[net.religion] Faux pas; Identity

black@nisysg.DEC (02/25/85)



Gentlepeople:

     Allow me first of all to offer my deepest apologies to those of you who
may have been offended by my use of the word "Gentlemen" at the opening of my
last submission.  You wouldn't believe the flak I've received about it.  
Please understand that it was not meant as a snub to the ladies of the group.
Please also understand that there are also some of us who, while being ded-
icated to the concept of the equality of the sexes, firmly believe that the 
philosophies of Unisex and/or Homosexuality are distasteful at best.

     I would like to make the observation that "Conservative" views on almost
any subject, and religion in particular, are very unpopular these days.  The
old beliefs and values that served well for millenia have in general been
thrown to the winds because "they don't fit in today's modern world."  "We
don't need to follow Scripture on that subject.  That only applied back then."
People tend to follow the crowd, and pick up the currently popular fads.
"Try it, you'll like it."

     I submit that most of the problems in today's modern world are caused
by the discarding of the old traditions, beliefs, and liturgies by the world's
major religions.  I believe that a general return to the Old Ways would
bring a substantial improvement to the quality of life for the world.  I 
personnally have found that my understanding of the world around me, and
my sense of purpose in life, has improved greatly since I discovered a
Conservative belief about religion.

     I also do believe that this return to the Old Ways should absolutely
include a tolerance for the beliefs and opinions of everyone else.  We were
all created as individuals, and as such we are entitled to our own personal
views.  We are also entitled to allow those beliefs, opinions, and views
dictate how we conduct our lives and affairs as an individual.  And if
some of us join together as a group with common beliefs, then that group
has the equal right to exist, even if its beliefs and philosophies conflict
with those of another group or individual.

     I have found that many people consider the Christian Identity movement
to be very bigoted, almost Neo-Nazi.  Nationalistic it may be, but definitely
NOT socialist.  And I haven't yet found any of our clergy advocating the
opening of "refugee" camps or the displacement of other religious or ethnic
groups.  On the other hand, there are undeniably several movements whose 
only goal is to destroy religion and enslave anyone who espouses it.  

     I will end this submission with a question for thought:

     What if the United States really was founded with a religious purpose,
and what if our prosperity as a Nation really is linked to our willingness
to follow religious laws?

     (OK, I admit the next question obviously is, whose do we follow?  Answer:
That's up to the individual.)


In Hoc Signo, 

Don Black

Path:...decvax!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-nisysg!black

js2j@mhuxt.UUCP (sonntag) (02/26/85)

Don Black writes:
> And I haven't yet found any of our clergy advocating the
> opening of "refugee" camps or the displacement of other religious or ethnic
> groups.  On the other hand, there are undeniably several movements whose 
> only goal is to destroy religion and enslave anyone who espouses it.  
     Just out of curiosity, what are these several movements whose only goal
is to destroy religion and enslave anyone who expouses it called?  Have we
heard of them, or do they meet in secret subbasements of humanities buildings?
-- 
Jeff Sonntag
ihnp4!mhuxt!js2j
    "Would you like to swing on a star?
     Carry moonbeams home in a jar?
     And be better off than you are?
     Or would you rather be a fish?"

laura@utzoo.UUCP (Laura Creighton) (02/27/85)

I have talked to various christian leaders who think that the 
world shoudl become a series of christian states and that non-christians
should be institutionalised. They are there -- try any campus christian
group (except, say, theology centres) and you will find some -- I've
found them on 12 campuses already and hear about them from others.

Laura Creighton
utzoo!laura

teitz@aecom.UUCP (Eliyahu Teitz) (02/28/85)

This message is empty.

ellen@reed.UUCP (Ellen Eades) (03/04/85)

> I believe that a general return to the Old Ways would
> bring a substantial improvement to the quality of life for the world. 

So do I...but I don't think my Old Ways parallel Mr. Black's.
I had to admit I nearly split my sides laughing over his choice
of words, though.

			Sanctified insects!

			--Ellen

houts@reed.UUCP (Bill Houts) (03/04/85)

Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: Religion and politics don't mix?
Summary: 
Expires: 
Sender: 
Reply-To: houts@reed.UUCP (Bill Houts)
Followup-To: 
Distribution: net
Organization: Reed College, Portland, Oregon
Keywords: oink

In article <821@decwrl.UUCP> black@nisysg.DEC writes:
                      
>		(WCC). "...According to the Catholic
>		Defense League of South Africa, the WCC through its 
>		Program to Combat Racism gave nearly $200,000 to anti-
>		South-African terrorist groups, including over $75,000
>		to the Southwest African Peoples' Organization (SWAPO)."
>
>		("Soldier of Fortune," April 1985, p. 102; Omega Group Ltd.,
>		Boulder, CO)
>
>	     I don't understand why a supposedly Christian organization is
>	giving support to an Antichrist organization.  There's an old axiom
>	that says anything that walks lie a duck, talks like a duck, lays
>	ducks' eggs, and hangs around with other ducks, must probably be
>	some kind of a duck.  If this news item has any veracity, then it
>	would appear that the WCC is not in fact an ecclesiastic organization,
>	but rather a front for the collection of funds to support the
>	international Communist conspiracy.  (Note to US readers:  the US
>	affiliate of the WCC is the National Council of Churches.)
>
>	     Have a good weekend.
>
>	     Don Black
>
>

The native people of South Africa, Mr. Black, are in need of any help available 
to them. They live under a system of apartheid. Apartheid, Mr. Black, is     
legalized ethnic separation; it is institutionalized racism. Under this system,
non-whites existing in South Africa are denied those basic rights which are     
supposedly accorded by God to all human people. I don't think I need ennumerate
them all; they are those privileges about which citizens of "democratic"  
countries are most given to bleat. You know which ones I mean: rights of free 
speech, assembly, representation, and the like. South Africans are forced by    
laws (lawmakers) foreign to them to do without these things, and they are faced 
daily with a myriad of petty indignities.  The segregation of busses, drinking 
fountains, and eating establishments are enforced with horrifying brutality. 
Visitors (and exiles) from South Africa speak of diseased children and inferior
hospitals, long hours and fractional wages, prisons, police, and slave labor 
camps. Non-white South Africans, Mr. Black, find it difficult to "have a good 
weekend". To fight terror is a noble thing, and the fund driven by the WCC to
support a group of such horribly wronged people is certainly vindicated, and may
even be considered a 'Christian duty'. It will probably do little good to inform
you that the policy of apartheid is actively supported by such 'bastions of   
democracy' as the Ford Motor Company, Coca Cola, and U.S. Steel, who find the
oppressed blacks to be marvelously cheap labor. This is at least as vile as any
worldwide Communist conspiracy dreamt of by your paranoid (or perhaps just sadly
misinformed) mind...
-- 

Bill Houts
(a.k.a. Captain Chaos)
Cosmic Color Control 
tektronix!reed!houts

"I claim to be the Kleenex reborn."