Questions of Faith?

      Is the concept off a constitutional amendment defining marriage, as between a man and a woman, basically a concept from biblical theology?  Which leads to the obvious question: Would we first have to pass a constitutional amendment stating that the Bible over rides the constitution?  This is dangerous ground that we are walking on.  As a non-Christian and as a woman I am taking this concept serious.     

   President Bush, conservative fundamentalist as well as some catholic members of congress, are promoting this constitutional amendment in the White House and on the Floor of Congress.  

 Christian Fundamentalist as well as Catholics that blindly follow the doctrine laid down by the Pope are supporting this attack on the U.S. Constitution.  This is how fundamentalist in the Mid-East are using the Koran to take over their Governments.  These biblical theology concepts were used in the past to teach slaves to obey their masters.  They where used to keep women subservient to men with no human rights. The smoke screen that there is a “gay agenda” threatening our American way of life is just a repeat of the communist scare of the 1950’s.  The rightwing fundamentalist movement is this country is well organized and they are on the verge of using voter apathy to usurp total power.  They take the term “culture war” to a level of extreme seriousness. 

    I urge all who read this to listen to what President Bush and your federal and local politicians are saying.  How often are you hearing references to a Christian God, to the Bible, to the Christian way of life?  How often are you hearing references to tolerance, to diversity, or to any other religious practices?  America Is made up of many faiths; I am not even going to make an attempt to list all of them.  It is time for us to work together; we need lots of interfaith services and interfaith social gathering.  This fundamentalist concept off ownership to the one and only true religion is fine as long as they are not using it to over throw the US Constitution.

  Once again I refer to a book that I have read, the living Buddha, the living Christ; by Thich Nhat Hanh.  In his introduction Thich speaks on the importance of religious tolerance.  Thich quotes from Pope John Paul’s ll, book Crossing the threshold of hope: John Paul II states:  Christ is absolutely original and unique.  If He were only a wise man like Socrates, if He were a “prophet” like Mohammed, if He was “Enlightened’ like Buddha, without any doubt He would not be what He is. He is the one mediator between God and humanity.

 Committing on that passage, Thich Nhat Hahn as a Buddhist monk says: “Of course Christ is unique.  But who is not unique?  The idea behind the statement however, is the notion that Christianity provides the only way of salvation and all other religious traditions are of no use.  This attitude excludes dialogue and fosters religious intolerance and discrimination. It does not help.”

  I speak from a perspective of a two-spirited Native American tradition that was violently destroyed by the first Christians in North America that used the Bible as a means to an end.

With out doubt, the concept of separation of church and state is rapidly eroding.  The United States of America is on the verge of becoming a fundamentalist state ruled by a minority of fundamentalist Christians.  

Synagogues, Mosques, Temples, Progressive churches, pagans, and Mother Earth based communities along with all non-Christian religions have to work to save the constitution from biblical influence.  

Janice Josephine Carney

Transjan1@yahoo.com

http://www.geocities.com/transjan1