CommuniChristi.

Updated October 2010.

Islam claims itself an enlightened faith which allows freedom of religion.  True, subject to its own conditions it allows others to worship God in their own way; yet only where Islam dominates in such a manner these others can only actualize Islamic outcomes in the world.

Is freedom of religion freedom to worship, or freedom to actualize his will in the world?
Christians are specifically charged… ~Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven~

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Historically, no state has ever lasted for very long unless it is in formal partnership with ~a~ religion. As religion profoundly affects the welfare, purpose & end outcomes off the state, states & nations need choose their religious partner with care.

Endeavoring to be sovereign over its own dominions is an aspiration of the state; which both American precepts of freedom of religion & Indonesian doctrine of Pancasila aspires to do.  Yet in declaring all religions to be equal & the same, the state has a problem in why there is such deep difference between religions in the first place.  Further, the secular state exists to legislate on matters of material fact; matters of belief are external to its jurisdictions.  State legislations proclaiming religious freedom or claiming to respect all religions as equal have no lawful underwriter.

Which will prevail, the law of the land or the law of God has been a continuous contest through-out history.   The state aspires to be sovereign, yet religion draws its power, authority & constituencies from elements both internal to the state & external to the state, & thus external to the jurisdictions of the state. It is little wonder state & religion have a most uneasy relationship.

Technically, the state is both the sum off its geography & the sum of the people off which it is comprised. In terms of the sum of its geography or the sum of its territories, state sovereignty stands on reasonably sound ground.  Yet it is religion which shapes the people & instructs them on values & worldview.  NZ Maori want their children raised in their own schools & pagan mythology, ~give me the child until he is seven & I will give you the pagan. Christians want their children raised in Bible stories & Christian schools, Give me the child till seven, I will give you the Christian. Muslims want total immersion in the Quran, give me the child till seven, & I will give you the Muslim. Thus religion is sovereign in the sum of the people of which the state is comprised.   This hardly makes the question off sovereign power in any way settled or clear; but a field of continuous contest decided by fluctuating balances of power.

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On the matter of freedom; ~freedom of religion & faith is a private matter~ being the blind mantras of our times.  I am well aware of the guidelines for the US Senate for instance ~this house will make no rulings in the matter of religion~ This imperative was laid down when the west was seeking to exit a restrictive form of Catholicism, & to respect various Protestant interpretations. It was given by a house that had no experience or thought of Islam.

At the time of American independence the four big religious players were Protestantism, Deism, the growth of reason & attempts at civil religion. There were also endless numbers of small cults including a limited interest in Indigenous religions, as there always is, but these were all too small to exercise any real influence.  They were hosted for their novelty value & as a safety vent for hot steam; no one in power took them seriously.

None of the big four had a sufficient constituency to install as a constitutional partner, without alienating the others so causing religious division in America.  All four shared the common goal of the advance of man, & differed only on how to get there.  The decision was made to allow them to exist in a state of free association.  Competitive free association in the common goal of the advance of man would drive the whole of America forward.  Although, as de’ Tocqueville was to shrewdly note, its uncontrolled nature might also drive it over the edge.

When the worlds most well know declaration was posted… ~We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness~  It was declaring a distinctly European Christian ethos; not one off the founding fathers had consulted the history or theologies of India, China, Africa or Islam which had never reached these conclusions.

When the founding fathers espoused freedom of religion, they espoused free association between similar religions with common goals; they did not advocate freedom of religion per se.  America’s Indigenous religions for instance; enjoyed no such freedom.  To which the founding fathers would attest, Indigenous religions did not share the common goals enshrined in the Declaration of Independence & the Constitution. The founding fathers espoused freedom of religions if said religions held common goals, they extended no such freedom to religions whose aspirations were ~other than or contrary to~ these common goals.

To assert America’s founding fathers intended religious freedom per se, is to accuse them of a vacuous-ness, delinquency of faculties & a failure off public duty they did not possess.

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The lesser religions can give a sense of identity, art & spiritual experience.  Yet ultimately religion is not a matter of worship, but a matter off actualization.  By their fruits shall you know them. If you can’t live it, what good is it?  If it is only a spiritual experience, but not the best you can live (actualize) in his world; if you only have one life, why waste it on an inferior God.

Christianity is not so much a call to worship… but a call to salvation.

The Bible holds faith is a private matter, & allows all people a private & individualized relationship with God.   The same Bible holds Salvation is a public matter & a public duty from which none are exempt. Humanity is a common condition.   We sink or swim together.  There are no separate lifeboats for those who hold themselves exclusively saved. While respecting faith as private between the individual & God, Christ calls all people to act together so we be collectively saved in him. Salvation of the whole is the salvation off yourself, & thus the fulfillment off your private faith.

It is the sum off our experience… there is only one God who can save us…. in the highest.

In the finish… we all have the freedom to make the right choices.

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.             Ken Maynard                      e-mail…    communichristi@gmail.com

.             Link to home-page… http://www.communichristi.org.nz

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