Last night I spent an evening with some dear friends, both are years older than I, and yet, our spirits are connected by a similar zest for self actualization and experiences. Our love for food and wine are rivaled by no one. We passiontely explore religion and the effects of its' oppressive nature when applied by human intent. Exploring doctorines' whose commands often involved the denial of self and the adherance to morals that are sometimes questionannable at best. I appreciate that these women exist, their journey in life and the questions they have give me hope that our minds don't have to become more closed and traditional as we age, but rather that a fresher, wiser, and more open outlook can be what I have to look forward to.
I wonder where intelligence is in our daily world.
The news ripples with parents defending their children's out of control behavior, all the whole looking for a side door to sneak out through. Schools are being tied down from encouraging thought and critical thinking, the new focus being trained puppets of rhetorical regurgitation. Creationism is now a science. Evolution is a myth. And while I actually understand a parent's desire to make sure their children adhere to a faith--whatever faith they are following, I don't understand their fear of allowing their children to learn and decipher information. But history has shown that all one has to say to explain their reasoning is "the devil is in knowledge, so limit the knowledge you seek to only that which complies with our belief". No wonder the apple was so dangerous...knowledge gives choice.
A friend asked what I thought of Jeff Warrens, that self proclaimed prophet of monetary bliss and sexual dominance. Oh, I mean prophet of faith. He asked about the state of polygamy being against US law. Well, after thinking about this, I came up with this...if the US is using the definition of marriage from a religious definition as defined by a particular faith, than that violates the seperation of church and state. So since it can't endorse a particualr relgion, the question becomes one of recognizing a religion's right to establish it's own beliefs and how marriage is defined would be one of them. Now, as to children being married to old men (or young, or females, or whatever) the state has a legal obligation to protect children from abuse, so the state needs to interecede, since child abuse is not a religiously protected right. What makes this more difficult though is that there is a tradition in some countries where young girls, age 12 are put into arranged marriages by their parents, it is part of their culture. The US, if the child is living here, cannot apparently overstep what is the norm in a culture for that child's peers, even if our law does not agree. So I am not sure why we have contradicting considerations. (SVU epsiode covered this scenario-I was suprised that this was the outcome and the reasoning it was based on)
I find it interesting that we consider raising a child in a belief as brainwashing if it is one way, but consider it bringing our children up with morals if it's in another. I know alot of people that were raised without the right to explore ideas different than what their parent's thought or believed.
So what is really the difference in brainwashing other than activities and media attention?
Rambled thoughts...The Patrioic Hippie
