America, Where Are You Now?

By Tim Clark — HEAD ABOVE WATER

Monster/Suicide/America, by Steppenwolf [1]

“Once the religious, the hunted and weary
Chasing the promise of freedom and hope
Came to this country to build a new vision
And like good Christians some would burn the witches.
Later some bought slaves to gather riches.
Far from the reaches of kingdom and Pope.”

Freedom of religion, the Holy Grail of the original Americans, the European Americans, anyway. Not the original Americans, whose religion was carried across the far reaches of the Northern Passage 36,000 years ago. A religion evolving over generations to explain the harshness of life and loss. A religion that was only a servant, never a master. A religion about to be smashed under a tidal wave of Christianity coming across the Atlantic Ocean.

That is really the problem with religious freedom, everybody wants it, they just don’t want anybody else to have it. The persecution and bigotry they were attempting to escape could become theirs. Of course, it was okay, because they graduated to bigoted persecutor. Since they were convinced God loved them most of all and they were just doing the Lord’s work it was okay.