Christian Democrats in the United States

Monday, March 1, 2010 6:16 PM

censorship presumes government can define morality - it cannot

[ California Assembly passes resolution for Cuss Free Week - http://www.mercurynews.com/search/ci_14470806 ]

James said no man can tame the tongue. It's not our fault that our brains are simian, or that political parties and pundits prod us to be so angry that we cannot sing with our prosodic cortex instead of cussing at every red light. It is not government's place to judge - by interfering against freedom of speech where it cannot justify itself, government tries to substitute itself for that highest object of the inner mind. So, don't cuss, if you believe that will better your relationship with the Lord or with those you know and love, but don't do it for the idiots in Sacramento. The financial doom that these people brought to the Golden State is not a joke.

On a deeper level, besides distracting us from the financial issue by riling our anger over a trifling but fundamental insult to freedom, the state Assembly seek to supplant the abstract ideals that any thinking being would strive for, with their own sanitized and shallow morality. This pedantry they flap in our faces serves the personal interest of politicos drinking thousand-dollar bottles of wine and spending donation money on escorts for the after-party in the hot tub with the fat old guy lawyers. They shovel truckloads of it into the vacuous textbooks of letters and arts in public education.

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Friday, May 4, 2007 3:34 PM

where to direct our energies

At the risk of offending some good-hearted, god-fearing Jews, the story is important. J didn't waste any time appealing to the Romans to stop the free expression of the Pharisees on the law. He simply went out and fed the people. That's why I think we ought to stop wasting our time bickering about video games and instead reach out to problem kids and let them know that you care, that no matter how bad they feel or how distant, they are not alone. -ed.

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Tuesday, May 1, 2007 7:41 PM

Censorship

We believe no statue, newspaper cartoon, or poopy painting has any power over God, so why waste our time worrying over some temporary fad of art? If we don't take it too seriously, all art is capable of expanding the symbols of our collective conversation, and overall, this is the only means of progress. We believe this cultural progress, based in free expression, is worth funding the occasional piece of offensive art. There is no good way to draw lines around what offends and does not offend other people. God may be offended, but we believe that if God is offended, then God will work it out with the artist personally.

We certainly believe that no one, anywhere, should suffer punishment for free expression and association that does not directly and immediately incite specific criminal behavior that harms others, i.e. inciting a riot, a murder, or yelling "fire!" Certainly, no one has a right to kill someone for their artistic expression.

The editor happens to think "Grand Theft Auto" is pretty fun, but gosh, he doesn't feel any desire to go out and kill people, because his parents let him explore knowledge while guiding with values. Maybe parents should spend a little more time educating their kids on values, and a little less time sitting them in front of a monitor with no supervision. Government can advise us, but it isn't the government's place to hold your kids' hands in the big scary world — it's yours.

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