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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (95632)	1/17/2005 3:36:35 PM
From: Bridge Player	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793782

Let me put it this way. I believe that there are many, many sources of information about American culture other than the Bible. Historical movies and novels, documentaries [Ken Burns series The Civil War, Baseball, and Jazz come to mind, among others], Time, The American Spectator, The Federalist papers, biographies of Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, and the rest, visits to museums, the Smithsonian, and Williamsburg, discussing politics and religion with friends and family with an open mind, editorials, letters to the editor, columnists, blogs, message boards such as this one [btw one of the few truly outstanding ones], and yes, the NY Times and LA Times. Clearly this just scratches the surface. Need I go on? I inferred no intent on Lindy's part to imply that one had to believe in the Bible in order to understand American culture. My question simply reflected a rather strong belief that one can do so rather well with minimum familiarity with that often-revered book. As a pretty-far-to-the-right Republican on most cultural, economic, political, and value issues (formerly an independent) I take no second seat to anyone in my understanding of American culture. While I may not share the strong religious beliefs of those whom the left like to characterize as the "religious right", I tend to share their moral values, and make the distinction that that statement implies. I certainly understand that the founders thought of this country as a religious one, and have no objection whatsoever to keeping it that way. I also understand the viewpoint of secularists, although I find appalling the efforts of some on the left to rid our culture of religious references wherever possible. For example, having the Ten Commandments posted on the wall of every courthouse in America would be just fine with me. I have no wish to start any kind of firefight on this issue here and will not post further on it. People are entitled to their beliefs. If it is believed by some that my bible-study-deficient education impedes my cultural understanding, so be it. A final note: my wife studied comparative religions rather extensively in college. When I posed the question to her, "Is it necessary to be familiar with the Bible in order to understand American culture?", the answer came with perhaps 2 seconds of consideration: "No". I stand firm in believing that millions of those who do indeed have a deep understanding of that book would concur.