Create Success

The God Squad is Back

You know, I've been writing for a long time now about important and serious subjects related to finding purpose and creating a fulfilled life. But I really haven't had an outlet for all the other stuff that I think is important and/or fun. So I've decided to dedicate my blog to the kind of stuff that will never make it into my newsletters.

Let's start with a little history. One of the advantages of being an old fart is that I've lived through a lot of interesting times - the 60's for example. I was thinking about that while I was reading about Mitt Romney's troubles with the fundamentalist Christians - the God Squad. Self appointed guardians of morality and righteousness, they question whether Mitt is religiously qualified to be President. The funny thing is, these people who would call themselves defenders of the Constitution don't seem to remember that the Constitution prohibits a religious test for office!

I remember that these same groups were very active in the 60's. They opposed Jack Kennedy because he was Catholic, ignoring the same Constitution that I mentioned above. Kennedy got elected and the Pope didn't take over the White House, but that doesn't seem to make any difference. Somehow they think that if Romney is elected he'll move the White House to Salt Lake City.

Also in the 60's these God Squads were active in the Civil Rights movement. Waving their Bibles they proclaimed that God ordered the separation of the races in schools, restaurants and buses. ML King was a communist agitator and interracial marriage was a sin, too. They don't talk about that much anymore (in public) but I was there and I remember. This whole episode would just be an embarrassing blot on our history if is wasn't for the fact that they're doing it again.

They even have famous independent thinker John McCain pandering to them with his public baptism, and his astounding statement that "the US was founded as a Christian nation." I hate to tell you this, but it's not true. Most of the founding fathers were Deists, not Christians, and the Constitution created a secular nation. They had seen the states that were "Christian" and didn't like it. Like Massachusetts, where they burned innocent women as witches.

So far NONE of the presidential candidates of any party have stood up to this bigotry and divisive behavior. I think that's too bad. It just encourages it.

Now, if you don't know me too well you might be thinking that I'm just a ticked off atheistic Democrat. Actually, I'm just sad for my country. If you read my newsletters you know that there's a strong spiritual content. My wife is a Christian minister. But we believe in unity, not division, for both our country and the world.

There are fundamentalists in every major religion, including Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism. Religion is not the problem, but fundamentalism is, because it leads to division and conflict. If you're familiar with Ken Wilbur's Integral Model and Don Beck's Spiral Dynamics you know that fundamentalism is a characteristic of a particular level (red) of consciousness and is not representative of the core values in any religion in which it is found.

Jesus is recorded as violating social custom by treating both sinning Samaritan women and occupying Roman centurions with respect. He had strong words for only one group, and that was the fundamentalists and literalists of his time.

So I invite you to join me in supporting unity, not conflict, no matter what your political persuasion. That's what the world needs. Look for agreements, not disagreements, because what we focus on, grows. I agree with fundamentalists that a strong spiritual path is important and that we should live what we say we believe. I honor them for that. It's the "I'm right, so you must be wrong" that I don't agree with. So join me in this affirmation - "Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me."

posted by Wes Hopper @ 5:37 PM