Top Ten Reasons Conservatives Push Religion

I was Blog surfing and happened upon the following blog entry of a so called "recovering long-haired hippy freak that became a card-carrying member of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy". The blog entry "Enlightenment Reactionary: Top Ten Reasons Liberals Fear Religion" was just screaming for a sane response, so here goes.

Top Ten Reasons Conservatives Push Religion (not any religion, just Christianity because the other religious are all false)

1. Fear - Fear motivates better than anything else in life.

2. Faith - There is no reasonable argument against it. If something cannot be proven, then you should take it on faith. (Faith is another word for ignorance.)

3. Hate - religion gives believers permission to hate others (gays, witches [1692], etc.).

4. Funding - Organized religion is big business and they give heavily to conservatives.

5. Deflection - Religious issues (gay marriage, Terri Schiavo) draw attention away from embarrassing mistakes. (Tom Delay!!)

6. Proselytize - indoctrinated at an early age, most followers of Christianity learn early to indoctrinate others in order to get into heaven.

7. The Bible - A book written by fallible humans with as much communication with god then as today provides written instruction on everyday life including government. (incidentally, only specific books of the bible chosen by some people in the church made it into the generally accepted print edition. * see Gnostic entry below)

8. hypocrisy - Conservatives like to pick and choose the parts of Christianity and the bible that applies to them while all others are expected to adhere strictly to it. They believe that this gives them the right to tell others how they should live (no gays Leviticus 20:13 NAB) while ignoring parts of the bible that conflict with their habits, lifestyles or things that no sane person would adhere to in these times (Slavery Permitted [I Peter 2:18], Divorce [Mark 10:11-12], Child Abuse Permitted [Proverbs 23:13-14 NAB], Death for Adultery [Leviticus 20:10 NLT], No Sex During Menstruation [Leviticus 20:18NAB], etc, etc, etc). ** See what Jesus thought about hypocrites below.

9. Power - Religion commands power and influence through the many people in leadership positions who believe and fear hell unless they comply with the will of the church. Conservatives like to tap into that power and abuse it for their purposes.

10. Blind Faith Followers - Religion commands legions of Blind faith followers (see faith above) who vote for the candidate endorsed by religious leaders.


* Gnosticism is an ancient form of alternative Christianity which competed with the Catholic Church for the first 350 years of Christian history. You've probably never heard of it, because the Church wiped it out as soon as Roman persecution ended, and the Gnostic scriptures were not included in the "Bible." They were instead buried in a jar in the Egyptian desert, where they remained hidden until 1945. Ironically, many scholars now believe that Jesus himself was probably Gnostic!

** There seems to be little Jesus of Nazareth hated as much as hypocrisy; he condemned it more than anything else.
Jesus also claims that hypocrites "have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness" (Matthew 23:23). Peter advised, "Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind" (1 Peter 2:1).

posted by Clint Thomson @ 5/12/2005 01:58:00 AM