Religion And Lawnmowers
I am beginning to think differently about this whole Religion and Politics Thing. I am beginning to think the real war is not between religion and politics, but between religious visions of the world. That's right, sisters and brothers, it appears to me that politics is just a weapon in the religious wars, not the other way around as conventional wisdom holds; and that's why politics is not working like it's supposed to.
Now, my religious vision is way different from Nancy Jacobs, state senator of Maryland, who introduced this senate bill, another one of those bills designed to "protect marriage". I guess in her world view, the world is so morally threatening, and her God so weak, that the State of Maryland has to protect the institution of marriage from what she thinks are non-believers out to destroy it by entering into it, like this family obviously is. You remember - back in November last year, folks like her in Texas felt the need to actually change the venerable constitution of the great State of Texas to protect religious marriage from women like these who are obviously secret 5th column infiltrators of marriage who want to destroy religious marriage and scatter its ashes gleefully into the streets of Sodom.
I am one of those religious types that believes Ol' Yahweh rather likes the world, so much so that He embraced it by sending His Son to it. Remember Yahweh? He's the Guy Who said the world was "good" when He made it? If He made it and called it "good", it must be, well, good. That's where I stand, firmly in the good world, finding God Sign everywhere in it; and more to the point, that is Candidate Larry's stand.
But the real point is this: politics does not serve religion, just as religion does not serve politics. Politics is a tool to create a space for the free exercise of religion, sort of like a lawnmower that mows the weeds, stickers and twigs out of the way so we can all sit down in the meadow and praise the Creator in our own language.
And this guy is pushing the lawnmower for us. Nancy Jacobs was questioning him at hearings regarding her bill to protect religious marriage in Maryland because God is unable to. She asked, "Mr. Raskin, my Bible says marriage is only between a man and a woman. What do you have to say about that?" The guy pushing the lawnmower answered, "Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. You didn't place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible".
Now, that's what I'm talkin' about.
Now, my religious vision is way different from Nancy Jacobs, state senator of Maryland, who introduced this senate bill, another one of those bills designed to "protect marriage". I guess in her world view, the world is so morally threatening, and her God so weak, that the State of Maryland has to protect the institution of marriage from what she thinks are non-believers out to destroy it by entering into it, like this family obviously is. You remember - back in November last year, folks like her in Texas felt the need to actually change the venerable constitution of the great State of Texas to protect religious marriage from women like these who are obviously secret 5th column infiltrators of marriage who want to destroy religious marriage and scatter its ashes gleefully into the streets of Sodom.
I am one of those religious types that believes Ol' Yahweh rather likes the world, so much so that He embraced it by sending His Son to it. Remember Yahweh? He's the Guy Who said the world was "good" when He made it? If He made it and called it "good", it must be, well, good. That's where I stand, firmly in the good world, finding God Sign everywhere in it; and more to the point, that is Candidate Larry's stand.
But the real point is this: politics does not serve religion, just as religion does not serve politics. Politics is a tool to create a space for the free exercise of religion, sort of like a lawnmower that mows the weeds, stickers and twigs out of the way so we can all sit down in the meadow and praise the Creator in our own language.
And this guy is pushing the lawnmower for us. Nancy Jacobs was questioning him at hearings regarding her bill to protect religious marriage in Maryland because God is unable to. She asked, "Mr. Raskin, my Bible says marriage is only between a man and a woman. What do you have to say about that?" The guy pushing the lawnmower answered, "Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. You didn't place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible".
Now, that's what I'm talkin' about.
posted by dksbook at 6:58 AM
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