Alan Archibald
The fact that people don't know that Christians were the only people in America to ever ban Christmas is precisely why knowledge of history -- or at least eagerness to conduct clarifying research -- is essential to the survival of the Republic.
Trump cultists fall for master scamster because they have no tolerance for ambiguity, paradox, irony or any other truth that sends them into a dither.
They support Trump because he is the only politician in whom they see themselves reflected.
And perfectly.
Ill-informed.
Ignorant.
Punitive.
Vengeful.
Retaliatory.
Cruel.
Eager to damn any infidel (real or perceived) to Hell, where -- notably -- they will roast in a Lake of Unquenchable Fire -- forever and ever without a moment's surcease -- their pain receptors continually renewed so that every instant they can feel the full range of torment arising from their flesh being continually charred.
And then, as soon as its charred, it's restored to the newness of a baby's bottom.
Char.
Restore.
Char.
Restore.
Char.
Restore.
I believe that ANY creator God -- and even more so, and supposedly loving Creator God -- who would design a Universe in which The Eternal Torment of Hell is "built into" the design is a false god.
And were that god the real, one, true God, I would be in open rebellion against the monstrosity.
I invite you to consider that a God who designs a Universe in which nearly every human being will end up in Hell - is, emphatically, not a God worthy of worship - is not even a God worthy of admiration and respect.
By my lights, such a God is indistinguishable from the inquisitors (almost always priests) who dedicated themselves to designing ever more grotesque engines of torture for the supposed purpose of getting infidels to recant.
And so it was that inquisitors believed themselves to be mediators of salvation by forcing others to see (or at minimum to "sign off on...") Truth.
Remember
Tight-ass, unloving, cruel people are drawn to the militaristic side of church and state.
Just because they are governmental or ecclesiastical "officials" is NO reason to believe they are anything other than mean, sadistic people, trying to re-make the world in their own image, so they can convince themselves of their "normalcy."
These people are not normal.
These people are not credible.
These people are not role models.
These people are to be avoided like the plague.
Still, these people do tend to rise high in most bureaucracies - in large part due to the plodding, uninspired, boring nature of bureaucracies.
Thomas Merton: "Adolf Eichmann, Sanity and Normality"
"The terrible thing about our time is precisely the ease with which theories can be put into practice. The more perfect, the more idealistic the theories, the more dreadful is their realization. We are at last beginning to rediscover what perhaps men knew better in very ancient times, in primitive times before utopias were thought of: that liberty is bound up with imperfection, and that limitations, imperfections, errors are not only unavoidable but also salutary. The best is not the ideal. Where what is theoretically best is imposed on everyone as the norm, then there is no longer any room even to be good. The best, imposed as a norm, becomes evil.”
"Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander,” by Trappist monk, Father Thomas Merton
"The best, imposed as a norm, becomes evil."
"The Best, Imposed As A Norm, Becomes Evil," Trappist Monk, Fr. Thomas Merton
NPR: "How The Puritans Banned Christmas" https://www.wbur.org/.../mass-holiday-feasts-puritans...
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