Nov 14
To R. Scott Clark and his article on how thinkers like Descarte contributed to todays 'addition to autonomy.' Clark is taking his cue here from Carl Trueman's two volume work on Modernity. This article appeared in Heidelblog.
Gee, the nerve of some people in a heteroreligious society for wanting autonomy. And that is despite history being rich with the failures of religious authoritarianism.
And how does the above article talk about the failures of human autonomy? It does so by focusing on sexual issues and abortion. Never mind that there were gender identity issues in some Native American tribes preceding their Western caused demise. And never mind that many of those Native American tribes honored those who were not cisgendered.
Of course Capitalism, , with its emphasis on the individual, especially in its neoliberal phase where income and wealth disparities have been consistently increasing along with its contributions to polluting the world and causing climate change are not mentioned. Neither are those Amendments in The Constitution that focus on the rights of the individual. For example, the right of an individual to bear arms is not mentioned despite the prevalence of gun violence that exists in our society.
If we can say that we have a problem with an addiction to human autonomy, can we also say that some religious people have a problem with an addiction to religious authoritarianism? The answer to that question can be found in Western History. And, in fact, some of today's emphasis on human autonomy has its roots in the abuses found in religious authoritarianism. But that is not given any credit for today's addiction to human autonomy nor is it described as a heart problem caused by a rejection of God in the above article. I hope that it is mentioned in one of Trueman's books.
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Nov 15
To Christopher Nelson and his article on how war persists and that we must thank those who fought in them on our side. This appeared in the Imaginative Conservative.
There are two points to be made here. One is that just as 'war endures,' Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein reminded us that, in the nuclear age, we must choose between war and survival. I believe that this choice between war and survival is what Nelson meant when he talked about wars becoming absurd.
Second. if we really want to honor our veterans, we will do so while they are on active duty. And we can do that by closely examining each time and situation where our troops are sent in harm's way so that we can either support the government's decision to battle another country or group, or we can do our best to effectively speak out against the war so that the war is either not fought or is significantly shortened.
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To R. Scott Clark and his article on the Oklahoma governor's prayer that claimed the state of Oklahoma for Christ. This appeared in Heidelblog.
I reacted to the governor's prayer differently than what was stated above because I have heard similar prayers from people not in authority. Thus the context of his words would indicate just an expression of Pentecostal spirituality rather than a pronouncement of dominion in the name of Christ.
Therefore, I would not take the content of the governor's prayer to have any kind of serious political content or intention. Other than that, I agree with Clark's reaction if the governor's claim was a political pronouncement.
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