Non-Catholic Opinion of the Current Political and Cultural Direction of the US

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I am not alarmed because I believe the current political climate and culture are the inevitable result of the revolution that took place in the late '60s. I like the push toward equality at all levels, but dislike what passes as art in the field of music, the fine arts, literature, film, television, and theater. Technology, I think, has mixed blessings, while civility and manners are a lost art. Craftsmanship is virtually non-existent. Sex, violence, and money are, unfortunately, idolized. All in all, there is a net loss, in my view.
 
Son_of_Niall said:
Alarmed or not?
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We’re getting closer and closer to God’s judgment and now, it’s just a matter of circling the wagons and staying true to those things that have been revealed to us. Alarmed? No. What would be the point? American culture and politics have determined the course this country’s headed in and we can only look at the natural disasters and the economic free fall we’ve been in to see that God’s wrath isn’t far away.
 
An interesting question and thank you to those posting non Catholic responses.
 
It’s nice to know it isn’t just a Catholic thing to think that this country is a Sodom and Gomorrah wasteland.
 
I don’t think “alarmed” accurately describes how I feel; a better word would be “worried”. There are many good things that happen in America. I have american cousins and I love them dearly. With that said, I know that America is not going in the right direction. Egypt was given several warnings to repent and follow Moses [peace be upon him]. They refused, so God sent them plagues (blood, frogs, lice, etc). If America doesn’t stop pressuring people to trust corrupt politicians, I believe God will bring America into judgment, just like Egypt in the days of Moses.
 
My opinion (hardly representative of most Orthodox Christians I imagine) is that the American empire has run its course and is in decline. As with previous great empires, its greatest strength turns out in the end to be its great weakness. That strength and weakness being extreme individualism. Individualism has supplanted any dominant culture or authority in the US. At one time there was a vaguely Protestant Christian cultural superstructure which quietly curbed the tendency toward individualism. That is long gone now, and there is moral and cultural chaos. The only thing that is still (somewhat) holding the country together is the high material standard of living that has predominated, but that is slipping away for much of the country now. With no central belief system other than “liberty” and the pursuit of wealth and pleasure, the US is powerless against outside ideologies. It was a good run, but it’s over. It is not appropriate for Christians to be sad about this, the world is moving towards the Eschaton.
 
Despite Catholic teaching, since I’ve been told on CAF I am not Catholic or more recently only “Catholic” in strictly a sense of legalism, I’ll take the liberty of jumping in to give my view. Not alarmed at all unless in the current political climate, someone whose temperament I believe is risky and whose rhetoric or something like 3 am tweets about porn tapes, I believe would fall short of befitting, lets say, the office of President of the United States. I also like the push towards more civil rights and equality.
 
I expect Non -Catholic opinion is as varied as Catholic opinion.
 
Have The Ten Commandments expired?

Have The Ten Commandments been edited to be The Ten Suggestions?
 
meltzerboy said:
Actually the correct translation of them from the Hebrew is not commandments but statements or words.
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And Christians, for the most part, don’t honor them legally or spiritually. In theory, they are good guidelines, but to put them on our civil buildings? And we expect them to be obeyed in a literal way? It’s not possible. Nor is it what the US should hold up as law.
 
Sy_Noe said:
Despite Catholic teaching, since I’ve been told on CAF I am not Catholic or more recently only “Catholic” in strictly a sense of legalism, I’ll take the liberty of jumping in to give my view. Not alarmed at all unless in the current political climate, someone whose temperament I believe is risky and whose rhetoric or something like 3 am tweets about porn tapes, I believe would fall short of befitting, lets say, the office of President of the United States. I also like the push towards more civil rights and equality.
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I can imagine Mr Trump, coming from a G-8 Summit, for example, and tweeting what he thinks of world leaders. ‘Bad, bad person.’ or ‘She’s a pig.’ Oi.

Think anything you want about our current President and First Lady, but decorum defines them both to a T. I will miss them both. They are held in extraordinary high esteem throughout much of the world.
 
ComplineSanFran said:
I can imagine Mr Trump, coming from a G-8 Summit, for example, and tweeting what he thinks of world leaders. ‘Bad, bad person.’ or ‘She’s a pig.’ Oi.
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The “Pig” is only a porn “star”. I would hardly get twisted over that.
I don’t much care for him either, but there are many who have had to put up with namecalling from the other side, and far too often.
 
Crown_of_Stars said:
The “Pig” is only a porn “star”. I would hardly get twisted over that.
I don’t much care for him either, but there are many who have had to put up with namecalling from the other side, and far too often.
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I believe Mr Trump has a long history of calling women - in public - pigs, dogs, slobs, etc. It has nothing to do with ‘porn stars’ or with Democrats. I imagine that he would continue the tradition regardless of the status of the woman. It doesn’t bode well for international relations.

This non-Catholic understands Mr Trump to be throwing the lid off Pandora’s box, unleashing the worst of our culture and citizens.
 
ComplineSanFran said:
I believe Mr Trump has a long history of calling women - in public - pigs, dogs, slobs, etc. It has nothing to do with ‘porn stars’ or with Democrats. I imagine that he would continue the tradition regardless of the status of the woman. It doesn’t bode well for international relations.

This non-Catholic understands Mr Trump to be throwing the lid off Pandora’s box, unleashing the worst of our culture and citizens.
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FWIW, one woman whom Trump has said he admires is Barbara Walters. The rest, not so much.
 
Sy_Noe said:
Not sure the “porn star” who you are talking about but if Ms Machado, that has been fact checked as mostly false.

snopes.com/alicia-machado-adult-star/
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Yes, I read that also. His current wife, tho, has quite a few things on her resume that might fall into that particular genre. And of course we should check off the Playboy film that Mr Trump himself is in. Even though he admires Barbara Walters, and of course young blondes, I wouldn’t rely on that to expand across the entire gender. I almost wouldn’t mind his sexist attitudes if he would just keep his opinions to himself. Manners, in my opinion, go a very long way. He appears to have none.
 
Son_of_Niall said:
Alarmed or not?
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Very alarmed. I am alarmed by the continuing erosion of individual rights, particularly the enumerated rights protected in the constitution.
1- the call to suspend due process
2- religious free exercise is now trumped by the right to have others pay for one’s abortifacients
3- religious rights are also trumped by the right to force others to participate in a wedding ceremony that contradicts one’s religious belief.
4- the growing attacks on free speech, most notably on college campuses

Yes, extremely alarmed.

Jon
 
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