tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829599.post110823136127516905..comments2024-01-28T00:20:40.933-08:00Comments on Agoraphilia: Towards a Patriotic ReformationUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829599.post-1108404669077128342005-02-14T10:11:00.000-08:002005-02-14T10:11:00.000-08:00Most people burning flags today do so with their o...Most people burning flags today do so with their own set of ideals in mind, not the ideals set out in the Constitution or Declaration of Independence. Thus, burning the flag has come to represent protest by those who hold America to a different standard than that described by the founding fathers or subsequent generations that found the common voice to amend the Constitution.<br /><br />Today’s flag-burner is more likely to blame America for the problems in the world than to praise it for the inherent goodness that it has created, and since it is these themes which drive today's flag burners (on a global basis), the practice has become symbolic with those who are therefore described as unpatriotic or anti-American.<br /><br />Burning the flag by a "true patriot" (as you describe) would require an extensive education effort to separate them from today's flag burners to show that their struggle is truly pro-American in nature. <br /><br />With that baggage to overcome, perhaps they'd be better off picking a different symbolic gesture to infuse with their own, separate meaning. Likewise, Protestants might have chosen different symbols of the church to attack if non-believers had usesd these icons to attack the church in the past.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829599.post-1108333765655247752005-02-13T14:29:00.000-08:002005-02-13T14:29:00.000-08:00Mr. Newman: I think that you *vastly* overestimat...Mr. Newman: I think that you *vastly* overestimate the organization of the early Protestants. Far from a monolithic entity, early Protestantism came in many different--and many times opposing--types. Indeed, one fundamental critique faced by those calling for greater liberty in Biblical interpretation was that it would lead to religious chaos. Even Luther himself came to embrace that criticism, though only insofar as he called for repression of Protestant creeds he judged sacriligeous. <br /><br />SK: Granted that people generally (but certainly not always) regard their religious views as more crucial to their identities than their political views. But that merely goes to show how much easier a job reformists patriots face. They don't have to get people to reconsider their relationships with God; they merely have to get people to reconsider their relationships with politicians.Tom W. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02790351458154066358noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829599.post-1108285009420231272005-02-13T00:56:00.000-08:002005-02-13T00:56:00.000-08:00Religion is a force to be reckoned with; more peop...Religion is a force to be reckoned with; more people have died for their religious beliefs than anything else in history. And even today we see evidence of it with the Islamic-Jihad. Religious devotion is so much more far-reaching and beyond rationale, and it unites people beyond just national borders. Sure people have died for their countries or certain causes but they come far second to the throngs of people who died for their beliefs.<br /><br />What forces can possibly be mobilized now for a reformation like that of Martin Luther's time for a man-made institution that will always be flawed no matter how effective the reformation? As the commenter stated above, Martin Luther and the Reformists had clear goals that they probably felt strongly enough to even die for. I can't imagine that people in this day and age having the same kind of passion and goal about this revolution even if it's at a much smaller scale.<br /><br />skAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com