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May 19 , 2004 - Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels March 17, 2004 Christian Fundamentalism and the GOP With the rise in Christian fundamentalism and religiosity, we are seeing, to plagiarize Yogi Berra, deja vu all over again. This is important politically, because the fundamentalists have found a home in the Republican Party. The Church and religiosity completely dominated life in the Middle Ages. Every person, from birth to death (and beyond), lived in a strait-jacket of religious ritualism, obligations and blind faith. The idea was that only through fully and unquestioningly accepting church teaching could one reach God and perhaps eternal salvation. The sure route to purgatory was to violate this and be excommunicated. But Aristotle was recovered in the 13th century, and the church fathers were introduced to the ideals of ancient Greece and its vision of life based upon the uninhibited search for truth in all matters through reason. Of course, this spirit of unlimited questioning and inquiry through reason was in direct conflict with church doctrine. Nevertheless, the Aristotelian philosophy and Aristotle's research and scientific method greatly impressed the church fathers. Opening the door to reason led to the schism and eventually to the Reformation and paved the way to the modern world. It led to the general intellectual awakening of the Renaissance and Enlightenment, also known as the Age of Reason, which were driven by the belief that reason could be used to liberate society from ignorance, superstition, intolerance and religious tyranny. Although not the dominant force it once was, the question of the relationship between religious belief and every day life and politics began to be a major problem with the formation of nation-states towards the end of the Middle Ages. For example, church doctrine supported feudalism in demanding allegiance to one�s superior both lay and cleric. The basis was that the existing social structure was part of God's will. One should accept one's place in this life and reward will come in the hereafter. With the emergence of the nation-state and kingship, there was the problem of allegiance to the king or to the church. Since neither side could ever permanently dominate the other, there was a sort of mutual truce. With the rise of democratic society, the role of the church and religion had to be resolved. Our Founding Fathers saw the dangers and tried in the Constitution to separate religion from politics insofar as possible. People should be free to follow any religion, but not force their beliefs on others. Since it is impossible to define the line operationally between religion and politics, differences were left to majority rule. Now, since the 1980s, in Christian fundamentalism we have a powerful resurgence of faith-based religion, but in a new form. In the Middle Ages it was the church that was supreme, though later qualified by the Biblical injunction to "render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's." But to modern Christian fundamentalists there is no qualification. It is God's word in the Bible that is absolute. And this word (as interpreted by charismatic preachers) is (to fundamentalists) unerring and unambiguous. Such issues as abortion, relations between the sexes, other religions and their practices, and literature and the arts, and every aspect of life are subject to Biblical scripture. Of course, in our system the majority still rules, but the strategy of the Christian fundamentalists is to become the majority, and evangelize America. At the rate they are growing, and with the eager help of the Republican Party, it won't take long. Harry L. Cook Ashland DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams