{"id":3816,"date":"2011-01-20T13:37:00","date_gmt":"2011-01-20T13:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2011\/01\/governor-robert-bentley-and-the-end-of-the-bill-of-rights-as-weve-known-it.html"},"modified":"2011-01-20T13:37:00","modified_gmt":"2011-01-20T13:37:00","slug":"governor-robert-bentley-and-the-end-of-the-bill-of-rights-as-weve-known-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2011\/01\/governor-robert-bentley-and-the-end-of-the-bill-of-rights-as-weve-known-it.html","title":{"rendered":"Governor Robert Bentley and the end of the Bill of Rights as we’ve known it"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I\u00a0especially liked this story<\/a> and headline from Britain\u2019s Mail Online<\/em>: Alabama Governor forced<\/strong><\/em> to apologize (emphasis mine).\u00a0 Because that\u2019s about what it was.\u00a0 In our increasingly intolerant, close minded, and conformist culture that is dumb enough to think that more drugs and sex on TV means enlightened liberalism, another line has been crossed.\u00a0 A step that was pushed by many groups, including the increasingly bizarre Anti-Defamation League and its notion of more censorship in the name of Holocaust remembrance. <\/p>\n

What we have here was a step, small but significant, toward the growing impatience to redefine the Bill of Rights as values\u00a0 based: if you don\u2019t believe in the right values, you don\u2019t get the same rights.\u00a0 Some would argue that rights have always been values based.\u00a0 Perhaps.\u00a0 But the hallmark of post-war liberalism was always that they shouldn\u2019t.\u00a0 Under the mantra that there is no such thing as absolute knowledge, absolute truth, or absolute morals, it was ludicrous to accept the proposition that\u00a0a country could\u00a0demand conformity to any universal values system. <\/p>\n

Of course at the same time, shrewd observers couldn\u2019t help but notice the emerging feminist movement, civil rights movement, and gay rights movement \u2013 among others \u2013 invoking notions of self evident truths and universal principals.\u00a0 But since most of these, under the umbrella of \u2018equality\u2019, \u2018fairness\u2019, and \u2018justice\u2019 were pretty acceptable to the general public, not much was said or done to stand in their way. <\/p>\n

But now it\u2019s almost impossible not to miss the sudden shift back to a time when there was such a thing as absolute truth, absolute knowledge of this absolute truth, and a demand for absolute conformity to this truth.\u00a0 And we saw the next bold step in this movement in what happened to Governor Bentley.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Now I don\u2019t care if his beliefs are right or wrong.\u00a0 Wasn\u2019t too long ago that suggesting a person\u2019s religion was wrong was anathema.\u00a0 Along with many other things, that has gone the way of the horse and buggy.\u00a0 Nowadays it\u2019s quite vogue to declare various religious beliefs to be unacceptable.\u00a0 And now, not only are they unacceptable, but they are not allowed.\u00a0 Not if you want to enjoy the same right to public office as all Americans<\/a>.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Because now not only can you not practice your faith in a public setting or in an official capacity in, say, the State House, you also cannot practice it in a church of your faith tradition.\u00a0 For the longest time, we were told that religion needed to stay out of the public forum. Sure, you could believe anything you wanted, no matter how stupid.\u00a0 But keep it in your home and your church or place of worship.\u00a0 See the shift?\u00a0 Now, it\u2019s OK in church\u2026in some cases.\u00a0 It\u2019s OK in church\u2026as long as it isn\u2019t something that offends this or that special interest group.\u00a0 But we can no longer allow for such intolerant notions as allowing a person of obviously bigoted religious beliefs to practice his religion while being an elected official.\u00a0 As even Glen Beck noted, if he wants to do so, fine.\u00a0 He has a right.\u00a0 But he has no business being an elected official.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Take note, and take pictures.\u00a0 Because centuries from now, as historians chronicle the decline and fall of American civilization, this will be one of those pieces in the puzzle that will help them understand how the land of the free so willingly gave up that gift of freedom for a bowl of stew.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u00a0especially liked this story and headline from Britain\u2019s Mail Online: Alabama Governor forced to apologize (emphasis mine).\u00a0 Because that\u2019s about what it was.\u00a0 In our increasingly intolerant, close minded, and conformist culture that is dumb enough to think that more drugs and sex on TV means enlightened liberalism, another line has been crossed.\u00a0 A step […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nGovernor Robert Bentley and the end of the Bill of Rights as we've known it<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I especially liked this story and headline from Britain's Mail Online: Alabama Governor forced to apologize (emphasis mine).  Because that's\" 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