The Death of Queen Elizabeth II, Blue Laws and Despair, and False Narratives About the Religious Right
John and Maria discuss what made Queen Elizabeth II's reign so special, the correlation between deaths of despair and the repeal of blue laws, and some false narratives surrounding the religious right.
09/10/22
John Stonestreet Maria Baer
John and Maria discuss the life and legacy of Queen Elizabeth II and her longstanding sense of service to her nation. Afterwards, they stress the correlation—not the causation—between deaths of despair and decline in blue laws, laws against commerce on Sunday. They end by touching on commentaries from this week, in particular one highlighting the rebuttal of a false narrative that the religious right was founded in racism.
Resources:
— Recommendations —
Fighting for the Right to Party on Sundays
Segment 1
Queen Elizabeth II Dies at 96
“The hallmark of her reign was constitutional correctness, and a further separation of the monarchy from the government of the day. She took seriously her rights to be informed, to advise and to warn – but did not seek to step beyond them.”
Segment 2
Blue Laws and Deaths of Despair
“Of course, “lowering religious participation” was always the intent and purpose of repealing Sunday Closing laws, and this all negatively confirms that law is a teacher, and sometimes teaches what is false and demonstrably bad for a people. The activists who sought (in their hatred of Christianity) to repeal such laws, and the legislators and justices who did the repealing, failed to foresee how damaging the loss of such laws would be on “the social fabric of communities generally.” Among their findings is that the loss of blue laws depressed religious participation, and that this in turn made very significant portion of the population unstable, lacking the strength of “religiosity,” unable to deal with “enormous negative shocks” such as large-scale wars and natural disasters—which is to say, unable to deal with suffering.”
Segment 3
False Narratives About the Religious Right
“It’s a habit of academic and media circles to either not understand or not take evangelicalism’s claims for itself at face value. Sexual ethics, we are told, are novelties, due more to patriarchy than anything Jesus taught. The priority that evangelicals place on the home, family, and gender norms is more the product of 20th-century cowboy movies than any enduring truths about men and women. And, most commonly, political involvement by conservative Christians is nothing more than a naked grasp for power and maintaining the status quo.”
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