Morality and Rights

Although I am not a citizen of this country, living here for almost thirteen years has given me some perspective on it. Sometimes I am amazed that it has functioned for the past two hundred and thirty eight years. Recently though, at times, I don't think it has functioned at all. Minorities of Neoconservatives have loudly tried to take control of the national agenda under the guise of Conservatism and of Christianity. In reality they are neither! The overriding aim of these groups is not one that the founders of this country had in mind. Rather than a land of freedom they are trying to recreate this land under a narrow ideology of their own making. This is a most dangerous path to follow. I am a person of faith but I cannot agree with the path taken by these movements or groups, usually under the guise of the Church. Historically any time the Church has gotten involved in politics the resulting consequences have not been good. Freedoms for the people have always been curtailed not increased. If people want to see the changes in society that increase freedoms for all they need to really look at the life and example of the man they claim to be followers of, Jesus of Nazareth. No where in scripture was Jesus involved with politics. No where did he attempt to lobby government. Nowhere did he call for political revolution. The only revolution he offered was an individual one, a revolution within the human heart. He never asked his followers to be involved in politics on a corporate level. He only told them to give unto Caesar what is Caesar's. In other words, pay the taxes they are requested of them and obey the laws of the land that do not violate the laws of God. From the standpoint of science , philosophy, art and literature the Greek and Roman ages were periods of enlightenment and progress. Once Rome fell the Church came in to fill the central power vacuum and the results were a dark age where only those in the Church and their loyal nobles were allowed to have higher education and knowledge. I see this elitism creeping its way into this recent conservative movement, trying to limit what children can and cannot be taught in schools. It can also be seen in their attempts to guide the government agenda down a very narrow path back to a very dark past. In this case the danger is not the Church taking over so much as it is the corporations using the Church as cover. Those who think that they are being "good Christians" by following these so called conservative groups have been duped because they do not understand their faith at its core. In his time Jesus was a radical liberal. He did not preach against the government or against individuals. His revolution was one of the human heart and not the government. He did not call upon his followers to protest on mass against anything. He only asked that they allow the Holy Spirit be allowed to changes their hearts and to make the examples of their individual lives to bring change to others around them. To legislate these changes and bring about some kind of "Christian Nation" is not what the Gospel is or what ever was about. Laws are needed to govern societies and to provide structure. Laws can be and are often constructed on a moral basis but those laws cannot create a morality for the individual. What is moral for the true Christian must come from within and cannot be legislated or forced upon another individual or society. To do so is a violation of the individual freedoms that these "conservatives" claim to uphold. Any denial of "rights" to one individual or group undermines the rights of all. Health care should be a right for all mankind. There is no scriptural basis to deny this. The scriptures do not even speak to the political rights that this country supports. Is the pursuit of happiness mentioned in the Declaration of Independence a right? I could make the case that it is a basic human right although it is not codified in this country's bill of rights. How can one be happy if the right to be healthy is denied? All forms of healthcare should be permitted. We can legislate behavior but not morality. If someone wants or needs birth control it should be available to them. Those who have a moral objection to it don't have to use it but their moral objection must not be forced upon others who do not share that conviction. Besides, chemical birth control serves medical purposes other than just preventing pregnancies. Any OBGYN will tell you that D&C procedures also serve purposes other than abortions. Should a medical procedure as a whole be banned for one reason only or not covered by health insurance for the same reason if it can be used to serve other valid medical purposes? As I said before, moral convictions must come from the heart not the law. For those who call themselves "Christian", your calling is to change the hearts of man form the inside. You cannot accomplish this through the useless attempt to legislate it. You must learn to differentiate your man given rights from those that are God given. The right to bear arms is not given by God and I wish those in the Church would drop that false claim. I find the entire "God and Guns" mind set to be highly offensive. The right to have your life and person respected is the only real right. All other so called "rights" come from this. To deny any person any right which reduces or diminishes the respect they are due as a Human being is to deny all their attributed rights. It's all or nothing, either all of humanity has the same rights to be happy, or miserable as the case may be, or they have none. Whether you agree with a person or not on individual issues or not, if you do not give the respect that they deserve as right then you do not deserve that respect in return.