If It Walks Like a Duck
And Talks Like a Duck
And then goes - who me? I'm not a duck!!!!
What are we to think?
My own stance about religion is secular atheist.
Secular in that I don't think religion should have a role in government. Secularism is what enables religious freedom. America was founded by people fleeing persecution by state religions.
And I'm atheist. I dislike the term but there it is. I don't think god exists. I'm pretty open about that but also I understand that many people around me are religious. I don't wear a symbol proclaiming to everyone that I'm an atheist but it's not something I hide.
So, secular atheism serves as both a label and a description of my position.
In general, I have no problem with descriptions (assuming they are accurate) but labels are vulnerable to abuse.
The thing about labels is that they stand for a lot of things that are not said.
And the baggage attached to labels is notoriously different for each person.
I get along well with Christians. I was raised as a Christian and am comfortable with Christian symbols. I understand Christian morality and can get along with it because of secularism - there are things we each keep private.
Lately that secularism has been under attack.
Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert says "The church is supposed to direct the government, the government is not supposed to direct the church," she said at a church two days before her primary election (and victory) in late June. "I'm tired of this separation of church and state junk."
The term "white christian nationalist" can be taken as a label and a description like secular atheist can.
but a difference is that "white" and "nationalist" are labels themselves that are left undefined.
But when people start saying openly that multicultural America is a white christian nation they are excluding a lot of people from America. They speak of real Americans.
Recently (July 27, Washington Post) I read that Marjorie Taylor Green said: "We need to be the party of nationalism and I'm a Christian, and I say it proudly, we should be Christian nationalists,"
I notice that neither Boebert or Green or the author of the Wapo article preface 'christian nation' with "white" but I think it's pretty obvious.
The founders were white men conquering a continent from indigenous people who held black slaves who were secular christians.
The motivation is obvious. They don't want to appear to be racist though it's obvious that they are.
But racism isn't the only hidden thing in Christian Nationalism. That leads to stuff like trying to corrupt elections.
Sexism is very apparent - as is shown by the attack on abortion rights which is leading to a very broad violation of women's human rights.
Now many doctors are afraid to treat miscarriages or medical emergencies in pregnancy for fear of being sued.
We live in interesting times. The Jan6 insurrection was an attempt by christian nationalists to mount a coup against the American majority.
I fear we haven't seen the last of them.
But if people walk like a fascist and talk like a fascist then I'll treat them like a fascist.
What do you think?
I present regular philosophy discussions in a virtual reality called Second Life.
I set a topic and people come as avatars and sit around a virtual table to discuss it.
Each week I write a short essay to set the topic.
I show a selection of them here.