Another religious article

[neadods]

Slactivist (whose LJ feed is unsurprisingly, slactivist) has an interesting article comparing fundamentalist attitudes towards the Bible to the "strict constructionalist" judiciary. Basically, the thesis is that the attitude that the Bible is literal, clear, and not subject to any change or interpretation is being applied to the Constitution, which is equally considered literal, clear, and not subject to any change or interpretation. This the root of the complaints against "activist judges" - ie, those who do not hold modern society to what was "clearly intended" by the 18th century founding fathers. An interesting read.

Comments

[twistedchick]

That's also some of the basic theology used by the Dominionists, who are the main religious backers of the current Republican party. Much more about them is at http://www.theologywatch.org.

[theo-knight.livejournal.com]

Sorry, but literal translation of the Bible doesn't work for me. I can't even trust the Korean translation of my Swedish furniture assembly directions into American English...

[maryannegruen.livejournal.com]

The Constitution and the Bible can only be relevant over time if they are living documents that can grow and be reinterpreted. If they become inscribed in stone, they will merely be worn away by time like all monuments are.

To get metaphorical (cos I always seem to want to tell a story)....When I was a child my parents gave me shoes that they hoped I would grow into and would last for a while. But sooner or later, as time passed, I always grew out of them. And I had to move onto other shoes, or go without, or bind my feet as the ancient Chinese once bound some women's feet and subsequently cripple myself. But think if I could have had a pair of shoes that would have grown with me and never wore out. Those would have been a great possession. Something to treasure. For I could have had them forever and even passed them on to others.

These people who want to stop time, their God and Constitution is too small. And I can't help but wonder if what they're really afraid of is growing up. Or perhaps they're afraid of having the rest of the world grow up and leave them behind.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

The original article was pretty much centered on dominionism - but I'm finding that that's not much understood as a term outside the theology watch and the evangelical circles.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

*very amused snort*

[neadods.livejournal.com]

These people who want to stop time, their God and Constitution is too small. And I can't help but wonder if what they're really afraid of is growing up.

What they're afraid of, IMO, is having their religious beliefs put through the same strain as their political ones. For all the snarking about how they build the realities that the "reality based" people observe, reality is coming back to bite them, hard and repeatedly.

[twistedchick]

Describe the beliefs to people, and they'll do one of three things:
-- recognize them, and/or
-- connect them with what's going on in government, or
-- say you made the whole thing up.

At least that's what I've found.