Punishing sinners. A thankless pass time. A LOT of money in it though.
According to Judeo/Christian philosophy punishing sinners is reserved for the Maker. Punishing disturbers of the peace is allowed.
Where our “religious” friends go off the rails is in conflating the two. Vice may be unseemly. It is not crime. Vice is to be regulated. Crime punished.
You can’t stop people from doing damage to their immortal souls – called in some cases “a learning experience”. You can create quite a bit of crime by trying to suppress vice though.
Who are the disturbers of the peace?
Well fashions in vice abatement change over time. For a long time in America alcohol was the favored target. Now we have new ones. And even those are on the verge of passing in the next 10 to 20 years. I wonder what/who we will be hating in 2030? Since every society needs something/someone to hate I propose the Andromeda Galaxy. It is sufficiently far away so that it is probably safe for a while.
Of course part of the problem here is the fragmented nature of the hate market. Some hate bankers, some politicians, Jew hatred is coming back to more normal levels, and some people are even so picky as to hate only Democrats or on the other side only Republicans. Such a very interesting dichotomy in America. The Democrats want to force you to do one thing. The Republicans another. They are united in their belief in force. Which is rather far from a belief in the Maker.
Me? Like any human I have my petty hatreds. I refuse to elevate them to the level of principle.
Cross Posted at Power and Control
Faith In Force
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4 responses to “Faith In Force”
A fine post.
What do you mean “fine post”? Didn’t you know M. Simon is a “hater”? And a Communist?
I recall that -back in the day- playing cards was considered sinful.
Oddly enough, during that same period buying opium-based products over the counter was quite legal… 🙂
Come to think of it, if memory serves, during the Civil War era at least some states had not yet outlawed abortion, either.
Eric, I have to disagree with you. Simon is neither of those things. He is, in fact, a free-thinker and a Christ-killer, which are far worse. Clearly a fatwa is in order.
Nice post.
I like to ask my vice law supporting friends and family why do they expect sinners to live like saints. This is especially important in light of the fact that they beleive that only answer to sin is salvation through Jesus.
They then change the subject.