A Hollow Faith, Keeping Us In Line

CAN YOU IMAGINE a religious faith so hollow that its adherants staunchly, relentlessly struggle to force formal,organized prayer into America's public schools, despite the obvious unonstitutionality of it, while resisitng efforts by the governemnt to provide funding for free lunches for children of poor families? And, to make matters worse, all the while thinking that they are following the desires and intentions of Jesus? Imagination isn't needed. One only needs to examine the agenda of the Republican party, as promulgated by its most dominant base,the white evangelical Christian conservative community. Opposition to increased government funding for public school free lunch programs, support for the insidious insinuation of organized Christian prayer into civic, secular public schools. The form of Christian doctrine without the substance. Christian prayer, but nothing, no provision for prayer for any other religious tradition. To include prayer in public education is nothing than a form of Christian grooming, blatant Christian indoctrination, and clearly violates the sacred constitutional principle of seperation of church and state, as reinforced by the Surpreme Court ruling in 1962, which removed such prayer. Grooming, of the Christian kind, no less than gay or LGBTQ "grooming",(a form of grooming which is pure fiction, an invention of the sordid, salacious sexual suppression of the Christian conservative mind.) Another phenomenon demonstating conservative Christian hollowness and hypocrisy stands out. All across America's fruited plain, conservative Christians are falling all over themselves forcing "The Ten Commandments" onto the walls of public school classrooms, enacting legislation in conservatives states and communities to that effect. The same for courtrooms and other public places, such as on monoliths on the well groomed lawns of state Capitol buildings. Moses,not Jesus. However, you never about nor see the results of any attempt by this same community to place upon walls and monuments anything from the "Sermon On the Mount" or from the beatitudes, or from the other peaceful, beautiful teachings of Christ? The most direct, most profound, most seminal, most enduring, meaningful teachings of Jesus Christ himself, ommited from the public square and schools. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth?" Never seen, never heard. "Blessed are the peacemakers?" No way. Or what about" go thy way, and sell whatsoever thou hast, and give unto the poor?" Not in evidence. Never. The Lord's prayer is likewise missing. One can scarcely if at all imagine "forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who tresspass against us" engraved in stone or wood on the walls of American court houses, and,indeed, you don't see it there. Instead, you see the stark, authoritarian, harsh, negative Ten Commandments,compelling us in an ominous threatening manner, with threatening understones, keeping us in line, like sheep,rather than inspiring us as sentient, benevolent, loving human beings. But, of course, keeping us all in line, like passive sheep, is, after all, among the most important functions of highly structured, highly organized religion, is it not?