A Discussion We Need to Have

In comments in another post, I was discussing some of the Bible Belt attitudes with the Rogue Angel. She made a few very good points I want to highlight here and perhaps continue on with the dicussion. First off, reminding me of the term 'Bible Belt' was helpful. Somewhere in my thinking that term was lost.

Rogue Angel: "one of the primary issues I see with the Democratic Party right now is that it does not speak well to the Moderate Christians. We allowed "liberal" to become a dirty word ... we didn't even bother to define it or argue the rhetoric of the Right's views of what being a liberal means. We have let the Right define conservatism as Christian.

We have let the Right define conservatism as Christian!
just as we have let the right define 'liberal' as dirty!
Indeed we have.

Rogue Angel: The majority (in Kentucky) is your average Moderate Christian who is not going to risk their soul for a platform that goes against their Christian ideals. see her post on pro choice and how she frames the argument.

I can understand that. What I have a very difficult time understanding is how they can sell their soul to a political regime that has wrongfully attacked and killed possibly as many as 100,000 innocent people. How did they make the decision to support one ideal over another?

Rogue Angel then explains some of the dynamics in the church that are beginning to bother her and other Christians: The Bible Belt is getting quite politically correct though. So much so that a lot of Christians, like myself, are not happy with them. There are churches preaching against being "social services" for the masses. There are churches preaching politics at the pulpit.

The thing for me is, they are not preaching Jesus ... they are preaching God. Old Testament God.
For Moderate Christians Jesus is loving, kind, forgiving, He has taken our sins upon Himself. He said not to judge lest we be judged ...The Christian Right is very "Wrath of God" ... not "Love of Jesus."

This is where the Christian Reconstructionist (CR) agenda begins creeping in. A part of the CR agenda is a return to Old Testament values and Dominion. Dominion over blacks is but a part of it. I had asked about the attitudes toward blacks, knowing that KY was borderline in the slave trade, yet still had southern traits.

Her answer is much as I suspected: The attitude towards blacks here is in many ways much the same as it has been for more than 50 years. There is a lot of outright racism ... and under the counter racism going on. Being black and poor is as bad as being a heathen at a Pentecostal Holy Ghost prayer council. It is not good at all. LOL

Though, on the surface, things would appear kind of different. Interracial relationships, biracial births, and such are common. But, for every person who is not racist ... there are about three ready to kick their ass over it.

Black people in a lot of ways, in my opinion, feel defeated. They know that it looks good enough that most can play off any dissent or accusation from their side of the fence. But, underneath it all ... there is a lot of harassment, intimidation, and a lack of strong leaders to fight against it and to rally the cause.

From her answer I can only further draw connections between the Confederacy, Reconstruction and Christian Reconstructionism. We have made very little progress, yet here in the northern states, people think this is all in the past.

It's very hard to explain to people that the reconstruction, the civil war, black oppression, the re-establishment of the Confederacy, and Christian Reconstructionism is all intertwined and is being convoluted in a message of 'morality'. To have CR hands in our voting process via the machines only stacks the already stacked deck.

When I lived in South Carolina, my son, who was maybe 12 at the time had a friend about the same age who explained this all to me. He told me of the plans, the arms, racism, the war in motion, that the old confederacy was alive and would rise again. I was horrified but a part of me kept thinking, 'ok, this is a 12 year old reflecting his parents ideals and things will change'. Now a bigger part of me says, 'this was a 12 year old who is now in his 20's realizing the ideals he was taught.' It was all done through 'people of faith'.

The blacks in the south do feel defeated and their faith is the only thing that gives them hope so when anything is framed in faith they will have to respect it even if it doesn't serve them personally, voting is hardly an option. This will ultimately throw them back to the hands of the confederacy and further oppression.

Education is key, but what is education when people like this heavily influence it and when the same person invests in our voting machines?

We have serious problems. If we can't recognize them we can't fight them. I don't know what to do.

Thank you Rogue Angel. More of your thoughts are invaluable, especially for people in northern states who don't experience this daily.
posted by Cyndy | link | | |
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