Some have another take, though:
It wasn't just fringe groups like RefuseFascism.org, which proclaimed in a headline, “At Notre Dame, William Barr Lays Out a Christian Fascist Nightmare.” Or even LGBTQ Nation, which accused the Trump administration of wanting to “tear down” the separation of church and state. (The headline read “2 Trump officials said the U.S. should be run as a Christian theocracy.”) The Nation’s headline cried, “William Barr is Neck-Deep in Extremist Catholic Institutions” and writer Joan Walsh described Barr as "a paranoid right-wing Catholic ideologue who won't respect the separation of church and state." She mocked the Catholic men's service group Knights of Columbus (of which Barr has been a member) as "a patriarchal cosplay group." Walsh's distaste for Catholicism is matched only by her evident loathing of evangelicals. She writes: "(I)t's worth noting that Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney were all also raised Catholic -- but Pence and Pompeo went one better than Barr and joined the official GOP denomination, White Evangelical Protestantism ... I couldn't wish these guys better company to spend time with in hell."
Yikes.
The Washington Post asked in a headline, “Is This Barr’s Cry for Help?” and author Catherine Rampell dutifully repeated the trope that Barr's speech was "a tacit endorsement of theocracy." Columnist Paul Krugman at The New York Times perhaps took it furthest: “God is Now Trump’s Co-Conspirator,” read his headline. (To his credit -- I think -- he was speaking tongue-in-cheek and hypothesized that Barr's speech was less about establishing a theocracy and more about providing a smoke screen against Trump's impeachment by rallying the anti-secularist troops.)My God. How ate up with a hatred for the foundations of our civilization does one have to be to deem Barr's call for a return to Judeo-Christian morality "fascist"?
This is the front line in the twilight struggle for our nation's soul. The enemy may mock the notion of a divine architecture to reality, but such mockery cannot by definition ultimately prevail, given that God reigns supreme.
General Barr counts opiate addiction as a moral failing. Not true and not at all cool coming from our chief prosecutor and bottle washer. Even when it comes to moral failures, it ain't nobody's business if it is consensual. This Barr cat can put you behind them for a long long time. Well, at least we hear no crowing from the same cons who had a cow over Obama speaking at ND. Now call me a God hater.
ReplyDeleteA person makes a conscious decision to do that first bang of heroin. And once hooked, a person will steal anyone and everyone blind to support their habit. Even sell their body. I know. I've seen it. That said, non-adversarial recovery programs - with a strong dose of Jesus - are the way to deal with it.
ReplyDeleteYou could not be more wrong about "consensual" moral failures. If they're moral failures, they are contributing to the rot of our civilization, consensual or not.
Barr's speech was one of the five most important of the about-to-conclude decade.
ReplyDeleteIt's always everybody's business when someone chooses to damage his or her own soul.
ReplyDeleteI am told opiate addiction more often begins with a prescription from a physician. That has certainly been the demon blamed for the current crisis. But, it is a free country so of you want to swallow the immorality theory there be my guest. What is Jesus' recovery rate?
ReplyDeleteNon-adversarial spirituality based recovery programs like AA and NA have been around for 3/4 a Century. The attendees all hold hands at the end of each meeting, but for agnostics and atheists, and say the Lord's Prayer together. Choose Jesus as your higher power if it works for you. Regardless of the perceived immorality (very old school thinking), addiction, including the always persistent and atull quite prevalent alcoholism is a tough nut to crack. The vast majority still die in their cups or whatever delivers their drug of compulsion. Jail just don't work all that well for most.
ReplyDeleteI don't expect you to understand or even comment for free, but it was not so long ago we had another fundie Trump appointed AG who would return us to the dark days of Nixon & Mitchell after marijuana to get back at the leftest hippies, spics & the negro.
ReplyDeleteWhich has what to do with what. Is he AG anymore?
ReplyDeletePlus, you seem to be on the verge of smearing Sessions as a bigot. Is he on record anywhere using the terms "spic" and "negro"?
ReplyDeleteNow, to end the digression and get back to the point of this post, our society's only hope for reversing its rot is to humble itself before God and walk in His ways rather than forsake them.
ReplyDeleteYour God and your theocracy, my man. Force it on us if you can. Humility is not found in winning.
ReplyDeleteI only referred to what Erhlichman allegedly said Nixon said. But Sessions had all the markings of another Republican witch hunting AG.
ReplyDeleteGod is God. Not mine or yours.
ReplyDeleteYou are making the same point that this post is about - calling defense of divine truth an attempt to impose a theocracy.
When the AG says it, theocracy might indeed be inferred. A dude like Bannon is making all kind of noise in the Holy Catholic Church these days. Bang away fat man!
ReplyDeleteSure God is God and there has always been freedom to worship (or not) in this land of the free. If it is not hurting you, let it be, help or get out of the way. Took you a long time to get what you got. Not that we all get the same. There are many mansions in heaven, even if it is true what you say about only one route. Do not forget that William Barr is a Trump loyalist. Personally I do not ascribe to the view that he is the chosen one.
ReplyDeleteDunno bout God haters but there are a lot of Trump and Trump loyalist haters here in this country and around the world.
ReplyDeleteWhat is your proof that Barr is a Trump loyalist?
ReplyDelete