(November 29, 2018 at 2:16 pm)Gae Bolga Wrote:(November 29, 2018 at 2:01 pm)Cherub786 Wrote: “Haul yourself out into the woods”Or, you could...you know..buy the plot of land and live on it as you see fit. : shrugs :
Even this technically cannot be done. There is an illiberal concept of “crown land” whereby the government actually owns all the vacant territory within the borders of the state. There is no more frontier. The state is omnipresent as I said.
Opting out of the social contract shouldn’t mean having to go out into the wilderness either. The solution, as I said, is to drastically decrease the size, scope and power of the state. Non-state actors that wield influence in society because their deep roots in it must be respected more.
The violence of the state is also kinetic. It can become violent potentially to put down any uprising to challenge to its “writ”.
Quote:Christian missionaries did historically act in the service of European colonialism and imperialism. However, presently that is simply not the case. What will you say about the Jehovah’s Witnesses. I am not a JW myself, but I totally respect their refusal to ritually “worship” the state, i.e., in the form of standing for the national anthem, saluting the flag, etc. Because of this they are viciously persecuted in Russia and other authoritarian states. In China, the Christian missionaries operate without any political agenda. China is “Big Brother” a classical Orwellian state only slightly better than North Korea. Don’t forget that is a nation of over a billion people.
India, the next largest country, also with a population of over a billion, though much better than China, likewise has issues with religious liberty and the poison of ultra-nationalism.
I should also add here that there is a strong current of anti-nationalism and contempt for patriotism in my political philosophy. That is why I respect the JWs in particular despite disagreeing with their theology and metaphysics.
Too often do the autocratic states of the non-Western world invoke the imagined threat of Western imperialism as an excuse to curtail religious freedom.
The western imperialism in christian missionary service to china is a going concern, not a historical footnote, lol. As far as JWs..surprise surprise, states don't look kindly on people who rail against the legitimacy of the state and have taken that so far as to incorporate it into their ritual observance. India...full on -hindu- nationalism.
Meanwhile, here in the states, religious liberty is taken to such an extreme that it's abused as a matter of routine fact in the attempt to trample on the personal liberties of others..most often, themselves, religious. It's almost as if these religious hookers aren't all rainbows and sunshine, or something?
Combine all of that with the irony of airing these grievances on a atheist board. You wanna talk personal freedom, the social contract, and religious liberty? Try on the personal liberty, social contract, and religious liberty of being free -from- religion..for a change. See how that fits.
You're comments are a canard, a foil..and a common one.
Why not just admit that the state owning all the vacant territory by default because of some artificial borders is totally against the principle of liberty?
And what about eminent domain, another example of woeful state abuse and overreaching?
Now coming to religious liberty, let us deal with the JWs. I am very disturbed by your statement that implies it is somehow justified for those authoritarian states like Russia and China to persecute them. The JWs are a peaceful religious group. They are committed to non-violence. Just because they refuse to acknowledge the legitimacy of the state means they deserve such cruelty?
The United States should be somewhat appreciated for the greater religious liberty relative to virtually all other countries. I do not see at all how religious liberty is being taken to the extreme there, or how any personal liberty is being trampled upon due to religion. Quite the contrary, the negativity directed toward religious groups like JWs and others that refuse to “pledge allegiance to the flag” or stand for the national anthem is against the spirit with which the union was founded some two and half centuries ago.
A glance at the situation of our planet reveals that, generally speaking, the situation of atheists is a lot better in terms of freedom as compared to religious minorities in authoritarian states like China, Russia, North Korea, Cuba and the former Soviet republics. You need to put things in perspective.
