I’ve been hearing about the ‘it’s getting worse’ bit. One guy who comes to my local is from California. He’s involved in the music business here somehow, but currently he’s in our country illegally. He just doesn’t want to go back. He says he wants to submit an asylum application. Though that might be funny, I’ve advised against it.

But when you mix the idea of a universal god who loves everyone with traits of a tribal god, you end up with a lot of absurdity. Case in point, America.

Thanks for commenting!

Nils: Man, I knew you’d be all over this post. I know where you’re coming from, about not having strength left to ask these questions over and over. You’re right – generally, trying to reason with someone about their faith is.. well, pointless.

I like America, too – a lot of it, anyway. I’m not unaware that if I wrote such things about my country if I lived somewhere else, I could get in a hell of a lot of trouble for it. For such rights, I’m quite happy, and I think America has done a lot of things “right” (a relative term, for sure). But I too am wary of the fundamentalist shift – and it seems to be getting worse.

I’m not sure if the Depression had a lot to do with the shift or not. In my most recent American history course, we learned that the re-emergence and rise of right wing fundamentalism was kicked off by Jerry Falwell in ’79, when the Moral Majority was created. I know the MM has a lot to do with the fundamentalist bind the country is in now, but that doesn’t mean the Depression didn’t bring about shifts as well. History’s a tricky business, and not nearly as simple as “good and evil”, as some people would like to see it (eye roll).

And yes, America is a pretty young country. I often get the impression that the world’s older, more mature nations often look at America, shaking their heads, going, “Sigh, silly youthful nation. You’ll learn – or fall.”

Thanks for the blessing.

Anyway, as far as the god/christ/religion thing goes: of course it makes no sense to you because it’s non-sense. I’ve lost the will and strength to try and ask the questions you do as they have absolutely no effect on those who persist in believing the stuff based on what they call faith. I will keep fighting those who insist on blending it into civil society and matters of state.

And that brings us to the US. I’ve always liked and admired the States and I still do. Seeing how the country is becoming more and more fundamentalist pains me. The War of Independence, as I see it, was a brilliant opportunity to spread the ideas of the Enlightenment. Hell, you fought it 13 years before the French themselves did. People like Thomas Paine and Max Robespierre are my absolute heroes. And now this.

I don’t know how it happened, by the way; perhaps you do. I’ve heard it say the US was fairly secular in the 19th C and that this dogmatism was a result of the Depression: charity and charitable organizations became ever more important and made their mark on all parts of society, both haves and have-nots. The war (Gott mit uns, the Nazis said) only made that worse. It’s a simple explanation and I don’t know if it’s true, so I’ll leave it at that. Moreover, I just found this page, so who knows?

Okay, long comment, lol. Let me finish by saying I judge people primarily on character and most Americans I’ve met (online and off) have been a pleasure to talk to. Some say your country is still in its childhood: bright, eager to learn and hopeful, but naive and prone to tantrums too. I hope you find your adulthood soon. Now you are like children playing with very dangerous toys and the nanny is none the better. Bless you