Tolerance -vs- Intolerance

What happens when tolerance and intolerance meet?  That's a hauntingly serious question.

One of the primary tenants of the Christian religion is tolerance.  It is embedded in the Constitution of our nation.  Our founding fathers had just escaped from the oppression of intolerance.  Thus, they made tolerance a sacred pillar in the documents of governance for the new nation.  We are steeped in the tradition of tolerance for the religious beliefs and view points of others, even for those who have no belief.  Freedom of religion rings loud and clear from church bells across our land.

But, now comes a faction of intolerance.  If you do not believe then you must submit or be killed.  We must provide foot baths and prayer rugs in public places.  We must tolerate the submission of women to a sub-class.  We must not speak out or criticize for fear of being intolerant.  We must acquiesce to every demand however small.  Why?  Because we are a tolerant people and we see goodness in tolerance.

In 1990 a little over 88% of the adult population of the United States described themselves as Christians.  In 2001 (the latest data available) only 80% described themselves as Christians.  That is a decrease of 8% over an eleven year period.  If that rate continues the next 30 years only 56% of the population will describe themselves as Christians.  By the same token 0.3% of the adult population in 1990 described themselves as Muslims.  By 2001 that number had doubled to 0.6%.  If that trend continues 4.8% of the population will describe themselves as Muslims in 30 years.  That may not seem a significant number compared to 56%, but consider that in 2001 there were 4.9% Lutherans; 2.8% Presbyterians; 1.9% Pentecostals; 1,4% Mormans; 1.3% Churches of Christ; 0.7% United Church of Christ; 0.7% Jehovah's Witnesses; and 0.6% Assemblies of God, all Christian faiths.  And, these percentages are decreasing yearly mostly from immigration.

So when tolerance and intolerance meet there is only one outcome--by its very nature tolerance is submissive to intolerance.  It is only when tolerance becomes intolerant that intolerance is defeated.  It was only when our founding fathers ceased to be tolerant and became intolerant that they escaped the yoke of intolerance and founded a nation based on the Christian faith.

The time has come for we Christians to become intolerant if we are to survive as a Christian nation.  Any organization, religious or otherwise, advocating that non-believers either submit or be killed must be outlawed and aggressively prosecuted with severe penalties.  Our immigration laws must deny them entrance to our land.  Otherwise, our children and grandchildren will not survive this century as a Christian nation.

If you doubt me study what has happened to Denmark.

 

The Obama-Biden Ticket

The Obama-Biden ticket is a kangaroo ticket.

The hind feet are stronger than the front feet.

The tail is the strongest and keeps it upright.

It moves by leaps and bounds in any direction.

And, it has funny ears.

RUSSIA

Russia is not our friend.  Russia has never been our friend.  Russia will never be our friend.  Russia as the old Soviet Union teamed up with Hitler against us at the start of WW II.  Then, when Hitler reneged on their partnership Russia cried "Uncle".  We saved their butts in WW II.  This was a gross mistake.  A proven military strategy of the ages is when two of your adversaries go at it with each other standby and let them annihilate each other.  Then go in and take over the spoils.

Russia came into the war against Japan only after they learned we had the atom bomb and intended to use it.  They wanted to grab as much real estate on the Korean Peninsular and elsewhere as possible.  The 38th Parallel was established because that is where the Americans and the Russians met.  Shortly after the occupation of Japan the Russians attempted to extend the 38th Parallel across Northern Japan.  Fortunately MacArthur stopped it by dispatching combat ready troops (including yours truly) to the beaches of Western Japan with orders to resist any landing by the Russians.  They backed off.  However, thus began MacArthur's problems with President Truman.  He thought MacArthur had made a political policy decision.  MacArthur thought he made a sane military decision.  I have to agree with MacArthur.

 The Soviet Union (Russia) and the United States then entered into an extended period of an arms race that came to be known as the Cold War.  Russia blockaded Berlin.  They built "The Wall".  They opposed the United States at every turn in the United Nations.  They openly supported and supplied the Viet Cong during Viet Nam.  All this time the policy of the United States was to mollify the Soviet Union.  It was only when President Reagan had the will power to face down the Soviets that they collapsed leaving Russia intact.

The next several American presidents pursued a policy of appeasement and accommodation of Russia to bring them out of chaos and into the world of nations and the organization that came to be known as the G-8.  Bush looked into Putin's eyes and saw goodness in his soul.  Horse pucky!  How gullible can a leader of the United States be?  What he really should have seen was "KGB" and acted accordingly.  When Russia was down we should have taken necessary steps to keep them down.  I learned a long time ago in the military that when you have an adversary down keep him down because he can get up and beat the hell out of you.  I knocked the guy down twice in a fight.  I let him get up twice.  The second time he came up with a club (the wooden brace out of the end of a canvas folding cot) and beat the hell out of me before some other guys were able to pull him off.  I learned a hard lesson.  A lesson our nation could learn.

Now thanks to American technology exported to Russia the Russians have developed oil rich areas especially in the Arctic regions.  They even now are claiming Russian sovereignty over the Arctic Ocean all the way to the North Shore of Alaska.  With the sky high price of oil the Russians suddenly have money and lots of it.  The Europeans have become almost totally dependent on Russia to supply them with oil and gas through pipelines flowing from Russia and controlled by Russia which now brings us to the goings on in the small but critical independent country of Georgia.  It was a former part of the old Soviet Union.  The only pipe lines not controlled by Russia that flow oil to Western Europe from that area passes through Georgia.

 The attack to takeover Georgia was planned months ago and timed to coincide with the Olympics in China with the world's attention diverted.  With Bush out of the country and Putin in China he played his hand.  Putin left immediately to direct the takeover of Georgia.  His objective is to control the flow of all gas and oil to Europe, restore the original old Soviet Union and rise to the power of its former self with enough force to face down the rest of the world.  No need for Putin to worry about the Europeans.  They are wimps.  The United States shows a lack of unity and is split in the throes of an upcoming election between two presumptive presidential candidates neither of which is of forceful dedicated leadership strong enough to face down Russia.  Putin is smiling.

So, where does this leave us?  Russia regaining its former evil empire to exert its force world wide while we, the United States, twiddle our collective thumbs and contemplate what to do.  We cannot forever be the savior of the world.  We have to re-direct our efforts and resources to what is best for us.  Much of the world sees us as a giant marshmallow.  Then, too, there is China to worry about.  But, that's a whole different dissertation.  The future does not look all that bright.  The final results are not going to be pretty.  Thank God I'm 80 years old and probably won't live to see it.