Arkansas Blog

Insistence that this is a "Christian nation" springs from the childish thinking that, if you just feel bad enough long enough, somebody will do you something. Salvation is by faith, not works. You are accepted, and all you must do -- indeed, all you can do -- is accept that acceptance. You don't have to pay for goodies, and if the government can't give you good things without taxing you more, it just proves that government is no good -- not operating according to Christian principles, if you will; it is because the government is giving tax money you have already surrendered to those no-good lazy sinners.

Gary Kamiya has cited the example of California's current situation as a cautionary tale:

"But the most momentous initiative was Prop. 13, which slashed property taxes. By voting for Prop. 13, while not demanding a reduction in public services, Californians were in effect saying they wanted to have it all: low taxes and social services, subsidized public education, infrastructure and the other things provided by government.

"This was, in effect, a mass outbreak of cognitive dissonance, an up-yours delivered to government with the public's left hand, while its right hand reached out for Sacramento's largesse. Now, 31 years later, the bill has finally come due. There is no free lunch. If you want good roads, parks, decent schools (California's schools, once the best in the nation, are now among the worst) and adequate social services, you have to pay for them."

Link to Kamiya's article at blue name.

snapback, Excellent article on California's woes..

"Yet as thei state prepres to go over the cliff, California citizens seem weirdly oblivious, or resigned or numb. Like inhibitants of a corrupt 3rd world country who have utterly lost faith in their government and in politics itself...Califorians are behaving as if the whole thing is out of their control. Or even that it is not happening at all."

Sounds weirdly like the citizens of the US of A...sad and depressing on this 4th of July

Why aren't people taking to the streets to demand better government, bring back the 60's, people knew how to demonstrate and demand change.

Citizens in 2009...we are just worried we won't get tickets to Michael Jackson's funeral.

Lindsley writes-
"They highly honor Paine in Thetford, and I'm excited about seeing the statue in the square in honor of him and all of the other sites to his honor."

Yet in Ark we cannot officially celebrate the man who gave impetus and meaning to our own Independence. Sad. I suppose the Hutchinsons are celebrating NO-PAINE Day. What patriots.

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Arkansas will NEVER honor Thomas Paine. His "The Age of Reason" is STILL the best deconstruction of "revealed religion," particularly Christianity, ever written. It's not even studied in schools here, for obvious reasons.

The whole Christian nation argument is a perfect symbol of what's wrong with American debate today. And of course JB is the perfect "centrist" to kick off a great liberal holiday with a false point. Beginning an argument assuming there is any merit to a point which is known and has been known to be false for hundreds of years does no one any good.

This is the kind of nation we are:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just power from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their Safety and Happiness.

-Thomas Jefferson

The disconnect, the evil, greed, dishonesty and hubris required to be Christian conservative in America today should not be coddled with stupid premise (that it might be true we are a christian nation). The same types of conservative christians we have today are the very people who wanted American colonies to remain under rule of the British Monarchy. No questions, no rights, no choice in any matter... just blind obedience.

The point is how do or should the Christians among us pursue Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. While honoring self evident truths and the proposition that all men are created equal.

Our land should not be waging needless war, not be denying 50 million of its citizens health care. Not feeding the rich generations of our treasure for robbing us, Not be denying liberty on so many levels. These liberal values in a liberal nation on a liberal holiday also seem to be something which should be complimentary to the Christian among us, but of course we know for far far to many Christians they are not.

Jonas Phillips, "A Jew of Philadelphia" sends a letter to the Constitutional Convention asking that a 'religious test" not be part of the new Constitution....

http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/a6_3s11.html

not be denying 50 million of its citizens health care
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Today an estimated (I think low) 47 million people are uninsured. I suspect that number is likely to increase significantly with the rapid rise in unemployment and the likely scenario that many of those jobs are gone for good. The latest (optimistic ?) forecast from CBO is that Obama Care will give some coverage to an additional 20 million by 2019. So in ten years only 30-40 million will be without health insurance. What a joke!!

Henry, Admittedly that number is old and has not moved for years. I've wondered how accurate it really is. Certainly far more then 3 million insured will find themselves to be uninsured the day they try to make a serious claim. Certainly the millions who have lost their jobs will and should already have raised the 47m number significantly.

"It's not even studied in schools here, for obvious reasons."

Now, Norma, there you go generalizing like some of the others......dad gum it. It is taught "in schools, here," I don't know how many but it is taught.

Well, of course Brummett is right, insofar as America has no official religion. We can be grateful that it does not and hope that it never will. What we can further be grateful for is that the nation was founded on the religious principles of Christianity, and the Christian principles inherited from Judaism, by men who had great respect for those principles even when they did not actually share the faith.

Where Brummett (and some of the people on this blog) go wrong is with his snarky condescending attitude toward believers. There are other ways to show that you can be an Arkansas redneck and still be sophisticated (as Brummett, eLwood, Inches and some others on this blog imagine themselves to be. Brummett even plays tennis, for heaven's sake, which shows how far he has come from Grant County and his embarrassing kinfolks.) I'm told that he speaks fluent prose, too, that I have not seen proof of that.

Think we need a college course on "How to Survive Living In the South" when one refuses to say "I'll Pray for You", What Church do you below to" etc. If you don't say something godly several times while communicating with a southerner or give one an unproving facial expression while be preach down to you will never be able to form any type lasting friendship.

Following is a good article about souther addition.

By Adelle M. Banks
Religion News Service
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/06/AR2009020603213_pf.htmlSaturday, February 7, 2009; B09

Joining Mississippi in the top "most religious" states are other notches in the Bible Belt: Alabama (82 percent), South Carolina (80 percent), Tennessee (79 percent), Louisiana (78 percent) and Arkansas (78 percent).

New England predominates in the top "least religious" states: Following Vermont are New Hampshire (46 percent), Maine (48 percent), Massachusetts (48 percent), Alaska (51 percent) and Washington (52 percent).

A hilarious Video -- Betty Bowers Explains Prayer to Everyone Else "clicky)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5QqEmBi8iw

Did I miss an earlier thread about what seems to me a development very telling about Arkansas's culture, economy, and labor force? According to the NW Arkansas edition of the DoG, UA trustees have approved a Tyson Foods-funded center to promote faith and spirituality in the workplace, the first such center in the nation at a public university:

"The Tyson Center for Faith and Spirituality in the Workplace, located at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, will join an elite group of similar programs around the world, including Yale University's Ethics and Spirituality in the Workplace program and Princeton University's Faith and Work Initiative.

The proposed center was approved by the University of Arkansas System board of trustees earlier this month and now awaits approval from the Arkansas Department of Higher Education in July. The UA program will be the first of its kind at a public university.

It's unique for another reason - the center will be part of the Sam M. Walton College of Business. Most such programs are housed in theology departments. "

Clicky.

Sorry about the clicky link on my previous post. Try it on this one.

Drat! I hope the third time is charmed!

It's really pretty simple and here's a handy homemade chart to follow.

America isn't a Christian nation.
America isn't a white nation.
America isn't a straight nation.
American isn't an honest nation.
America isn't a coin collecting nation.
America isn't a stamp collecting nation.
America isn't a nation of railroad enthusiasts.
America isn't a nation of scrap-bookers or quilters or handball players, or bee keepers.
America isn't a gin & tonic nation, or a pot-smoking nation, or Mothers against drunk driving nation.
America isn't an atheist nation or a Scientology nation or a Baptist nation.
America isn't a monogamist nation nor a swinger nation.
America isn't a nation of dog keepers or cat lovers or snake handlers.
America isn't a rich nation..at least to most of us.
America isn't totally smart or super dumb.
America isn't a nation or travelers or hermits.
America isn't a nation of tree huggers.
America isn't a nation or retailers or industry or wholesalers or barterers.
America isn't a nation of home ownership.
America isn't a nation of homeless people.
America isn't a nation of concealed carry permit holders or NRA members.
America isn't a nation of Democrats.
America isn't a nation of Coke drinkers.
America isn't a nation who drives Fords.
America isn't a nation of child molesters.
America isn't a nation of tax cheats.
America isn't a military nation.
America isn't a nation of gated communities.

OK, I'll stop. America is none of those things and all of those things and the bottom line is our country gives us choices. That makes us different from a lot of the rest of the world. We should all be happy that Nazarene women are free to wear their hair in beehive shapes and weigh a ton. We should be happy that Jewish men can wear funny caps or have stringy curls where their sideburns should be. We should be happy that some people study the mating habits of fruit flies. We should be happy that people can go to church or run from it. We should be happy that people can marry or not, have sex or not, that men can cuddle with other men. That old ladies can put yard ornaments in their yards till they drop. That we can vote or not. That we can serve in the military or not. That we can own guns or not. That we are free to have 1 or 5 or 19 children or none. That we're free to drive Volvos or Chevys or ride motorcycles. That no one is bulldozing our neighborhood because Oklahoma claims to own the land because God spoke to them.

With total freedom comes our closest shot at happiness. We all are poorer when Christians are allowed to insert their beliefs into our government. The same could be said if Firestone Tire Company was injecting itself into our government. If Square dance clubs were trying to take over Congress. You don't need a Christian surgeon....you need a skilled surgeon. You don't need a Christian mother of 5 as your governor, you need an intelligent, competent, honest woman as your governor, or Senator. The agenda of government should be governing honestly, fairly and well.....period.

Of the 300 million plus who populate this country there must be 50 million differences between us. Only by making our government blind to color, religion, sexual orientation, age, wealth or the lack of it or any other division of people will we have a fair government that truly follows the line that all men are created equal.

I don't give a damn if Casimer Pulaski keeps a cot at church and never leaves the property. But I care when he tries to inject his beliefs into my government, my schools, my home. We can plainly see that God has no power to keep Christian hands out of the till or Christian penises out of the you know whats. Turning our government over to an unseen higher power is like shutting your eyes and taking your hands off the steering wheel while going 90 down the Interstate.

I don't want Numismatics shaping my future nor do I want End of Timer Presidents bombing the Middle East because they think the Lawd is coming so it don't matter none. If you require a Christian bus driver every time, you'll spend a good part of your time walking. Jesus cannot make our Governor better, that's up to Mike Beebe. It's all so simple, but some misguided selfish people make it all so hard.

Bravo, DBI!!! Very well said on the 4th of July!!!

>>What we can further be grateful for is that the nation was founded on the religious principles of Christianity, and the Christian principles inherited from Judaism,...<<
Cashmir

Could you take a few moments and outline a few of those principles please.

.

Well said DBI. The argument is now concluded.

Okay, Cato -- I'll bite.

Since you assert that Thomas Paine's "The Age of Reason" is studied in Arkansas schools, I'd like to see links proving your apparent statement of fact.

As far as I'm aware, my statement is true and yours is not.

But I'm always prepared to stand (or lie down) corrected.

I had the scoop on the Tyson center long before it ever happened. Click my blue name to see.