Gay Marriage Stalls in Calif., Mass.

[Hessian]

I read an article not long ago about the detention of several hundred German men and families down in a detention camp in Texas. The FBI was very active in NJ and NY rounding up some of the leaders of the Bund....but that is beside the point.

The one who hijacked the direction of our government the most was FDR (and not for the better either).
I can't recall a single time in American History where a Christian movement attempted to radically change the functions of our government. Positive reforms? Absolutely!
*Abolitionist movement..heavily rooted in Faith.
*Temperance movement...reduced alcohol consumption by 60%
*Prison reform of 1840's
*Sabbattarian movement forced businesses to give workers a day off and encouraged moral instruction of youth in the 1830's.
*Salvation Army: founded in 1870's
*YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association)..not founded to find bait for queers.
*Sanitariums and asylums for the ill and deranged were often faith based.

So...quite a threatening movement huh? Definately a dangerous trend to harm all the rights we deserve as citizens...Sure glad those Christians didn't affect our society in the last two centuries--whew, imagine all the damage they would have done!

 

[Tonio]

I'm not talking about committed people of faith adovcating reforms. I'm talking about a hypothetical situation where a religious movement seizes power and establishes a brutal dictatorship.

As the world learned most recently from the Taliban, a government controlled by a religious movement is incompatible with human rights and democracy. True, the religion is used mostly as a justification for a lust for power. But democracy and human rights draw their strength from the open, honest discussion of issues. They assume that intelligent people can have different opinions on things.

Theocracy, on the other hand, is based on the assumption that if you disagree with the state, you're evil and wicked. Not much different from secular totalitarianism. I never say "it can't happen here," because when panicked, people are capable of doing anything that they think will make them safe.

Thanks for the information on the German-American Bund, by the way.