Entry XXI--What Would Jesus Do with Christianity?

PERHAPS REWRITE THIS AS ESSAY ON HOW CHRISTIANS' PRIMARY CONCERN ISN'T TRULY SPIRITUALITY, BUT AFFECTING CHANGE IN THE MATERIAL WORLD. REALLY GETTING INTO THE METAPHYSICAL ASPECTS OF CHRISTIANITY ARE CONSIDERED ESOTERIC, THE BOOKS ARE THERE IF YOU NEED THEM, BUT THERE'S NOT THE PRIMARY CONCERN. IT'S HOW HAVE YOU SINNED/NOT SINNED TODAY, IT'S SEEKING APPROVAL AND CASTING JUDGMENT, NOT A TRUE CONCERN WITH WHAT REALLY CONSTITUTES SPIRITUAL REALITY AND THE NATURE OF THE SOUL


LIFE A

MAURA, our protagonist/heroine/IT girl is having another great day. Life isn't perfect, but she's on a roll. She's an integral part of the foundation of a new culture, hell, perhaps a new species. But not in any kind of elitist, racist way. Rather, a new species of humanity that has completely abandoned Christianity.

It's not intolerance, because it's not any part of their lives. There is no Christianity to be intolerant of.

A consortium of scientists, artists, philosophers, social activists and financiers (a necessary evil) banded together after they'd collectively grew increasingly frustrated over the theocratic shift the U.S. was taking following the Terrorism Wars. CONFIRM NAME

Maura is one of those scientists. Her specialty is molecular biology, specifically, she is engaged in research in an attempt to identify the particular molecular signals that affect stem cells. The signals released by surrounding tissues either tell stem cells to remain stem cells or they tell stem cells to differentiate into their specialized successors.

Once Maura's research determines what the various molecular signals are, she can manipulate the stem cells, either by maintaining them as stem cells or by encouraging them to differentiate, depending on how she plans to ultimately utilize them.

And she's finally at a place where she can work without the fear of being shutdown by government decree or some fundamentalist terrorist attack on her laboratory.

That's because government decrees no longer are based on religious morality and because no terrorist bomb could penetrate the outer shell protection of the facility where Maura works, the place where she lives, sleeps and makes love...an all-in-one

The Marbles.

So named because her live/work space, like the others around her, are designed like spheres, several hundred yards across, self-contained nation-states dotting the Marin County landscape.

And like their namesake, each of the Marbles are a different color, in fact, all are multi-hued, so that from afar, they do resemble a collection of children's marbles spread across a front lawn.

Calling each complex a 'nation-state' in and of itself is not overstating the case; for each Marble is capable of sustaining thousands of residents, although numbers are usually kept more modest in the interests of depopulation/preventing overpopulation.

In other words, the Marbles are not interdependent on one another. Yet, they all interact and cooperate, and precisely because there is no competition between them, there is no conflict between them. All interactions are mutually beneficial.

One could say that Maura is an integral part of the day-to-day transpirings of the marbles, but that would truly be a redundancy; for every single individual living within the confines of the Marbles is an integral part of the Marbles.

As such, Maura begins the day at a Round Table meetings, held at a literal, massive perfectly round table carved from the finest cloned redwood. (The Marbles do not cut down any existing plant forms, deeing them absolutely necessary to the continuation of a sustainable global ecosystem).

Cloning, genetic engineering and nanotechnology are all big parts of existence within the Marbles. Fact is, nanotechnology has made it possible for the Marbles to transcend the need for currency. (Although obligations with the 'real world' necessitates the use of money, the Marbles collective goal is to completely cease all monetary expenditures within five years. In other words, they will conduct no economic trade with the 'real world')

After the usual 'order of the day', the Round Table engages in a practice that is usually the most enjoyed by the majority of the participants; a free-form forum in which random proposals can be initiatiated by any member present. A member cannot present a proposal on behalf of any member not present, as that would violate the Marbles' spirit of self-determination.

Today, Maura has arrived prepared with a proposal near and dear to her heart; restoring abortion rights in the U.S. For even though the Marbles will eventually cease monetary dealings with the outside world (and in the process, become economically self-sufficient), they still seek to affect social, scientific, political and cultural change.

Staying economically self sufficient is key to the Marbles success; for nothing destroys integrity like financial necessities.

Ideally, the occupants of the Marbles would transform the outer society into a macrocosm of the Marbles, thus enabling a smooth transition as the Marbles could be assimilated into the general culture, no longer needing to stand apart in massive spheres in a remote locale.

One component of that transformation is to restore a woman's right to a safe and legal abortion.

And Maura has been studying the issue for years, ever since surgical abortions were completely outlawed by the Supreme Court.

Despite this, thousands (if not millions, it's hard to secure precise data) of women are having illegal undocumented abortions across the country.

As is the case with illegal drugs, an underground network has sprung up of women who inform each other of these outlaw abortion clinics. Some women go on the run, trying to locate these facilities, some running away from home. In those cases, the women are usually very young, many are minors and adult teenagers.

Many of them need a place they can turn to when they're on the run with no hope and no money, and Maura proposes to build a series of shelters in various strategic spots across the country in which such women could, at the very least, find a place to sleep for free.

But Maura projects that these centers could eventually be turned into 'emergency abortion proviing stations' (for women whose lives are threatened by their pregnancy).

Eventually, these places could become medical/politcal focal points by which abortion could be reintroduced and relegalized.

Maura had to withstand numerous objections that her proposed facilities would meet with resistance and possibly shut down by court order and law enforcement, not to mention the distinct possibility of random violence from extremist Christian whackos who feel like they have carte blanche these days to shoot first and ask questions later when it comes to anything even questionably moral. Maura assures them that every security precaution will be taken to prevent violence, keeping in mind that the Marbles can provide the superior technology required to protect such a facility from the odd Molotov cocktail. And as far as taking this to the courts? Well, that is her very intention Maura reminds them. Overturning any aspect of the Supreme Court's decision is among her objectives.

With such persuasive reasoning, several members of the Round Table pledge to Maura to assist her in her proposal, more than enough to form a staff that will be able to both establish and run the safehouses.

(Nothing is ever truly voted for or against at the Round Table. It's just a matter of which individuals want to participate in a given project. With nanotechnology, there is no necessity for funds or budgeting, so it's never a matter of 'acceptance' or 'rejection', all proposals are initiated, it's just a matter of how many or how few people want to be involved with the given proposal).

After leaving the Round Table room, Maura was flushed with headrushing exhiliration. She was already going over the various options of where to locate the safehouse. For some reason, she's thinking somewhere in the San Joaquin Valley, maybe between Fresno and Modesto; due to its central location between Los Angeles and the Bay Area and the fact there's a lot of under priveleged women in that mostly rural region. And even the bigger cities aren't as affluent overall as the coastal regions of L.A. and SF.

Down the hallway, Maura runs into her lover Thaddeus, he's a cold fusion physicist on his way to monitor an ongoing experiment. Thaddeus has been so busy these last few weeks he hasn't had time to attend any of the Round Table meetings, so Maura kept him informed at night. They shared a quick, but deeply intimate kiss before heading on their separate ways. As much as her work means to her and turns her on, Thaddeus turns her on even more. A big part of her just wants to stay with him right here in this hallway and she wouldn't care who was watching.

Monogamy isn't as prevalent in the Marbles as it is in the outside world, but it still exists, and Maura feels a bond with Thaddeus that she's never come close to with another man. Right now at least, she has no desire to be with any other man.

The fact he's a scientist means a great deal to their compatibility; she can really tell he knows what she went through at the end of each and every day.

Thaddeus is well read, funny and sensitive.

Plus, the sex was incredible. What more could she ask for?

She could not imagine herself being with any other man.

Maura could spend the whole day thinking about him, but she had work to do herself. But before getting back to her experiments, she went to the cafe to order a meal custom made by the nano-chefs.

A great majority of the Marbles dwellers are vegetarian, but Maura isn't. But in keeping in line with the more humane Marbles approach to...everything, the meat is not from slaughtered animal, but rather cloned animal muscle tissue. Cloning raw meat is also much less taxing on the environment.

Speaking of which, the Marbles are not a completely enclosed environment; the space between each of the structures is 'property' of the Marbles and is utilized for multiple purposes, including some agriculture. Certainly, they don't have space to raise livestock and wouldn't even if they did, given the aforementioned toll it takes on the ecosystem.

So Maura is able to enjoy her chicken filet sandwich completely guilt-free. The french fries, on the other hand...

Necessitates a visit to the gymnasium by Maura in the late afternoon. But at the Marbles, the gymnasium doesn't comprise a mere room, it's an entire floor. No waiting.

Even after the workout and shower, Maura isn't ready to go into work quite yet.

She needs to spiritually recharge first.

Christianity (and the other religions) may have been abandoned, but not spirituality and mysticism.

Spiritual exercise is considered as essential at the Marbles as physical exercise; that is, for those who choose to pursue such exercises.

Maura is currently investigating the legitimacies of quantum sprituality.

She engages in an intense session of meditation.

Completely refreshed, she now heads to the lab on her own schedule, ready to tackle the problem of molecular signals detection.

At present Maura is experimenting with a new signal amplifier that was constructed by R&D, with the intent being RESEARCH


Emerging from the lab ten hours later, it feels like ten minutes. Even though nothing was accomplished, just the process fascinates her.

Sometimes she almost feels a weird sense of...corniness or geekiness about how good her life is; a old negative remnant of the old cross culture.

But she never suffers from the illusion that her life is perfect. No; if it were perfect, she would argue with the other members of the Round Table so often, she wouldn't have spent ten hours making zero progress, and she wouldn't spend the occasional night upset on the edge of her bed instead of in Thaddeus's arms.

She's only slightly hungry, another testament to the powers of her concentration. A quick salad in the cafeteria satiates those minimal pangs.

It's just before nine in the evening. Two viable options stand before her; attend a literature salon, or begin assembling the staff for the first of the safehouses.

Even though the salon is discussing an experimental novel called I-Man that Maura A simply adored, the lure of actually talking to her fellow Marbles dwellers and seeing who would be interested in joining her is too much to resist.

(Besides, she could always talk about I-Man with her friends who did go to the salon).

Meditation, working in the lab, she skips a literature salon for meeting with her staff, exhausted back to sex with her boyfriend, marvelling at her life
SHE STARES UP INTO THE SKY FROM HER OPEN ROOF, WITH HIM ON TOP OF HER




LIFE Z

MAURA, our protagonist/heoine/SHIT girl is having another, well...shitty day. Life is mostly joyless the last few years, since the Great Change. That's what the theocracy that replaced democracy has come to be known as.

It somehow makes people feel more comfortable with the fact that so much was taken away from them. At times, it seems like everything except the literal shirts off their backs.

Right about now she's running for her goddamn life.

See, Maura just found out she's pregnant (six weeks along now) and she doesn't want to keep the baby.

A cardinal sin in this culture transformed. Not by the will of individual people, but of government and religious institutions.

Banning surgical abortions wasn't enough for them. Then they had to go after the chemicals; emergency contraception (aka 4-YEM) and the Pill.

In fact, all forms of birth control have been outlawed. There exists a strong underground supply; condoms mostly, but also IUD's (though those can only be purchased those capable of inserting them) and some chemicals, but mostly, its leftovers, because the chemicals used in the manufacturing of 4-YEM and the Pill are closely monitored by the theocratic government.

But it's too late for any of that for our poor Maura. The E-squared are after her; that's what Ethics Enforcement is known as.

E-squared has one objective when it comes to pregnant women--they will give birth even if they do so in prison.

Maura doesn't want to have that baby under any circumstances, and she will abort it or die trying. That unwanted form inside her will not pass alive between her legs.

It's like nothing else in her life matters anymore except aborting this mistaken pregnancy.

Hell, the only reason she's pregnant in the first place is that you have to pay twenty five dollars for a goddamn rubber in the underground prophylactic trade.

As she makes her stealthy way through the delapidated streets, Maura's main objective is to locate a 'safehouse' she heard about, a safe haven for pregnant women to find shelter, away from the prying all-seeing eye of E-squared.

She thinks it's on this block, but she can't be sure, everything looks too goddamn much alike.

Spotting a an E-quared patrol vehicle coming down the opposite street, Maura quickly ducks into a darkened doorway.

The searching spotlight just misses her arching form. Maura can take a lot, but that's cutting it a bit close.

It's times like this she's glad she isn't so volupturous, her smaller breasts stay closer to the chest, and just out of the range of the spotlight's beam.

Before she makes a move, she spots yet another E-squared patrol car. They're closing in on her. No wonder they're so feared, they always get their woman.

That's it. Maura is staying in the shadows until she either finds the safehouse or the sun comes up.

But she knows she doesn't have that long.

The sound of a third car approaches. They must know she's close. In fact, they might know exactly where she is, they have cameras everywhere, and they're just toying with her. Waiting until she's on the verge of collapse from nervous exhaustion and then they'll scoop her up right before her face hits the cold gravel.

No--she can't let herself think like that. She's going to get out of this alive.

The growing embryo in her womb won't be--but she will.

Sure, she can sound all tough in her head, but in reality, how in the hell is she going to get out of this mess?

And just when she's about to take a bold step forward, she's grabbed from behind, a gloved hand covering her mouth.

Okay, this is it, Maura figures. The fuckers caught her and she'll going to be placed in a prison nursery and be forced to lay there while that unwanted, dreaded...thing is removed from her womb, a total violation of her body, in utter contravention to her own desires.

Then the worst indignity of all; the baby will be set free (as it were) to live a new life, while Maura will be imprisoned for life--because she didn't want to have a child that was nothing more than an accident, not from intelligent design.

More like from a night drunken debauchery.

A hood is slipped over her head and all goes black.

When she comes to, a surprisingly soft female voice advised, "Shield your eyes"

Maura did so and when her eyes finally adjust to the swinging lightbulb overhead, she's sure she's in some kind of interrogation room.

But no, she soon comes to discover that she is among...friends. Or at least, not enemies.

Her liberators informed her that this is indeed the very safehouse she sought.

But they don't fool her or fill her with any false illusions. It's a bleak existence here, but she'll be safe. Because this is the safest safehouse of them all.

Because this safehouse is a mobile home; never staying in one place long enough for them to get caught by E-squared.

And sure enough, before the next morning, Maura and her newfound friends are already on the move, utilizing a series of tunnels underneath the area where they picked her up.

They emerge, undetected in the toilet of an abandoned warehouse.

The economy's been down ever since the Christians took over. They keep issuing news alerts that "it's bound to pick up any day" but it never really does pick up. Spurts here and there across the country, but nothing that sustains.

And maybe they want it that way. 'They' being the ones in power, naturally. Who else could they be?

Maybe keeping everything miserable and economically depressed keeps people clutching onto the faith that's enforced onto them on a daily basis.

That's what Maura thinks, anyway.

She has a lot of time for thinking, these days, on the run. There's nothing to read, no TV, no radio, no music to listen to. They can't carry anything with them, or rely on things like electricity.

Though there are men present, she can't have sex, as they can't risk being in a compromising situation if a sudden escape from a temporary safehouse is necessary.

So she's existing but really not living. Food isn't very good, if they eat at all. And of course, being pregnant, Maura is starving all the time, so she's never truly satiated.

And the only way to make the munchies go away is to get that abortion--the whole reason she sought out the safehouse.

Arrangements are being made, but it isn't easy, given the obvious circumstances.

After an exhausting month of hurry up and wait, Maura's spirits picked up when she was informed that an obstetrician was located. Dr. Freeman, the ironically named Jewish ob who so despised the Christian-centric government in place that he performed abortions for free.

Even at the risk of instant execution, Dr. Freeman allowed his name and contact info to be passed around the underground, and made himself available whenever a mobile safehouse came within reasonable driving distance of him.

When Dr. Freeman finally arrived, Maura was on the cusp of being three months pregnant. The good doctor is equipped with an MVA (manual vacuum aspirator), a portable abortion device. That Maura was still in her fifteenth week meant that the MVA could still be utilized without risk. It was a manual aspirator because it didn't require electricity and it was a handheld model, and easy to carry on the run for clandestine operations (the surgical kind, not the cloak'n'dagger kind).

Dr. Freeman is brought to the latest safehouse (an abandoned florist shop) by one of the underground. He is quickly introduced to Maura, who is propped up on a makeshift table. CONFIRM

Maura is quickly introduced to Dr. Freeman, who conducts the pre-work up RESEARCH. Maura's nervous, and while Dr. Freeman doesn't have the best bedside manner, his sure professional style puts her at ease. Unfortunately, because he's forced to work underground, Dr. Freeman ran out of painkillers, which would offset the potentially severe cramping.

He advises Maura of the potential pain, but says the cramping could be mild.


Using the MVA is a silent procedure, Maura doesn't even know when it has started.
Another advantage to MVA is that it results in less bleeding than a regular abortion.

Dr. Freeman hand pumps the syringe in which a vacuum is produced by by sealing one end of the syringe and retracting a plunger at the other. The syringe is attached to a soft flexible cannula for vacuum aspiration that doesn't pose a risk of puncturing the uterus.

The UMVA procedure is 99 percent successful. And even in these grimy conditions, Dr. Freeman is performing a successful abortion, capturing the products of reproduction in the tube. In just over ten minutes, Freeman is finished, and Maura has received her outlawed abortion.

Not more than 120 seconds later, the door was suddenly obliterated by a high-tech battering ram and a phalanx of armed E-squared troopers who enter shooting, obviously intending to ask questions later.

Maura screamed in bloody horror; how could this be happening to her? Not two minutes ago she had finally been

With their advanced fully automatic weaponry, the E-squared cops killed all the members of the underground and then Dr. Freeman as he pleaded for his life.

With only Maura left alive, the E-squared squadron surrounded her table, her legs still spread wide.

One of the soldiers raises his rifle, but he is halted by another, who appears to be a commander.

"We cannot kill an unborn child."

Then another E-squared soldier pointed to the CONTAINER in the slain Dr. Freeman's hand, that contains the remnants of Maura's conception products...her unborn child.

With the confirmation that the abortion already took place, the commander orders the three E-squared soldiers directly facing Maura to fire upon her.

Within seconds, dozens of bullets have ripped through Maura's once strong yet lithe body. She tasted warm blood. A lot more blood everywhere than during her abortion.

As she laying dying, Maura cursed this world that had delivered her to this point and time. It could have been so much better than this, it used to be so much better than this.

And as she laying dying, Maura also realized that even had E-squared not shown up, her life still would have been miserable; having been known to have gotten an abortion, she would have had to remain forever underground, or completely change her identity which was damned near impossible by that time and too expensive besides.

As she lay dying, Maura at least took the satisfaction of having aborted that damned unwanted child before he/she could be raised as a Christian by a married pair of infertile sheep.

As she lay dying, she dreamt one last dream of a Life where getting an abortion is not even a second thought and Christianity is naught but a dimly recalled relic of a lesser era...



AT SOME POINT, ACKNOWLEDGE WHY I CHANGED TITLE OF ESSAY FROM THE OUTLINE

The following depictions of 'Life A' and 'Life Z' could be construed as parallel universes, as it were.

They were so named 'Life A' and 'Life Z' because they represented the two extremes of the spectrum of possibilities of Christianity existing/not existing.

Naturally, there is the possibility of Life B or Life Y for Maura. In this dynamic, Life B isn't as ideal as Life A and conversely, Life Y isn't as rotten as Life Z). Or it could have been between Life C and Life X, with each scenario being less extreme than the previous 'universe'. Thus, it would continue to descend until the 'compromise universe', which could be called "Life M" (the 13th letter in the 26 letter alphabet) in this example.

Some would argue that 'Life M' describes our present day culture; with a mix of both secular and religious elements, but the thesis of this book argues we're much closer to Life Z than M. Certainly heading in that direction, instead of up the alphabet to Life A.

And limiting it to 26 possibilities is merely scratching the surface, obviously. There are a multiplicity of paths our culture can travel. But whenever faced with that fork in the road, we seem to inevitably stumble half-asleep down the roads that lead to organized religion, and ultimately, to systems of control and submission.

But given that which has been clearly established in the nine preceeding essays, that Christianity is a failed corrupt system that has resulted in both personal and cultural stagnation over the centuries, indeed the millennia.

So the question must be posed:

Why then, does Christianity continue, flourish, and indeed, at this point and time in American culture, dominate?

Is it as simple as people's fear of death and/or dying without salvation?

That's certainly a major reason, certainly the justification for Christianity's supremacy in the West for two millennia. For if one is not saved by God/Jesus at the Final Judgment, there is no place for one in Heaven. Consider it an insurance policy to guarantee eternal life over eternal damnation.

So if science and technology eventually deliver the promise of eternal life, or more likely, eternal regeneration (via cloning, genetic engineering, the downloading of human consciousness into a bio-synthetic computer system, etc--Life A, remember?), would Christianity lose its grip on the masses?

Without any doubt.

It's science that has always chipped away at Christianity's legitimacy. And it's science that could deliver the deathblow.

But it wouldn't, would it? No, that would be naive to assume. After all, despite the astonishing advances in science and technology in the last two centuries, Christianity has not been so powerful on a continent here in America since the Vatican's dominance of Europe in the Dark Ages.

Beyond a means to cheat death, Christianity (as do all religions) also offers a moral component; specifically, the notion of eternal judgment. A criminal may escape adjudicated punishment during life (i.e., a murder committing suicide before being captured), but in the afterlife the soul of that will surely be punished by his/her maker. Or at least stuck in the bowels of purgatory for a good long spell, (the aforementioned eternal damnation).

There is no easy remedy for that psychological need on the part of many people. Certainly it can be transcended (particularly by those who are capable of adopting a 'beyond good-and-evil mentality--more on that to follow), but this is usually achieved by the more intellectually curious of a given populace.

The only solution here is to make a stronger committment to serving proper justice in the here-and-now.

But is this not just part of a total cultural transformation that needs to take place?

Perhaps, but how realistic, how viable is such a transformation? Over the course of many generations that become less and less concerned with Christianity, perhaps. That which I am suggesting is of a more practical nature.

It is the discussion of eternal judgment the leads appropriately to perhaps the one offering of Christianity that will be the most difficult to transcend for future generations.

For it is the concept of a unique, individual 'soul' that is indestructible, eternal and retains the personality of the human husk the soul once occupied that is vital to Christians. It's important for many Christians to believe they are actually spiritual beings having a human experience, that there is more to each one of them than just mere mortal flesh.

And it is for good reason that this component to Christianity's appeal not be ignored; for pure materialism is not the aim of a culture that abandons Christianity. As demonstrated in the Life A scenario, there is no reason why legitimate spiritual exercises and practices could not be fully integrated into such a lifestyle on the individual level as well as into the culture at large.

Though it's safe to posit that in such a transcendent culture, spirituality would be a much more flexible, fluid system than it is at present. (If calling such a spirituality a 'system' would be any kind of proper terminology).

This is a chief selling point of Christianity; that it purports to answer the otherwise unanswerable questions, such as "Is there a soul?" "Is there a Heaven and Hell?" and "Where do we go when we die?"

For older people especially, the fact they believe Christianity legitimately answers these questions makes the religion very appealing. Older people are confronted more directly with the prospects of death, and Christianity offers them comfort, it offers the promise of everlasting life.

And this is part of the transformation; a new way of looking at what the 'soul' or 'spirit' is, and as a result, what it is not. For further exploration of the comparison between the Christian notion of a soul and more objective theories, see the preceeding essay ("Soul'd Out").





FUTURISM SOLUTION/ANTIDOTE; WITH CLONING, DOWNLOADING OF HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS, (LIFE A, REMEMBER?) THERE IS NO DEATH, NO FEAR OF LOSS OF MORTALITY, THERE IS POTENTIAL IMMORTALITY

BUT EVEN WITHOUT THE PROMISE OF IMMORTALITY, IS THE END OF INDIVIDUAL EXISTENCE SO BAD?





MODELS OF ABANDONMENT

INTRO
On a certain level, this collection of essays are not intended to galvanize the masses in any way shape or form. Despite the title, it is not the intent of this book to be the inverted equivalent of the bestselling Holy Bible.

But it is appropriate in the context of this essay to explore the possibilities of a mass movement against Christianity and to examine various methods of lessening Christianity's influence to the degree where it is powerless to impact institutions and to where its influence will not be so prevelant on the sort of innocent minds Christianity has corrupted over the years.

Abadoning on the individual level. This is the most obvious, and most prevelant method to date; the individual disconnect from Christianity. This is done in the most rudimentary ways; by not going to the church of the religion one belongs to, or better still, by renouncing the religion one was formerly affiliated with (although it does not have to be any sort of dramatic break for it to be any more valid; simply ceasing to attend services and conduct one's self in accordance with church doctrine is more than sufficient. In other words, by doing nothing, you're doing something.

The biggest obstacle is all the Christians who are too fearful to abandon to do so, yet the only true abandonment is when it is a decision from within that person and not something that is forced, coerced or cajoled.

Cultural abandonment. This has taken place over the past 150 years, as many openly anti-Christian books, albums and movies have been released, although they have tended to been relegated to the fringe in mamy cases.

Corporate abandonment. That's where the corporate issue comes into play. Though it would seem corporate America would cynically laugh off the piety of Christianity, espeically the judgmental anti-fun fundamental sects, but surprisingly enough, the evidence suggests that corporate America is actually in bed with and promoting the ascendancy of the Christian right in this country.
WHY

Government/political abandonment. The most difficult of all. "In god we trust" emblazoned on the currency, after all. (The working title for this book was In God They Trust to underscore the author's viewpoint on the issue)

DISTINCTION BETWEEN CULTURAL ABANDONMENT AND POLITICAL ABANDONMENT, WHICH DOESN'T APPEAR LIKELY TO HAPPEN. SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE MY ASS.

POLITICAL ABANDONMENT WOULD COME WITH CULTURAL ABANDOMENT, HOWEVER. OR RATHER, IF IT DIDN'T, THAT WOULD MEAN OUTRIGHT THEOCRACY (LIFE Z)

THEOCRACY COULD BE IMPOSED, EVEN IF THE CULTURE HASN'T ABANDONED CHRISTIANITY, HOWEVER.

Traditions will be broken when generations live indefinitely, eventually the politicians would follow--unless we live under some kind of unyielding perpetual theocratic dictatorship.

It all comes down to answering a basic question. This entire book, these two hundred pages of essays boils down to this one query

Can humanity progress beyond the endless cycles of war and democracy that serves as little more than thinly veiled fascism in a culture that accepts Christianity as a legitimate influence?

The answer can only be no.

If the answer was anything but "no", then said progression beyond war and hollow democracy would have taken place long ago.

Christianity has yet to provide solutions to the world's problems; should it have such an influence.

If it wasn't a resounding 'no,' would not war, violence, rampant materialism and moral decay have vanished years ago?

END?