Our country was founded upon Judeo-Christian values. People migrated to this country to escape religious persecution, to live free from government intervention and to live a free and independent existence.
Over the years, even during my lifetime, we have now embraced political correctness, ‘diversity acceptance’ and liberalism to such an extent that it could jeopardize the future of our great nation. Let me explain.
Our first successful settlers in the US were the Pilgrims. These people were basically ‘Puritan separatists,’ as they were being persecuted in Great Britain for not strictly following the teachings of the predominant Church of England. So in 1620, after fleeing Great Britain and settling in Holland for about 10 years, the Pilgrims made their way from Holland to Plymouth, Massachusetts.
After the Pilgrims were the Puritans. They were a group of English Protestants who wished to reform and purify the Church of England. Puritans in England were threatened as England verged on civil war. Though persecuted in England, they supported uniformity of religion. This was the Puritan version of ‘my way, or the highway.’ Once in control in New England, they sought to break “the very neck of Schism and vile opinions.” Puritans expelled dissenters from their colonies. So much for religious tolerance!
One such expelled dissenter was Roger Williams. Williams founded Rhode Island on the principle of religious freedom.
You can tell that the Puritans were not a very popular bunch, otherwise some sports team would surely be named after them. But just when you thought religious intolerance could not get any worse, we were then introduced to the Quakers. The Quakers were basically Puritans on zealot steroids! They carried the Puritan beliefs to the extreme. It could be said they were the first ‘religious extremists’ in America. By 1685, as many as 8,000 Quakers had come to Pennsylvania from England, Wales, and Ireland.
Catholics settled in Maryland as a result of being driven out of England by Elizabeth I. There were earlier Catholic missions established on the Pacific coast, but these proved to be unsuccessful.
Virginia was the largest, most populous and most important colony. The Church of England was legally established in Virginia. The bishop of London made it a favorite missionary target and sent 22 clergymen by 1624. The American Revolution inflicted deeper wounds on the Church of England in America than any other denomination because the English monarch (thanks to Henry VIII) was the head of the church. Church of England priests were required to swear their allegiance to the British crown. The Church of England in Virginia was embraced by the gentry, ie, the landowners. The poorer farmers were represented by newer religions. The Baptists presented a more democratic religion. The Methodists were against slavery. Thus, a person’s religion in Virginia was somewhat dependent on one’s social status.
As you can see, many of our first states were really established as ‘religious colonies.’
Now we get to the American Revolution and the writing of the Constitution. The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the exercise thereof…………” Oddly enough, the phrase “separation of church and state,” does not appear in the Constitution. It has been traced to an 1802 letter from Thomas Jefferson to a Baptist congregation. It has since been quoted in several opinions handed down by the Supreme Court.
Other religions have been introduced and have prospered in the United States. Jewish settlers migrated to the Eastern seaboard. Mormonism was founded in New York and relocated to Utah. There are a flood of other religions in the US too numerous to mention. Suffice it to say, other than those fun-loving Puritans, religions have been established and tolerated and have coexisted relatively peacefully since our founding.
Do you think our country is a little liberal? It was announced yesterday that the LGBT organization (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) is changing its name to ‘up the stakes,’ according to one spokesperson. It will now be the LGBTQ organization. The additional letter Q will now stand for queer. I am not making this up.
Before I get LGBTQ hate mail, I want to clarify that I do not care if a person is LGBTQ. What is occurring is that I am becoming rather irritated by the amount of liberal media coverage this organization/movement receives. If you were to believe the media, you might accept that it is hip to be gay. I am also beginning to believe that Grandma P and I are one of the few heterosexual couples in America! Gay/lesbian actors and actresses get an insurmountable amount of publicity and empathy if they profess their ‘gaydom.’ They are brave. They are passionate. They should be revered for their honesty. Less and less media coverage is spent on ‘traditional’ relationships. Apparently Adam and Eve are not hip, but Adam and George are. Go figure.
Did you watch the last NFL draft? Besides Johnny Manziel, who got the most press coverage at the draft? That would be Michael Sam, the openly gay defensive lineman from Missouri. Sam was drafted in the seventh round with the 249th pick by the St. Louis Rams. The media storm topped out as a category 5. Then, after the circus came to St. Louis, Sam was cut and picked up by the Dallas Cowboys. Sam then used the ‘d’ word in describing his situation. He said he was discriminated against, and would not have been cut by St. Louis if he were not gay. Reality sucks! (Oops!) Reality bites! (Oops!) Oh the hell with it! He is a mediocre player regardless of his sexual orientation.
As an aside, in high school I was in a play titled, ‘Our Hearts Were Young and Gay.’ Tell me that has not taken on a whole different connotation since the late 60s.
Have you seen some of the recent Victoria’s Secret TV ads? When I was a teen, you only saw stuff like that in a magazine wrapped in a plain brown wrapper. Now it is readily available for our children to see.
So why am I muddling through this abbreviated history lesson on religion? Why the examples of our liberalized society?
We are facing a very threatening foe, and they are taking our political correctness, liberalism and ‘diversity acceptance’ and using it against our country. That would be the Muslim religion, the fastest growing religion in the world.
In a previous blog, I outlined the tenants of Sharia law, so I will not repeat myself in this blog. You would be wise to acquaint yourself with this law, as it is the law in 57 countries of the world.
This religion is not a religion of tolerance. Need proof?
Do you know who Kurt Westergaard is? Kurt is the cartoonist from Denmark that had the audacity to draw and publish a cartoon showing the prophet Mohammad wearing a bomb in a turban. Did he get an award for his depicture? No. What he got was two murder attempts on his life. The first was in 2008, when two Tunisians and one Moroccan-born Dane were planning to kill him. In 2010, a Somali Muslim broke into his house and attempted to kill him with an axe. The police arrived in time to shoot the assailant. He has received hundreds of death threats. The Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) is tasked with protecting him 24/7. All of this because of a cartoon!
So you are probably thinking that this was the work of a few demented Islamic terrorists. Not so fast, buckaroo. According to one expert on the religion, 20% of the Muslim religion are Muslim extremists and another 20% are moderate Muslims, leaving 60% of Muslim adherants somewhere in the middle. But their middle is definitely different than our middle. As a religion of over one billion, that equates to 200 million extremists. After the incident with the cartoon of Muhammad, 78% of all Muslims residing in Great Britain thought that Kurt Westergaard should be punished for his cartoon. Let me be perfectly clear about this……….their form of punishment is not a rap on the knuckles using a ruler by a prune-faced, elderly nun. There is no spanking. He will not be made to copy a page from a dictionary for misbehaving like me and my fellow 5th grade classmates were when they misbehaved. (Both sides! I copied the page on airplanes because it had a lot of pictures.) The minimal punishment would be the loss of the hand that drew the cartoon. The worst would be the loss of the head that thought up the idea of the cartoon.
This religion is slowly worming its way into our society. It is using our legal system to stymie their transgressions. The Fort Hood shooter has not been tried after 5 years. The Boston bomber just got a trial delay, and wants a change of venue from Boston. He does not think he will get a fair trial there.
Let me again be clear about one more item. Once the Muslim religion gains the majority, there will be no other religions tolerated as everyone other than a Muslim will be considered an infidel. There may be no law other than the Sharia Law, which not only controls public behavior, but it controls private behavior and beliefs. The religion becomes the government! There is no separation.
Far more than just the fanatical Muslim 20% that think we live in a demented and corrupted society, they find our dress codes and our over-the-top sensual TV ads appalling. But this is what they can see of us from the other side of the world on TV. They see our TV programming. They also see the media attention given to gays and lesbians. Such behavior is strictly forbidden in their religion.
Who will be the big losers if America were to fall to the Muslim religion? Obviously the folks that are LGBTQ. The biggest group of losers would be women. In the Muslim religion, they are treated not much better than a cow and not as well as a camel. Good luck with that.
We will see how this all plays out because one of our Western European allies will eventually be dominated by Muslims. It may be Belgium or it may be France. Their loyalty is not to the country in which they are residing, it is to their religion. Whereas most Americans think national, the Muslim religion operates more on a tribal basis. Remember the comment about, ‘separation of church and state?’ In the Muslim religion, the religion is the state!
Kurt Westergaard was strongly criticized by immigrant communities in Denmark regarding his cartoon. Westergaard stated, “Many of the immigrants who came to Denmark, they had nothing. We gave them everything – money, apartments, their own schools, free university, health care. In return, we asked one thing – respect for democratic values, including free speech. Do they agree? This is my simple test.”
This test will get considerably more serious than a ‘pass, fail’ test.