Catholics Don't Want Taxpayers Advertising Satanism
Catholics in Illinois have a manger scene at the State Capital. They are marketing Christianity. Right next to their manger scene Satanists have placed a sculpture-like display. It is there to market Satanism. For some reason, these Catholics think this is not fair.
It baffles me how some Christians think. From their point of view government is there for one reason, to promote Christianity. Would not it occur to them other religions might have the same idea and want to use public property to advertise a religion like Satanism?
The Satanists must have seen the manger scene in the Illinois State Capital and came up with the idea of putting up their own display. I'm guessing they hoped some Christians would raise a stink about it and there would be press coverage. Press coverage would make it a teaching moment. When Christianity used public property to advertise Satanists could do the same.
And, as they often do, Christians walked right into the trap that had been set for them. The story of Christians whining about others getting the same benefits they do went national.
Some Christians are making the same mistake with abortion. They want the government to ban all abortions. It seems lost on them that if government is handed the task of taking over the lives and decisions of women it likely will, at some point in the future, decide it can require abortions.
It would be much smarter for Christians to keep out of government. Once government is invited into the realm of religion it may be impossible to make it leave when those who wanted it in now want it out.
just tonight I heard some Congressman who thought that Jesus would have been pro-immigration (not, I might add, an irrational claim). That said, the speaker was obviously a leftist Christian. Was he then mixing religion and politics and should he been banned from invoking Jesus in the context of this particular public policy dust up? do Christians who happen to agree with you get a pass while pro-life people do not? I await your comment. As to your other comments re government and abortion, it is more of the same. abortion is, by your definition, a religious issue. and religious concerns have no place in the secular order (secular as defined by you). therefore...…. you know the rest. sadly until such time as you can get beyond (probably never) your assumptions, any profitable debate is DOA.
ReplyDeleteBTW do you think that the Satanists really, really believe in Satan? do they then know what they are really fooling around with. Or are they just another bunch of atheist rabble rousers out to get a little publicity.
ReplyDelete"do you think Satanists really, really believe in Satan?"
ReplyDeleteThat reminds me of a joke on an atheist site, "This Christianity thing you have is just a phase for you. It will pass." So, do Christians really, really believe there is a God???
your comment is quite beside the point. If Satanists really believe in Satan then they are invoking what they believe to be a powerful, destructive, evil entity. Do they then have any notion of what they are fooling around with. If they don't really believe in Satan (which they probably don't), then they are doing little more than having some kind of perverse "fun".
ReplyDeleteAs a Catholic, your knowledge about Satan came from Catholic clergy. Maybe there is a body of knowledge out there Satanists have mastered but you, or your clergy, know nothing about.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Satan is really a benign sort of fellow, a sort of misunderstood chap. has lots to offer us. really? In my wanderings thru life I have read a bit re devil mythology. can't go into the issue just now except to say that the devil has been associated with knowledge, forbidden knowledge mostly. anyway, there is a lot packed into the Satan story. For openers how about Paradise Lost, the Prometheus story, the Eden story, etc.
ReplyDeleteNot liking i can't post as godless, oh well. We as humans like to associate with a group(s) of like minded people. If seems only natural that you would have folks on each end of the spectrum. I have have seen a lot of loosey defined definitions of a satanist. What would make someone a satanist? I wouldn't think of myself as a satanist. I enjoy the band Ghost, they define what they do as satan worship. In a lot of the christian groups i was associated with would define my actions as satanism.
ReplyDeleteYou can always sign off a post as "godless". That would be a good idea for everyone posting here so we can keep each other separate. What is wrong with being a Satanists is lost on me. Believing in some god, or, believing in some version of a satan has nothing to do with anyone else. That is, until there are laws that everyone else has to believe the same thing.
Delete