution and freedom. IMHO, this is the biggest lie that conservatives tell. Their words and actions show they have no true reverence for the Constitution. I have always thought that one of the conservatives' main problems in dealing with President Obama is that they can't tell him what to think/do. This is the same mindset they have toward blacks in this country. They cannot understand why we don't run to the polls to vote for them, so they make the claim that we voted for Obama because of race.

Most of us will never vote for conservative political candidates because we know that the GOP doesn't value us. It never occurs to them that voting for the best candidate for a political office is something that the majority of us take very seriously because it is the major mechanism by which we can accomplish some of our goals. They have no idea of how politically aware most of us really are. We discuss politics at beauty and barbershops, in our homes, and at churches and other places we may gather. It is not unusual for us to run into each other at the grocery store and discuss politics when we don't even know each other. We know the GOP doesn't respect us and other groups in America, so voting for them would not be in our best interest.