Trevor Brookins
*I don’t understand why every new building constructed doesn’t make use of some renewable energy source – solar and wind would be the most obvious examples.
I don’t know how feasible this is logistically but wouldn’t it make sense to put a wind turbine on the roof of a new building or solar panels down the wall facing east? I’ve made the argument in the past that installing green energy methods would be the new stimulus for the American economy and it still should be that, but someone will have to lead the way.
As I watched the coverage of Pope Francis’ election and naming I was surprised how big a deal it was. I know Catholics in my every day life but they always seem to be in the minority. I know plenty of people that went to Catholic schools K-12 or universities but most of them seemed to be there for the education or athletic opportunities. So I found it hard to believe that CNN covered this all day until a Pope was elected. If Catholics are still such a driving force in American society then they should be the one’s proclaiming that Christianity is being given short shrift in the United States – not evangelicals.
Speaking of which, I’m not sure we’re becoming a less religious country as evangelicals are so anxious to point out. The oft repeated claim is that while people might state a belief in God, they rarely state that they go to church regularly or can explain the nature of God, or the nature of a relationship with God. If the point is that people aren’t seeking salvation through Jesus in the same numbers as they were before, that hardly seems true. I don’t have hard numbers to back myself up (so I recognize someone can easily prove me wrong on this) but it seems that people still claim a relationship with Jesus. Probably what’s changed is the thought that people look to religious leaders or the Bible for guidance. Again this change in society is probably overstated. From the beginning Americans have been very good about paying lip service to the Bible and its moral teachings but ignored those teachings as they pursued self-interest. My point is: if people nowadays are experiencing a shallow Christianity, that isn’t so different from our forefathers.
Gun enthusiasts will tell you that no new firearm restrictions are necessary, that enforcement of the already established laws would be enough; some true believers in the 2nd Amendment might go so far as to say there shouldn’t be any restrictions on gun ownership at all. I’ve heard logical arguments for all of these points. Here’s where I am left with: if the current gun laws are fine then how do we have the amount of gun violence in this country that we do? While I’m sure the large majority of gun owners are law abiding citizens and responsible we still need strong restrictions on who can own firearms. Not necessarily to take guns out of the hands of the citizenry, but to counteract the very strong gun culture in our country. Because as firearm conservatives are so fond of saying “guns don’t kill people, people kill people,” which is absolutely true but when folks are repeatedly reminded that people can kill people more efficiently with guns then a counterbalance is needed.
This week the Supreme Court will hear arguments on lawsuits regarding Proposition 8 – a California law that made gay marriage unlawful in that state, and the Defense of Marriage Act which allowed for federal benefits to be extended to only the opposite sex partners of federal employees. As it has been defined in our country marriage began as a religious concept. The problem comes with the fact that the government started to talk about, make rule about, and perform this religious ceremony. At that point the religious basis of marriage became less important than its government recognized societal function. Either the government needs to get out of the marriage business or the government needs to apply the rules for marriage uniformly. And as I doubt the government is going to leave the marriage business, I suspect that Prop 8 and DOMA will be correctly deemed unconstitutional whenever these cases are decided.
More generally a time is coming (if it hasn’t already come) for the United States to decide how it will treat citizens who avow their homosexuality which is why the public stance Senator Rob Portman took last week was so important. The job of elected officials is to operate on behalf of all of their constituents whether they be young or old, male or female, gay or straight. Anything else would be un-American.
Trevor Brookins is a free lance writer in Rockland County, New York. He is currently working on a book about American culture during the Cold War. His writing has appeared in The Journal News. You can reach him at trevormbrookins@yahoo.com