Of God and Government

Of God and Government

Have we replaced God with Government?

I notice that as we become less dependent on a god we seem to become more dependent on a government. Is there really any difference? Is putting your faith in a government really that much different than putting your faith in a god? Is not the very things we rejected in religion the very things we tend to worship in government?

The President

Religion had been defined as the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power. Is that not what we now do with government? We feel that government is a superhuman controlling power able to take away our ills, solve all our problem, and offer us salvation.

Why do I bring this up? Because I see a lot of self proclaimed atheists that complain about the evils of religion. They will tell you all about how religion is nothing more than a way of controlling people, and how it stifles free thought and free will. But I see these same atheists complain that government is not doing enough for us. That government is not controlling us enough. That we need a superhuman controlling power to direct our lives. That we need that power to command us how to think and act.

The Capitol Building

Like religion, government too has it's temples, it's priests, it's rituals. We feel that because someone puts on the priestly robes of the state that they somehow have authority over us, that they must be obeyed. Do government buildings not look grand and imposing? Not unlike a church. Are we not conditioned to perform the rituals of the state? To tithe in the form of taxes?

The Vatican

Is the ballot box not the alter of the state? A place we go to pray to get our way and impose our will on others, not for liberty, but for our own selfish ends. When we go to vote we select the politician that promises us the most, the law that satisfies our own personal needs the best. We pray to our politicians, as if they are high priests. We ask them for deliverance. We recite the laws as if they were scribed in some sacred holy text.

When we walk into a court room, do you not somehow feel you are in a church? Feel in awe of the grandeur of it all. You must stand when ordered to, sit when ordered to, and speak to the judge as if he were conducting a state mass. We must know, and be able to recite chapter and verse of the holy government scriptures. To question any of the procedures is akin to questioning god.

We let government send our young off to die in unneeded wars, without question, because to question would be blasphemy. We do not fight for the defense of our country anymore, we fight in holy wars in the name of "spreading Democracy", the new religion. It is no different than the Crusades of the past. Our soldiers are nothing more than fodder, to be chewed up in the advance of the religion of the state. Martyrs.

We let government tell us what we can eat, how to run our businesses, who we can and can't marry, how and when we can defend ourselves, how our children are taught. We are willing to accept this without question by calling it the "will of the people". Since when has fifty one percent of the people been by will? Why should I accept this as if it were gospel? I am an atheist, I worship nothing.

The Black robed priests of the state.

At least with religion you can choose not to participate, choose not to accept the myths. Just try that with government and see what happens. The armed priests of the state, robed in their government issued costumes, will show up at your doorstep and haul you away as a heretic.

There was a time in this country where government had but one purpose, to protect our liberty. What happened?