Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Voting against the separation of church and state

roachboy · 02-20-2005, 02:35 PM

this original intent business is hilarious---that the 18th centruy, mostly deist "fathers" understood that some kind of religion was good for social control purposes--not rocket science.
that they then mapped this belief into elements of the structure they put into motion--obvious.
that they "intended" the legal system to adapt to changing times by refining the interpretation of law--also obvious.
then what possible objection can there be to the courts functioning as they were set out to do--by actively making interpretations of law, adjusting how the constitution is to be understood, etc.?
where does the idiot notion come from that speculations about the actual intent of 18th centuiry men--for the most part elaborated by far-right politicians of the 21st century--should shape how the process works?
you cant reconstruct intent.
you cant do it.
the whole doctrine, which mojo repeats above, is simply nonsense.

the idea that the republic was founded on relgious ideals means that you have to take seriously the fourth grade civics class line that everything about the states can be understood as emanating from the puritans, as if salem had somehow metastisized--a move that wipes out almost any contact with the actual history of the colonial period. it is empirically wrong, and ideologically just another hoary old conservative pipe dream.

as for arkansas...well, they gave the world a strong element of the fascist-style anglo-israelite version of christianity--you know the one--because the ways of god are not the ways of men, when the bible uses the word "jews" it really means aryans. the enormous concrete jesus outside of silver springs, i think, was built by the main guy behind this interpretation. so it appears that there is a tradition of this far to the right of the right christian lunacy there--sad to see that it has achieved a degree of respectability. and sad to see the story quoted above.

02-20-2005, 02:35 PM	#13 (permalink)
roachboy Super Moderator Location: essex ma	this original intent business is hilarious---that the 18th centruy, mostly deist "fathers" understood that some kind of religion was good for social control purposes--not rocket science. that they then mapped this belief into elements of the structure they put into motion--obvious. that they "intended" the legal system to adapt to changing times by refining the interpretation of law--also obvious. then what possible objection can there be to the courts functioning as they were set out to do--by actively making interpretations of law, adjusting how the constitution is to be understood, etc.? where does the idiot notion come from that speculations about the actual intent of 18th centuiry men--for the most part elaborated by far-right politicians of the 21st century--should shape how the process works? you cant reconstruct intent. you cant do it. the whole doctrine, which mojo repeats above, is simply nonsense. the idea that the republic was founded on relgious ideals means that you have to take seriously the fourth grade civics class line that everything about the states can be understood as emanating from the puritans, as if salem had somehow metastisized--a move that wipes out almost any contact with the actual history of the colonial period. it is empirically wrong, and ideologically just another hoary old conservative pipe dream. as for arkansas...well, they gave the world a strong element of the fascist-style anglo-israelite version of christianity--you know the one--because the ways of god are not the ways of men, when the bible uses the word "jews" it really means aryans. the enormous concrete jesus outside of silver springs, i think, was built by the main guy behind this interpretation. so it appears that there is a tradition of this far to the right of the right christian lunacy there--sad to see that it has achieved a degree of respectability. and sad to see the story quoted above. __________________ a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear it make you sick. -kamau brathwaite Last edited by roachboy; 02-20-2005 at 02:38 PM..