Re: MONETARY: LOCAL CURRENCIES IN THE 21ST CENTURY

["Norman G. Kurland" <thirdway@cesj.org>]

Alan, would you like being a non-Muslim in an Islamic state, or a non-Christian in a Christian state, or a non-Jew in a Jewish state?  I wouldn't.  Politics is a zero-sum game based on division of the control over the coercive powers of the state and involves a winner-take-all philosophy.  Religion and economics should be synergistic, are based on multiplication, work best when they unite people, and should involve the power of persuasion and free will, not coercion.  The ideal state is one that is religiously and spiritually pluralistic, with everyone free to accept or reject any religion or ethical system that does not impose itself on anyone.  The Source of all creation and all absolute values exists prior to and at a much higher level than any political party.  That's why I support Dan's concern with any political party that is based on promoting any single religion as its exclusive source for political activity and its agenda. 

All political parties should be inclusionary and committed to promoting universal principles of economic and social justice, such as those articulated in the Declaration of Independence, the Virginia Declaration of Rights, the Bill of Rights, the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, etc.  None of these documents mentions Christianity, Judaism or Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, or any other of the great religions, but all of these religions reinforce the universal human values contained in these landmark documents of civilization.

Norm Kurland

Adavans@aol.com wrote:

"Society is primarily a result of metaphysical ideas which can be very differently leading to very different policies."--Wally Klinck

 

 

Dan Parker wrote: "...would you support a party being named the Islamic Democratic Party? If not, why not?"

 

Dan, your rhetorical question concerning an "Islamic Democratic Party" is very much beside the point and may say more about your attitude toward Islam than it ever could about mine.

 

The Christian Democratic movement in Europe has always accepted the legitamacy of social, political and economic developments of "the World"...whether the  world is Christian or not. The Creator made "the World" independent in the sphere in which S/He placed it.  The World is entitled to bring peace and order to itself quite apart from a Christian worldview. Yes, Christians (ideally anyway) work for the transformation of the World into the Kingdom of God and the Christian Democrats have never been silly enough to think of their movement as being the essense of the Kingdom.  There is  a distinctive Christian public philosophy that allows Christians to dialogue seriously with the World about issues that both the World and the Church care about.

 

 

I'm not too caught up in the "name game." The essense of the Christian Democratic movement cannot be reduced to what Christian Democrats might name their particular national, state or provincial parties.  One might notice for example that European CD parties are happily grouped together in the European Parliament as the "European Peoples Party."  The President of Mexico, Vincente Fox leads a Christian Democratic party called the "National Action Party" (Partido Accion National). It is a full member of Christian Democrats International. 

 

Whether bringing the Christian Democratic movement to the rest of North America is wisdom or not, the roots of utopian socialism, guild socialism, the idea of a cooperative commonwealth and many strains of capitalist thinking all have their very roots in the soil of a Christian cultural heritage. Even the roots of the "Enlightenment" are planted there.  No doubt you know already that Canada's populist movements, including Socred and the CCF would probably not have come into being had their seed not been nurtured in the soil of a more-or-less Christian culture. 

 

 And being a more-or-less serious Social Credit activist I'm sure you're aware of the idea that the program of Social Credit is "practical Christianity."  But rest assured, I'm no more stuck on naming a North American Christian Democratic political organisation "Christian Democratic Party"  than social credit was to name itself the "Party of Practical Christianity."  

 

Alan Avans

My Motto: "Yo! I'm a Christian Demo-crat and I like it...like..that!"

My Over-all Political Condition: Prairie burnin' populist

My Favourite American Politician: William Jennings Bryan

What I Thump: Bible, Book of Mormon, Book of Common Prayer and most things writen by Bob Goudzewaard. 

Where I'm at on a Theocratic scale of 0 to 10: absolute 0! Relax and smile, ok?

Prairie Village KS