Mr. D. Goes to Washington: Sessions Reminds Us
I couldn't let this one go without comment. Romans 13 is notorious in its usage to justify almost anything government does (including slavery). But Atheists shouldn't ignore it's implications — especially in strapping God with the atrocities of men the religious traditionally like to associate with Atheism. We are off the hook, folks! This is case closed!!!
Thanks again for keeping this going for another month. I've enjoyed this month's videos. I hope you have too. And, we have part three of my look at the PragerU video regarding the afterlife coming up. That one's gonna be a lot of fun. Perhaps not for Prager and his ilk, but we'll enjoy it I'm sure. B
Comments (6)
Steve Ruis is on the right track. Full disclosure: long-time atheist who became and atheist by reading the Bible. I have also studied theology, although only at the college level and independently talking to theology students. Here's the problem: All of Paul's contributions to the Bible, especially Romans, is a dog-whistle. It's all coded messaging that means the opposite of a literal interpretation because Paul was dancing around Roman censors. He knew how to do so expertly because he was a Roman who had spent years hunting down and executing Christians. That Sessions makes a literal interpretation of Romans 13 given he is supposed to be devout is just plain sad. I do not mean this as shade or snark but Brian made the same mistake. For example, the sentence in which Paul starts out stating that you should pay your taxes then continues with "The authorities are in God's service" he's *changing the subject* and talking about God *as opposed to* secular authority. Plain English translation: go ahead and pay your taxes (because money is a worldly possession and meaningless when it comes to entering heaven) and submit to (the divine, therefore only one that matters) authority (not the secular one). This is only one example, the rest of Romans 13 is just like this. Re-read this passage. Every time Paul uses the word "Authority" Christians understand it to mean "God" and the thick-headed Pagan Roman bureaucrats understand it to mean them. Paul keeps changing the subject mid-sentence and only his audience realizes this. (Which means that Sessions is not his intended audience anymore than we are -- now *that* was snark).
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"Gift horse"…? Gift horse's ASS, if you ask me. Jefferson Beauregard Keebler and his elf ilk wouldn't hesitate for an instant to flip the lethal voltage switch in a Stanley Milgram experiment.
Romans 13 was probably written for one of the fundamental needs of Christianity: acceptance by the secular authorities. Christians were looked upon askance by the Roman authorities because they wouldn't play by the rules. Romans 13 insists that we play by the rules of the Romans because ... God (of course). It must be noted that Christians did suffer so oppression by the Romans but the real oppression started when Christianity was adopted as a state religion of Rome and then the state religion of Rome. Christians then began using state power to oppress other Christians who had the "wrong" beliefs, and the oppression was far, far worse than anything the Romans ever meted out.
I'm so incredibly tired of the fundies claiming the moral high ground while continuously using their stack of glorified toilet paper to justify the absolute worst of atrocities when it suits them, only to ascribe those same atrocities to the 'rise of atheism' when they can no longer defend them.