A very brief but an all too true assesment from Shadows of WCG message board participant Aticus about the frightening unimaginable thought of a state or province runned by Armstrongists!
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It would be:
agrarian society in essense, it would be the Dark Ages all over again |
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Here’s FYI’s take on why an Armstrongist American state or Canadian province cannot handle nor understand modern society.
Hey Felix. Interesting subject.
OK – I’m trying to imagine a modern US state or Canadian province populated largely by Armstrongites…
Such a state would have some severe problems in direct proportion to the size of the Armstrongite majority. That majority would:
1) Refrain from voting or running for elective office
2) Keep the Sabbath
3) Refrain from non Church related activities
4) Send anywhere from 20% to 50% or more of income to the Church
5) Refrain from any activity which might involve killing or violence
6) Adhere to Old Testament dietary laws
7) Adhere to Old Testament Holy Days
OK, given those assumptions about the majority, I would conclude that such a state or province could only survive in the modern world if its non-Armstrongite minority picked up the slack. Why do I say that? Simple.
Because the majority would not vote or run for any office, only the minority of non-Armstrongites would do these things. It would therefore be entirely up to them to 1) vote, 2) run for local mayors, governors, legislators, etc, 3) serve on juries. This would place a tremendous burden of civic responsibility on the minority.
Because of the Sabbath, the non-Armstrongite majority would have to perform ALL the duties of those who work on the Sabbath, whether it be at local restaurants or hospitals. Doctors, nurses, police, fire & rescue… all of these things would have to be done by the non-Armstrongite minority – again placing an undue burden on them.
This would also hold true for the state militia – the majority would not join, thus placing an additional burden on the minority.
However, because of the Armstrongite majority, that state would have to accommodate their practices by 1) closing schools and many businesses on Holy Days, 2) making kosher products available at local restaurants, grocery stores, etc. 3) schedule large public events around the Sabbath
The economy of such a state would be permanently crippled. The amount of money sent to “The Church” would directly affect state tax revenue, and would also be unavailable in the general economy. The majority would still buy basic items – food, clothing, shelter, etc – but the people who made the economy tick would of necessity be the non-Armstrongite minority.
All activities which require public participation would – with few exceptions – be performed by the minority. Civic participation would be far lower than in other states. Communities would be even less cohesive than normal because Armstrongites don’t trust each other any more than they trust outsiders. There would be no community spirit. Few would show up for school activities.
All in all, it would be a very bad place to live.
Editor’s note: I have originally tried to get a discussion of a topic (imagining an American state or a Canadian province of where the XCG’s resided). The topic didn’t do so well on one message board but it did a little better on another. Many respondents had very good points to be made and I am going to share them in a series of posts here. What was the basis of forming this project? The basis was from a book I read called Central Liberal Truth by Lawrence E. Harrison. In it discussed that the prosperous and progressive societies had these religions backing them up: Protestant Christianity, Confucianism, Judaism (and with the possibility of Hinduism) and the more poorer and ultra-traditionalist societies had these religions backing them up would be Catholcism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Buddhism and Islam. Check out reviews at amazon.com at
http://www.amazon.com/Central-Liberal-Truth-Politics-Culture/dp/0195300416 or at Buzzle.com at http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/5-23-2006-97043.asp.http://www.amazon.com/Central-Liberal-Truth-Politics-Culture/dp/0195300416 or at Buzzle.com at http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/5-23-2006-97043.asp.
Though there some similiarities between Armstrongism and Protestantism, I never considered the XCG’s fully Protestant because they reject the essentials of historic Christian faith and have long argued that they are a cult. For a moment to imagine (yes it’s a probably a perverse imagination too): If the XCG’s were to have a seperate state in the U.S. or a province of Canada. For starters, I do not think it would be the best thing in North America. First of all, I believe that Armstrongism is against technology because of it’s reactionary nature. You would have the highest number of welfare cases loads, high unemployment. I would even argue that it would be a state or province with high domestic violence rates. Armstrongists would never be cops or even participate in fire prevention because of their fanatical strict Sabbatarianism (Ox in the ditch? Fergedaboutit!). They would be relying from others out of state (or out of province) to fill in. Talk about literally sitting on your butt and not lifting a finger—pure laziness at it’s worst (but that was Armstrongism anyway! Don’t take things in your own hands God will sort it out). I think Lou Dobbs would be willing to give illegal immigrants amnesty before he would tolerate a state (or province) full of XCGers. So would I. This XCG state or province would be pushing the limits to an actual theocracy and trust me I would hope any reasonable U.S. President or Canadian Prime Minister to see that jurisdiction severely crushed. These are my observations about an American state or a Canadian province populated by Armstrongists. Therefore it is my firm belief and assessment that Armstrongism is a completely backward religion that cannot accept nor handle the modern world. Period. All more the reason to condemn it at every turn.
In the next coming days, I will be posting this series as others have given their very apt and insightful assessments on a frightening thought such as this. Stay tuned.
Life After The WCG: A Spirital Pilgrimage of an Independent Believer 