Thursday, November 05, 2009

Cowboy Ethics & Religious Right

UPDATE: 1:02 PM, Nov. 5, 2009

Religious Right Still Alive and Kicking
The longing for a quasi-mythical Golden Age
Cowboy Ethics :Teaching Morality or Indoctrination







"Even though cowboy life has changed over the past 150 years,cowboys still honor and live by their code. They are a source of
inspiration that reaches back into our history, yet still speaks to
us today. At a time when heroes are in short supply, cowboys are
the real deal."



"Although the Code of the West was unwritten, every cowboy knew what it was. The Ten Principles are Jim Owen's distillation of the timeless, universal cowboy values that are still relevant to our lives today. They are at the heart of cowboy ethics and of
Jim's book, Cowboy Ethics: What Wall Street Can Learn from the Code of the West."
"Titled "Hero of the Storm," this extraordinary photograph really
says it all. Just look at this image and ask yourself: What kind
of person does it take to get up in the middle of the night,
saddle up his horse and set out into a raging blizzard — all
to rescue a calf he doesn't even own?

This cowboy is simply
"doing what has to be done" with no regard for his own comfort or safety.
But remember, you don't have to do extraordinary deeds
to be a hero. Cowboys are heroic — not just because they
do a dangerous job, but because they stand for something.
Principles like honor, loyalty and courage are at the heart
of the Cowboy Way."


above quotes from: The Center for Cowboy Ethics and Leadership .org

Cowboy Ethics: A Life Changing Approach to Character Education from Center for Cowboy Ethics on Vimeo.



"THE MAN BEHIND COWBOY ETHICS

Jim Owen is Founder and CIO* of the Center for Cowboy Ethics and Leadership and author of the books Cowboy Ethics: What Wall Street Can Learn from the Code of the West and Cowboy Values: Recapturing What America Once Stood For."


So why cowboys . It is a longing for some Golden Era which never really existed. In that quasi-mythical era people acted with honor , integrity , common sense , there was less crime or they knew how to enforce the law without all the liberal innovations and additions. Guy steals a horse just hang him. They see things as simpler more black and white good vs evil. In Westerns the bad guy wears a black hat the good guy wears white. And men were men and women were women. And cowboys didn't bitch about Health Care and other such frills.This site is unbelievable and a real hoot. Conservatives and the Religious Right are drawn to some earlier sentimentalized and romanticized quasi-mythical era. Some of it is true some not so much. In this case its the Era of the Cowboy Audie Murphy, Roy Rogers, John Wayne, Bonanza, The Big Valley ,Rawhide etc. for others its 1950s "leave it to beaver' "Father Knows Best "when everybody knew their place and so on.

Jim Owen sells his books and is paid as a motivational Guru but he takes the whole thing in a more worrisome direction by convincing schools to have his ideas about ethics taught in their classrooms.They of course use his books and his special textbooks etc.
But I guess he'll leave out some details about cowboys such as visiting prostitutes, or chain smoking and heavy drinking and bar fights & lynchings etc. As he describes this effort:

Cowboy Ethics: A Life Changing Approach to Character Education
by Center for Cowboy Ethics
The Center for Cowboy Ethics and Leadership is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the belief that everyone needs a code... a creed to live by. Inspired by the working cowboy's core principles of honesty, loyalty, and courage, we aim to bring the simple, timeless values embodied in the Code of the West back to the fore of American life.Founded in 2006, the Center is registered as a non-profit corporation in New Mexico.



Video Reposted there was a clitch-
Christianist Taliban Fascist Leader, Dobson, Thanks Fox News for Their Unfounded Witch Hunts Against "Czars"
Media Matters



The case of Judge Roy Moore & The ten Commandments in the court house-Alabama

While a judge in Alabama Judge Roy Moore took it upon himself to have a granite stone monument of the Ten Commandments placed in the foyer of the court house.

"He became a judge of the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit of Alabama in 1992, and served until his election as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court in 2000. In 2003, Chief Justice Moore was removed from his position for standing up for the inalienable right to acknowledge God. The former chief justice lectures throughout the United States, teaching about America’s history and our right to acknowledge God, and he serves as the President of the Foundation for Moral Law in Montgomery, Alabama."

Pro-Life Pro-God Pro-Gun
TheRightToAcknowledgeGod



The religious right organization the Foundation For Moral Law uses Judge Moore as a prime example in their view that the acknowledgement of God is not a violation of The Separation of Church and State.

The main motivating factor for the creation of the organization is in their words: "The Foundation for Moral Law exists to restore the knowledge of God in law and government and to acknowledge and defend the truth that man is endowed with rights, not by our fellow man, but by God!"

and further they list their Principles of faith which are for the most part the same with almost the exact wording on Religious Right & Conservative Movement organizations. They of course believe in a literal reading of the Bible and that the Bible is the foundation of The Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution and of therefore all laws in the US.

We believe in one God—the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and the truth of the Holy Scriptures, the infallible Word of God.

We believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on the cross and rose again to life so that all who believe in Him, by faith, will be forgiven of their sins, and gain eternal life in Heaven. That He ascended to the Father and will come again to judge the living and the dead.

We believe that Jesus Christ fulfilled the requirements of the Law stating: “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like unto it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself'” (Matthew 22:37 -39).

We believe that the Ten Commandments are given by God and describe duties we owe to Him and to each other. They are the basis of our virtue and morality.

We believe that the United States of America was founded on the laws of Nature and Nature's God, and that Almighty God is sovereign over the affairs of men, exercising jurisdiction over the family, church, state, and each individual.

We believe that God is the Creator and Author of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.


So their aim is to make American laws to reflect the Law as given by God in the Bible. They do not want to just tinker with the law but to use the legal system to create a in their view a truly Christian Nation. So they are using the language of the Reconstructionists of God Law.

The Foundation for Moral Law is a non-profit, tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) organization located in Montgomery, Alabama. The Foundation maintains a two-fold focus:

I. Litigation—The Foundation for Moral Law represents individuals involved in religious liberties cases and files amicus curiae (friend-of-the-court) briefs in state and federal courts. To read our legal briefs go here.

II. Education—The Foundation conducts seminars to teach the necessity and importance of acknowledging God in law and government. To find out more about our seminars, go here.

The Foundation for Moral Law was established December 2002, with Pastor Phillip Ellen as President, Mr. Randy Stafford as Vice-President and Dr. Mel C. Glenn Sr., as Executive Director. Dr. Rich Hobson was chosen by the board to be president of the Foundation in November 2003, with Pastor Phillip Ellen assuming the office of vice-president of the Foundation. Currently, Judge Roy Moore serves as President and Dr. Rich Hobson is the Executive Director.


"Religious Right Remains Force To Contend With"

From Americans United For The Separation of Church and State

Election Results Suggest Religious Right Remains Force To Contend With, Says Americans United :Movement’s Allies Win Public Offices In Virginia And New Jersey, Roll Back Marriage Rights For Gays In Maine November 4, 2009

Election results in Virginia, New Jersey, New York and Maine serve as a reminder that the Religious Right remains an influential force in political life, according to Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

“I wish I could say the Religious Right is dead, but this election shows that reports of its demise are inaccurate,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director. “The pundits who announced the Religious Right’s demise in 2008 were simply wrong.

In Virginia, Republican Bob McDonnell won the governor’s office and GOP candidate Ken Cuccinelli won the attorney general’s post. Both men are close allies of the Religious Right. McDonnell is a graduate of Pat Robertson’s Regent University, and the TV preacher and his family made large contributions to McDonnell’s campaign. Cuccinelli is also a Religious Right favorite, drawing financial and logistical support from an array of Religious Right organizations.

In an interesting local race, incumbent Democratic Delegate Shannon Valentine apparently has lost to Republican Scott Garrett in a legislative district that includes Liberty University. Liberty Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. is attempting to forge students at the fundamentalist school into a voting bloc that can control all local elections. In unofficial results, Valentine seems to have lost by just over 200 votes. In the precinct that includes Liberty, voters went for Scott by a 1,964-324 margin. Liberty’s student newspaper ran many articles attacking Valentine, and Falwell arranged for copies of the newspaper to be sent to every household in Lynchburg in the days before the election.

In New Jersey, Republican Chris Christie won the governor’s office, defeating incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine. Although not known as a close ally of the Religious Right, Christie opposed same-sex marriage and drew support from the movement. FRC Action PAC, the overtly political arm of the Family Research Council, endorsed the GOP contender and provided financial support.

“Many factors played a role in the outcome of yesterday’s elections,” Lynn added, “so it’s important not to exaggerate the Religious Right’s influence. But at the same time, Americans need to know that this movement’s leaders are still influential in American politics. They haven’t given up on their crusade to impose their fundamentalist beliefs on everyone through government action.”


and so it goes,
GORD.

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