Never Forget
Conventional wisdom says that one shouldn’t discuss politics and religion in polite company, for one is bound to offend. Well, there’s an awful lot of political discussion here so we might just as well jump into the other as well.
I imagine that most people would think a discussion about religion inappropriate on a blog dedicated to female domination and fetish. I disagree. I disagree because my readers and I are sexual adventurers and I think it is fair to post about the fact that some denominations are welcoming of sexual adventurers. Most are not, but some are, and this post will talk a bit about those that are or would be welcoming to people like me, people like us.
In any event, I’ve spent a good deal of time thinking about religion this week and thought that I would write about some of those thoughts. If the thought of a dominatrix writing about religion might offend you please just skip this post and scroll down to the pervy stuff.
It seems to me that creeds and dogma are the source of much evil within our world. The view that ones own beliefs are positively correct and will lead one to heaven while everyone who disagrees with them will spend eternity in hell does tend to make one a bit fanatical in the drive to make society reflect that belief. Certainly untold millions have died at the hands of the ‘true faith’ whatever that may be in any given location.
Luckily for those of us in the United States our nation does not allow a blending of church and state.
It also seems to me that a belief that faith alone is the key to salvation can lead to evil for it negates any need to live a good life and make a positive contribution to ones fellow man.
I think that, as I look over the spectrum of western religion the liberal denominations have this correct. Unitarian-Universalism, Unitarianism, liberal Quakerism, liberal Reform Judaism. These denominations avoid creed, avoid dogma, and stress the importance of doing good for oneself and ones fellow man.
Unitarianism as it presently exists is I think a wholly American creation. Certainly a religion embraced by our nations founding fathers, indeed three of the first six Presidents of the United States were Unitarian.
I believe that the absence of dogma within liberal religion prevents these denominations from encouraging much negativity in our world, but I also think that the liberal denominations are far from perfect. I’ll restrict my comments to Unitarianism, and it’s current mainline Unitarian-Universalism, but I think that they hold for the other liberal religious denominations as well.
It seems to me that the UU’s have confused the concepts of liberal religion with the concepts of liberal politics. They are in many ways preaching socialism. They work for freedom and justice in the social realm, but work for totalitarianism in the economic realm. I think that this is their failing.
I think that liberal religion instead should have in its history embraced classically liberal political thought instead of modern liberal political thought. Classic liberalism embraces freedom, liberty both in the social realm and the economic realm. I wonder how a religious movement embraced by so many of our founding fathers could have turned away from at least half of the liberties they fought for and I regret that the error has been made. I believe that I could embrace liberal religion if not for this error, if not for liberal religions embrace of economic socialism.
I’ll end this post by pointing out that I am not a religious person. I don’t participate in any organized religion, nor do I advocate that anyone else do so, or not do so. I believe that religion is an individual choice. This post, and the thought that led to it is simply an intellectual exercise on my part. The post was not, and is not intended to offend, simply to discuss the relationship between religion and liberty, a relationship that in my view could enhance individual liberty, but which unfortunately has worked to destroy individual liberty throughout the vast majority of history.
