[Peace-discuss] I'm embarrassed...

[C. G. Estabrook]

If one believes that, of course, s/he should not ever be subservient to
commanders-in-chief. I have a number of objections, theoretical and
practical, to evangelicalism, but no Christian (or Judaist or Muslim)
should forget that at the heart of the tradition stands unremitting
hostility to gods -- little tin ones as well as big, mighty ones.

A friend of mine, Herbert McCabe, wrote the following in his book Law,
Love and Language:

	"Yahweh is the God of freedom and there are to be no other gods.
'The prohibition of "other gods" is the basic demand made of Israel.' The
important thing is not just to be religious, to worship something somehow.  
The important thing is to find, or be found by, the right God and to
reject and struggle against the others.  The worship of any other god is
form of slavery; to pay homage to the forces of nature, to the spirit of a
particular place, to a nation or race or to anything that is too powerful
for you to understand or control is to submit to slavery and degradation.  
The Old Testament religion begins by saying to such gods, 'I do not
believe and I will not serve.' The only true God is the God of freedom.  
The other gods make you feel at home in a place, they have to do with the
quiet cycle of the seasons, with the familiar mountains and the country
you grew up in and love; with them you know where you are.  But the harsh
God of freedom calls you out of all this into a desert where all the old
familiar landmarks are gone, where you cannot rely on the safe workings of
nature, on springtime and harvest, where you must wander over the
wilderness waiting for what God will bring.  This God of freedom will
allow you none of the comforts of religion.  Not only does he tear you
away from the old traditional shrines and temples of your native place,
but he will not even allow you to worship him in the old way.  You are
forbidden to make an image of him by which you might wield numinous power,
you are forbidden to invoke his name in magical rites.  You must deny the
other gods and you must not treat Yahweh as a god, as a power you could
use against your enemies or to help you succeed in life.  Yahweh is not a
god, there are no gods, they are all delusion and slavery.  You are not to
try to comprehend God within the conventions and symbols of your time and
place; you are to have no image of God because the only image of God is
man."

Not the least of the objections against evangelicalism is that it has
turned Christianity back into religion.

Regards, Carl


On Tue, 7 Dec 2004, Robert Dunn wrote:

> 
> Carl, i agree with you and Cockburn about the patronization of
> liberals towards evangelicals. I would take it one step more and say
> its downright hostility towards evangelicals. It seems that the
> secular left is extremely uncomfortable with any one arguing a
> political argument from a religious perspective. Unfortunately the
> secular Right is more than happy to accomodate. Its the secular Right
> who is really in charge. The vast majority of the neocons in
> Washington are secular statists. As anarchists, we need to reach out
> to evangelicals and spread the message that there is no authority save
> God.
> 
> Robert
>