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What Is America's God?

By Arlon Staywell RICHMOND — "America" is a nation not a religion, and it is a nation that allows worship of many gods. True, "The United States of America" is defined by a government, not a religion, but "America" is a more general term often used in place of "USA," allowed by authoritative dictionaries, and often used in a more general sense when plural. The "Americas" include South America and Canada. And "America" can be used in a cultural sense. The question here might be more technically clear as, "Which god is most reflected in the culture, insofar as it can be considered one culture, of the United States of America?" A finer edge might be achieved by further asking whether Americans believe in "the" god and what are the most widely recognized attributes of that god?
In theory at least "Americans" recognize that there are "good Muslims" and "good Catholics" and "good Jews" and so on. But what is a "good" Muslim, Catholic, Jew or "Christian"? That is the "god" in the question here. What is America's god? This is not the same question answered by percentages of Catholics and Muslims and so on.
In a previous article were listed some of the more prevalent demons at large in America today; money, military prowess, objectified science, physical attractiveness and others. They're called "demons" because there is no established religion that recognizes worship of those things as good. Worshipping such things is generally recognized as evil the whole world over. If a person lets money and money alone influence every decision in life, that person would not be considered a "good" Catholic or Jew or any other established religious type. It has already been noted in that article how those things can be important and even essential parts of life, but become demons only when they influence decisions beyond their defined scope.
Is America's God a Demon?
Often the most damage is done by demons whose victims are unaware. People might think they are following a god recognized by an established religion, but because they use inordinate, misguided rationalizations and equivocations they might actually be following a demon. When they become aware of the demon and continue to follow it, damages can be more easily curtailed by family, friends, associates and others in society. Rarely does a demon become known and continue to do much damage to any large number of people. There is one notable exception. Although that demon's disguises can be very successful, they are so overused that experienced, well trained members of society should readily recognize them. Often society will try to dissuade followers of that demon, but almost as often the victims remain deluded.
It is that demon which has recently exercised political power in America. That demon is atheism. Agnosticism is not so bad as atheism and the two are sometimes confused. Agnosticism is more an uncertainty about God, that God is not "knowable" in the present human condition. Atheism is a more firm belief that there is definitely no God. It can perhaps be said that everyone is born an agnostic, that is without stretching definitions too far, and perhaps there are exceptions. But it takes an effort of the will to be atheist.
A particularly successful disguise for atheism, especially in America today, is a form of "Christianity." True Christianity, as a "discipline" practiced by "disciples" through the established churches and heavily, but not totally, dependent on the words attributed to Jesus Christ, is not atheism. Atheism is not a discipline per se. Especially in America today many "unaffiliated" Christians, who do not attend services in a particlular denomination and rely on themselves primarily for their understanding of religion are actually atheists. Not all unaffiliated Christians are atheists. Sometimes "home schooling," works.
There is a very good, historical reason "Christianity" and atheism are easily confused. Christianity was founded at a time atheism took firm military control of the world. Of course we known that the Roman Empire was not defined as "atheist" but such religions and gods as remained were weak and ineffectual. Romans generally feared no God nor fought for any "god" although the emperor himself was compared to, or described as, a "god" of sorts. Atheism was the general attitude if not established school. Christianity disguised itself in a way that such Romans would more readily accept in order to preserve the valuable traditions of the "Father" God for better times. It was known that Zionism would fail, at least certainly for some time to come.
The untrained, the ignorant of history, some of the "unaffiliated" in America today often use the same techniques ancient Christians used to preserve themselves against a strongly atheistic environment. The results are not the same. Atheism grows stronger than it would. America is not ancient Rome. Americans should not act like they are in or facing ancient Rome. But America does act much like ancient Rome for reasons described in detail on this website. The solution is not as it once was to placate atheists, there is no need to appear atheistic today, the solution is to address the known errors of biology and geography that caused the growth of atheism.
The demon of atheism has appeared in other parts of the world. Because of cultural differences care must be taken that just because a philosophical system does not recognize a "god" it is not necessarily atheist. Eastern schools of philosophy generally do not focus on a "god" per se, they are perhaps not described as "religions" but much like Judaism they are more schools of ethical behavior than worship of a "person." They are more concerned with "right" personality than with any "person" of God. That is not the same as atheism. Insofar as it could be said that everyone is born agnostic, so are easterners. Some eastern schools can appear strongly agnostic especially some versions of Daoism. But the longstanding schools of Daoism, other eastern philosophical systems and especially Confucianism are ethical systems that are not really "atheist" nor are they prone to the errors atheists typically are.
When a belief system goes so far as to say that there definitely is no god nor any moral compass of any kind, that is the "atheism" demon and it has invaded many areas including some Christian and Daoist offshoots, but not the longstanding schools.
What Are the Indications of the Demon of Atheism?
How can you tell if a member of your family is following the demon atheism? They might claim to be an atheist. Most people do not make such a claim, rather they claim to be agnostic which is a notch more rational, but it can also be a sign of a well educated atheist. A few who claim to be atheists might be misusing the term and aren't atheists in their heart, but generally if a person claims to be an atheist they are.
An inordinate focus on the "person" of God can indicate an atheist. Judaism did not focus on the person or any image of God for centuries just as many eastern schools still do not. Christianity appears to make subtle changes in that by a stronger focus on the name and person of Christ, which was to make the system more understandable to Roman atheists. If you check with your Christian pastor and the Bible you will learn that you really worship a mystical "trinity" not the single "person" of Christ. That point was not pressed hard on the Romans. It is not wrong in Christianity to say that Jesus is God, but there can be an inordinate focus on the name. Judaism, Christianity, Islam and most of the far eastern ones are more systems of ethics and or knowledge than worship of a "person." Those "gods" typically were not born; Jesus is a remarkable exception to that. Buddha and Mohammed were born, but they are not "gods" in the western sense of that word. The term "prophet" is used for them. Buddhism is more a system of knowledge conducive to ethics.
An inordinate focus on things working out unmonitored can indicate an atheist. Wait a minute! Shouldn't that be an indication of a true believer in God? Choosing to remain uninvolved and leaving things to God can sometimes indicate a true believer. There are many times when that is the best course, especially for young people who should not get involved till much later. More importantly though there are the times to take responsibility, at least some responsibility in youth, more later, and the need to choose wisely, the need to recognize that not all choices are good. Expressions like "It's all good." and "Whatever" are often used innocently, but their origin is demonic atheism. The economics "invisible hand" of supply and demand can work unmonitored in many cases, but certainly not all, and good economics recognizes externalities and other exceptions. If your "conservative" talk radio host overstresses unmonitored economics beware the atheist.
Expressions like "laissez faire," "que sera, sera," and the like can similarly have appropriate application, as the qualified version "if it's not broken don't fix it," but it must be remembered that there are times when it is known to be broken. The system that led to the great depression was one interpretation or another of "laissez faire" economics.
The Worst Sign of All
Often journalists seek "balance" and to eliminate "bias." But when there is a serious lack of necessary resolve or the inability to learn anything ever, the "openmindedness" has been taken too far. To the educated it should be obvious and readily distinguishable from rational openmindedness. If people appear to agree too much with everything, then they likely neither understand nor really agree with anything and are trying to cover their ignorance. The inability to learn anything ever and atheism are closely tied.

Was It Always Thus?
Whatever you believe about the government of America you should believe that its founders were not atheists nor did they expect atheism to grow as strong as it has or to wield as much terrible power as it has. No separation of church and state was intended to be the demise of the church.
If America does for the most part today worship at the feet of atheism, it was not intended.

Many will recall being told that the Commandment by God to "honor thy father and thy mother" meant that while our religion is best in the long run young Muslims for example should follow the Islamic teaching of their parents because it is a more practical and expedient path to God for people born into that culture. This of course was with the condition that there be no direct opposition to the "spirit" of the core precepts of our religion. This is to say that as long as it "translates" to essentially the same thing there are customs and customary approaches that might well be different, and persons in their parents' care should follow those customs rather than taking on the onerous task of fully translating all the meanings.

One of the hopes in maintaining this website is that many will see the religion of their grandparents as it was, truly based on belief in God, yet rational and intelligent, following the rules for the best life for the most people.
We need to put a stop to the obeisances to the demon atheism, we owe that to our troops. We need to stop all the obeisances of course but especially the crystal clear ones.

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