Government as Religion

by Roderick T. Beaman

http://www.libertyforall.net/2002/archive/gov-as-religion.html

I've always enjoyed analogies. In high school, a teacher once criticized me for taking an analogy about 'Hamlet' in an essay too far. But the more valid an analogy is, the further you can take it. One day, I was sitting, pondering the meaning of the universe. Now you have to understand, that when I think, even I have to admit what my friends say, it's dangerous. My thoughts turned to things political, as they often do. I wondered why government has intruded into and gradually, almost completely taken over health, education and welfare. These have been traditionally the sphere of God as manifested through his earthly worship, religion. That's when it hit me and I realized the cosmic truth. Government is a religion. This fundamental explains all that we need to know about government. The analogy extends as far as any I've ever known.

The ultimate religion of government is, of course, communism. It was Karl Marx who said that religion is the opiate of the masses. In some ways, Marx was correct. One of the side effects of the opiates is euphoria which is why they are so addictive. Religion provides its adherents a sense of solace and euphoria, for which they may otherwise spend their lives in a frustrating search. In my own case, my religion is Catholicism, which helps give me a set of standards that I can use to guide my life as a pathway to God. But Marx may have been right in ways that he never anticipated. Opium works by attaching itself to certain sites in the body. It is competitive with other substances at those sites so if the site is occupied by another substance, the opium can't get there and do its work. It's either one or the other. Which goes a long way to explaining the policies of the Left.

Wherever government goes, it must eliminate God. This explains the unceasing efforts of leftists, like the ACLU, in eliminating prayer and religion from schools. Now, we even have the ACLU hinting that it may launch legal efforts to deny Catholic hospitals access to public funds if they do not offer full reproductive services, i.e. allow abortions or close your doors. As ridiculous as that sounds, it is 100% consistent with the analogy and I have no doubt that it will happen, likely within two years.

Throughout most of history, especially the Christian era, health, education and welfare were the province of religious bodies. They were considered among the intangibles that were meant to be done in God's name. In biblical times, a man was not considered educated unless he was versed in scripture. The gospels tell us of how Jesus astonished the temple elders with his knowledge of scripture, especially being from Nazareth, a backwoods kind of area.

During the Middle Ages, monasteries were the repositories of knowledge, much akin to the function our colleges and universities serve today. There is little doubt that without the tedious work of copying manuscripts, much of the literature of antiquity would have been lost. It's no accident that schools began as ecclesiastic functions. Most major colleges and universities were founded by religious groups.

In most European religions, there are orders of nuns and monks that were organized for teaching and there were many convents that were founded for nursing. Of course, many orders were founded to assist the poor. The Bible emphasizes the importance of charity towards our fellow man. The existence of the various hospitals named for saints, the Presbyterian, Baptist or Episcopal Medical Centers, the Miriams and Mt. Sinais, etc. are testaments to the importance of religion in the provision of health care. And every religion has a tradition of providing for the poor.

So into this steps man and his religion, government. The first inroad has usually been education. In the United States, it was in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Welfare followed and now health care. The gospels tell us that Jesus said to render unto Caesar, the things which are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's. The problem is that Caesar has never been content with what is his and always must take from God the things that are rightfully God's. Thus, government has to not only invaded God's realm but eliminate Him and we are led to where we are today.

Government has killed God in our schools and has replaced the small, efficient 'alms for the poor' with the lumbering welfare behemoth we have today. As noted above, the government machine is now moving toward forcing God out of health care and it has succeeded in education.

The Catholic Church once required that its children be taught in Catholic institutions. In the face of the government juggernaut, the Church caved in. That was a mistake because it's obvious that the religion of God can exist with the religion of government but not vice versa. Government must destroy God.

So isn't the Left practicing a religion? Are they not actually worshipping man, through government, rather than God? For years, many of the so-called Religious Right have said that secular humanism is actually a religion and secular humanism is the religion of the Left. The Left scoffs at this but when you put it into context with the above it makes sense.

It's no accident that those of the Left are the least likely to attend church. What most people find in God through their religions, Leftists find in government. They look for perfection in this world through man's inventions. They seek their solace and hope in government. We've been told that our God, the God of Moses, Jacob, Peter and Jesus, is a jealous God and that we must not put other gods before Him. The god of government is likewise a jealous god and will tolerate no others. And this is another reason why where government goes, religion must be eliminated.

All of this is what makes me state that government is a religion. Worship one or the other but not both and rue the day government invades any of God's sphere.

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Roderick T. Beaman was born in New York City in 1944. He majored in mathematics at New York University where he fell in with the wrong crowd and became a pre-med. He is a board certified osteopathic family physician in Providence, Rhode Island, but around the age of 50 realized that his true calling was to be a writer, musician or actor. He is hoping to accomplish a career change and is proudest of being a published poet, has composed one blues song and written a politically incorrect novel. 

You can reach him at CrazyLibertarian@aol.com