I firmly believe that our
country, or any country for that matter, needs a strong moral and ethical conscience if it is going to survive. No one wants
to live in a Somalia. The fundamentals of
morals and ethics lie in the teachings of religious beliefs. The
United States was founded on strong religious principles… not any particular
religion, but on religious principles.
It is well known that a large number of the founders of this country
were members of the Masonic Order. The
Masonic Order teaches belief in God and in moral and ethical principles; there
is nothing in the Masonic Order that points to any particular religion.
That having been said, I
have found that organized religion is predominantly motivated by two things:
money and control. If you don’t tithe
the church determined appropriate amount, or if you do not attend services as
prescribed, you are treated somewhat like a leper. To take it another step: if an organized religion
has beliefs, why does it not stand up for them in the face of national
adversity? Is there no bravery to stand
up for convictions among our churches?
Let me be clear: I
strongly believe in God and I am a Christian. But, you are extremely unlikely
to ever catch me in a church. I feel God’s
presence in my life every minute of every waking day. I will defend to my death my belief and I don’t
mind being vocal about my beliefs or about what is wrong with my country.
What is wrong is that our
country had lost its moral and ethical compass and organized religion seem to
me to be more interested in your attendance and tithing than standing up and
attacking the degrading national conscience.
Preachers are totally willing to point a condescending finger at parishioners
who have “sinned,” but they never speak out about the sins of our government;
what they have to say is internalized to the extent that, well… do we really
know that religions exist in this country anymore?
Silence is not golden
when it comes to the principles taught by all religions. It is time that religious entities within our
country start standing up for what they preach.
Only then will our governing officials be inclined to return to the
moral and ethical principles upon which this country was founded and maybe that
will cause all of the flocks out there to come home to their churches, synagogues
or mosques.
That’s MY AMERICAN
OPINION, respectfully submitted.
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