Dosn't the USA deserve better than being dominated by fundamentalist christians?

Question

I ask this as someone from outside the USA who is well aware of the pilgrims fleeing persecution, and also a shining light of tolerance that the was the inspiration for the American constitution. The American dream of the individual's right to succeed, whatever his background, has been inspirational to the rest of the world for centuries. Whether it was real or an illussion, I believe the intent of those who wrote it was genuine.

But it seems the religious right have hijacked the American dream.

Fundamentalist christianity has now turned the USA into a tragedy and klaughing stock in the eyes of the rest of the world.

Can the American dream be rescued from the clutches of the religious right?

I recognise this question is related to both politics and religion, so I will post it in both catergories.

The UnPope...............The majority voted for Al Gore........dude.

High Flyer.......how about you president?

Soory...that's your president

Answer 1

Fundamentalist Christianity is not the problem.

Fundamentalists believe on the basic tenets of Christ and His teachings.
Radicals/Extremists use the fundamental tenets of Christ and His teaching to espouse violence and serve their own purpose.
Liberals change or alter the fundamental tenets of Christ and His teachings to make it "easier" or more "convenient" for them.

We as a world people would be lost without fundamentals.
Fundamentals being the basic laws of the universe.

A fundamental mathematician would say that 1+1=2
A radical/extremist mathematician would say that 1+1=30billion
A liberal mathematician would say that 1+1=2 but only if too many people aren't offended, then we will hold a caucus to discuss the effects of adding numbers in such a fashion, hold a televised debate on the subject and then release it to the masses for a vote on the accuracy of the proposed theory.

IMO - the USA deserves better than being dominated by ANY group. That is the main reason our forefather's sought to establish the nation. That we would be run by the people for the people. When any one group demands superiority over others (be it religious or otherwise) it completely defeats the purpose.

Answer 2

The Christian Fundamentalists interior the U. S. are no longer the final public. they are purely very loud, so something of the international gets the impact that they are working the coach and have comprehensive effect over US politics. this is the comparable as human beings seeing the gay satisfaction parade in NYC and thinking that the city is thoroughly run by ability of Homosexuals. in reality, the U. S. dream remains alive and nicely, maximum Christians talk a sturdy activity, yet do no longer do something approximately it, that's great. each and every of the 'worldly' issues that Christians rail on approximately are nonetheless thriving, and as a rule funded by ability of Christians themselves. Pornography does not be the form of fast enterprise interior the U. S. if it wasn't for Christians signing as much as Xrated web pages and renting video clips. regardless of each and every thing, 40% of human beings declare to be Christians. There are subject concerns that they hang onto, like abortion, yet each and every of the time and money they have spent attempting to limit it, has long gone nowhere. this is using the fact a majority of human beings do no longer likely pick it banned, so the guidelines are not replaced. If US citazens as a majority disagreed with abortion, it may be against the regulation. us of a remains the land of threat, inspite of how this is depicted on the information. remember, the information is now no longer approximately showing a sparkling photograph of issues, this is approximately advertising media spots. so for this reason, they coach awful scenes, and attempt to scare human beings, in order that that they proceed to observe and the community can sell advertising at a miles better value. i'm an Australian, residing interior the U. S., and have been right here for sixteen years. it remains an wonderful us of a.

Answer 3

Yes, we absolutely deserve better. However, it isn't fair to say that it is only the fundamentalist Christians. They are by far the majority of the far-right, but I'm sure that there are people of other faiths who support their cause.

People here are being lazy and getting complacent, in my opinion. It is easier to complain about the removal of our rights than to actually do anything about it. The citizens of the U.S. need to wake up and realize that our country is being corrupted by those who want to make it something it was never intended to be. The application of our rights in the Constitution has never been perfect. We are a young nation and we have struggled throughout our history to live up to the standard we were given in that document. However, it seems that now there are those in power who want to simply ignore the Bill of Rights all together, who frighten our people to the point that many are willing to give up their rights for some false sense of safety. Only when the citizens get fed up with this behavior (and from what polls of national attitudes look like, they might finally be) will we rescue the "American dream" from the clutches of those who want to change it so fundamentally.

Answer 4

Fundamentalists Christians are a minority although a significant one. The problem for the US has been the exploitation of this group by the right wing. They were smart enough to recognize that this is a group of people who could be easily rallied around a few key words and would vote pretty much as a unified block. They tend to be people who respond well to heirarchial authority as well. Still they are a minority and I think more US citizens (including Fundies) are waking up to the agenda and realizing its not what it was cracked up to be.

As for the first answer. Lets take a look at how the US is faring under Fundie mentality and the current political administration.

First a look at abortion, murder, crime, violence, and sexual disease transmission rates in highly religious developed countries (think US) and much more secular. Guess what the more secular the lower the rates, US is one of the worst.

http://www.religiousconsultation.org/News_Tracker/religion_equals_higher_abortion_rates.htm

US only ahead of Turkey in the world in terms of understanding and acceptance of evolutionary theory. Doesn't say much for our education system. No wonder my department was composed of mostly scientists imported from other countries.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/08/060810-evolution.html

An article on the rapidly growing divide between the have and have nots and that the have nots are increasing rapidly.

http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2003/03may/may03interviewswolff.html

Poverty level for minors highest in industrialized world:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States


I could go on but this is long enough.

Answer 5

Unfortunately, the US has had periodic religious revivals over its history. This is nothing new. Yes, they try to hijack the freedoms of others and often succeed for a time. Then the nation clears its head (usually after a catastrophe) and gets back on track.

Answer 6

What is the basis for your assertion this country is run by a religious right? How have they turned the USA into a tragedy? Your opinion is groundless without proof.

BTW, I'm not particularly fond of this so called religious right myself.

Follow-up: Regarding the president, you must understand that calling yourself a Christian or being endorsed by so-called Christians does not make you one. It is by your fruits that your true identity is revealed.

Answer 7

for the people, by the people dude.

if the majority was against it, they would not be powerless to stop it. But they don't.

edit: the majority voted for Al "see me talk" Gore? I have no love for either Gore or Bush, but now you say that that same free people let other people steal the election (as Gore obviously isn't the president right now)? I'm sorry, but you are moving into tin-foil hat territory there. Plus, if it were true, they would doubly deserve whatever they get. But you cannot provide any solid evidence for this "stolen election".

Answer 8

Fundamentalism is just the smoke-screen. The real hi-jackers are actually dudes like Dick Cheney who managed to pass on an extraordinary amount of business to his Halliburton chums. Ashcroft may have supported Shock and Awe as bringing us one step closer to Armageddon, but Cheney's in it for the power, prestige and profits.

GWB got his start in politics when his father's campaign recognized his use in swaying devout Christian voters.

They say politics makes for strange bed-fellows. Now the U.S. is stuck with the bastard legislation of this strange pairing.

Answer 9

"Doesn't the USA deserve better than being dominated by fundamentalist Christians?"

Your question has two flaws. The first is the idea that the USA "deserves" some thing good. What it deserves is the chastisement of God for departing from Him in so many ways.

The second flaw is your assertion that the USA is "dominated by fundamentalist Christians". Where is your evidence for that? Do fundamentalist Christians control the majority of the News and Entertainment industry? Do they control the majority of the businesses? Do their voices have greater weight in controversial court room cases than say the ACLU or other non-Christian entities?

I don't think so, but if I'm mistake then I'm open to being shown where and how.

Answer 10

It probably isn't as bad as you think. The courts have largely kept them in check and there is a bit of a backlash starting to happen.