The Religion of Solidarity was one of Edward Bellamy's early works,
written in 1874 at the age of 24. Professor Rex Curry has studied
Edward Bellamy's work extensively and has shown the damage that the Bellamy
family did. http://rexcurry.net/book1a1contents-pledge.htmlSolidarity combines socialism with religion, and argues that
individuality is a delusion and/or is unimportant. It advocates that each
individual subsume himself/herself to anything and everything else, as repeated
later in Bellamy's socialist utopia Looking Backward (1888).
Bellamy grew up in a religious family with religious predecessors. Rufus
King Bellamy (1816 - 1886) was the father of Frederick, Edward, and Charles.
Rufus was a younger brother of David Bellamy (the father of Francis
Bellamy, author of the Pledge of Allegiance). Both Rufus and David spent
their lives in the ministry preaching their versions of utopia. Rufus
and his wife (Maria Putnam Bellamy) preached to their three sons the need
for activist altruism. Charles and Edward Bellamy went on to write
utopian stories and fantasy tales. Charles wrote "Were They Sinners?" and
"The Breton Mills" (1879) in which he used vague altruism to justify a socialist
government. Edward followed the same route with "The Religion of Solidarity"
and his totalitarian utopian fantasy "Looking Backward," both considered
part of the "Christian Socialism" dogma. Both brothers inpired their cousin,
Francis Bellamy (author of the Pledge of Allegiance).
Edward, Charles and Francis were socialists. Edward and Charles were
brothers, and Francis was their cousin. Francis and Edward were both self-proclaimed
National Socialists and they supported the "Nationalism" movement in the
USA, the "Nationalist" magazine, the "Nationalist Educational Association,"
and their dogma of "military socialism," and Edward inspired the "Nationalist
Party" (in the USA). http://rexcurry.net/book1a1contents-pledge.html
Their dogma influenced socialists in Germany, and the Pledge was the
origin of the Nazi salute, as exposed by Professor Rex Curry. http://rexcurry.net/bellamy-edward-german-connections.html
"Nazi" means "National Socialist German Workers' Party." A mnemonic
device is the swastika. Although the swastika was an ancient symbol, Professor
Curry discovered that it was also used sometimes by German National Socialists
to represent "S" letters for their "socialism." Hitler altered his
own signature to use the same stylized "S" letter for "socialist" and similar
alphabetic symbolism still shows on Volkswagens. http://rexcurry.net/book1a1contents-swastika.html
Edward Bellamy withdrew from the religiosity of his mother, in favor of
socialism. The biography “Edward Bellamy” by Arthur E. Morgan states
“...there is repeated evidence that in his effort to become free from the
loving pressure upon him, he came to the point of spiritual rebellion.
In one of Edward Bellamy’s early journals is this short note “It has
come to that now that I don’t know how a man can better serve his country
than by becoming an infidel.”
Edward Bellamy continued to make socialism his religion, as shown in Bellamy's
fantasy novel “Looking Backward.” A cynical passage near the end of
Chapter 26 gives the only mention of their minor status, used as a story device
for spouting Edward Bellamy’s socialist philosophy. This is an quote
from the Mr. Barton’s sermon: “...it must not be forgotten that the nineteenth
century was in name Christian, and the fact that the entire commercial and
industrial frame of society was the embodiment of the anti-Christian spirit
must have had some weight, though I admit it was strangely little, with the
nominal followers of Jesus Christ.”
After Edward Bellamy’s book of 1888, and shortly before Francis Bellamy
wrote the pledge (1892) for the Youth’s Companion magazine, Francis
was pushed out of the ministry for his real-life socialist propagandizing,
including sermons like “Jesus the Socialist.” An actual speech entitled
“Jesus the Socialist” by Francis Bellamy is not known to exist today.
What is known is that Francis espoused Edward’s dogma. Edward’s character
Mr. Barton inspired Francis Bellamy’s ministry and its end. Francis’
sermon “Jesus the socialist” is Mr. Barton’s sermon in “Looking Backward.”
Bellamy's The Religion of Solidarity was also published posthumously
in 1940 (Antioch Bookplate Company).
The Bellamys are the reason that flags (and chanting to flags) exist in
government schools today. They are the reason that flags are in religious
institutions, too.
***************
Francis Bellamy openly and publicly defended Edward Bellamy's form of Socialism
in the article "The Tyranny of All the People" in The Arena July, 1891 (p.
180-191). Quotes therefrom: "Socialists believe in the fearless extension
of government because they have a clear and high idea of the nation as an
organic relationship apart from which the individual cannot realize himself."
"Democratic government, however socialistic it may become, is nothing but
democracy expressing its own will. If the individual is led to surrender
certain of his freedoms for the good of all, he surrenders to a paternalism
of all the people. That were better called, once and for all, a fraternalism.
Socialism aims to produce an environment where not only the Golden Rule,
but the Law of Love will have a living chance."
"The nation is not a mass of independent individuals, but of related individuals,
who, moreover, are so closely related that they make together an indivisible
organism; this organism develops according to orderly laws; this organism
has perpetuity, never disjoining itself either from its past or future; and
the organism has also self-consciousness and moral personality. This is the
nation in which we live, and move, and have our being."
The Bellamys knew —as did Karl Marx, earlier American socialists, and Plato
before them — that their state could not be established and maintained unless
education was taken over by government and subsidized by theft (taxation).
The Bellamys abandoned individualistic religious ideas that respected private
ownership, and they touted a Comte-inspired system, which Edward Bellamy
named the Religion of Solidarity.
The Bellamys did not openly advocate the mass breeding festivals and ignorance
of parents as to the identity of their own children described in Plato’s
Republic (Book V). They believed men should not be allowed to provide for,
and therefore monopolize, their women. The Bellamys condemned family ties
with exclusive relationships between the sexes.
They supported and influenced the platform of the People’s Party in 1892,
and had an increased political effect as time went on; advocating measures
which would, by evolution, create authoritarian socialism.
Their "glorious" people's revolution influenced socialists worldwide and
were the same ideas behind the socialist Wholecaust (of which the Holocaust
was a part): 49 million slaughtered under the People's Republic of China;
62 million under the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; 21 million under
the National Socialist German Workers' Party.
*****************
Flagging Faith
The Osgood File (CBS Radio Network): 3/21/02
After 9/11, have American flags overshadowed the cross in church?
Many churches have placed American flags in and around their worship areas,
even on the altar, as a way to demonstrate their patriotism after September
11. But some people are concerned the displays obscure a far more important
symbol: the cross. They warn the flag is in danger of becoming the object
of idolatry, which is considered a sin in the Christian church.
Scholars say the placement of the American flag in worship areas is a
perennial issue that flares up, especially around holidays like the Fourth
of July. They say many Americans believe it's appropriate to have an American
flag present during worship because the United States is one nation under
God. But many pastors say the flag is inappropriate because it is not used
for worship.
Rev. Duane VanGiesen, of Lovers Lane United Methodist Church in Dallas,
says the flag doesn't belong in the worship area of churches, where the cross
is supposed to be the ultimate symbol. He reminds people that the First Commandment,
which states "There shall not be any other Gods before me," requires Christians
to put God first and nation, business and even family second. Still, the American
flag has a place at Lovers Lane Methodist Church, away from the altar and
at the side of the sanctuary next to the Christian flag. VanGiesen says the
American flag would never be placed directly in the worship area of his church.
But others, like Rev. Efren Ortega, of St. James Catholic Church in Dallas,
says there's nothing wrong with flying the flag in the sanctuary, or even
with draping it right over the altar. He placed a large American flag over
the front of the altar in his church. (It has since been moved to the side
of the worship are where it is normally displayed.) For Ortega, the American
flag represents the soul of the country. He says his mostly immigrant congregation
is very proud of America and appreciates the flag. Ortega says there is no
confusion between the symbols of the cross and the American flag.
For others, the American flag is highly symbolic of the nation's religious
freedom. At the Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross in Dallas, Texas, an American
flag hangs on the church's back wall behind the pews. Because the wall contains
a large glass window, the American flag is visible from both inside and outside
of the church. The flag belongs to congregant Rebecca Todd, who asked Rev.
Michael Tuck to display the flag. He chose the back wall because placing the
American flag on an altar symbolically suggests God and America are unified.
Yet the American flag represents an important value in a time of national
crisis. "[The American flag] is a symbol of our freedom, and maybe the most
important freedom we have is our religious freedom," says Todd.
Bless the cranky, for they dare to speak uncomfortable truths. Rex Curry
doesn't much like the U.S.
Pledge of Allegiance. He has good reasons to object, too, which he has
carefully documented. If you want a shortcut to outrage, just cut straight
to his photos of U.S. children being forced to give Nazi-style salutes to Old Glory.
I suggest, though, that you also linger over the text, which describes the
Pledge's ugly origins in a swamp of totalitarian socialism.
I've never liked saying the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance. As a kid, I just
naturally bridled at the notion I could be forced to consent.
It doesn't take a degree in philosophy to spot that hypocrisy. Having now
such a degree, I still object to the notion that a child's consent to political
allegiance counts for anything. Say what you will about Baptists, but I agree
with them that children lack
the capacity to dedicate their souls to God. So, too, with regard to
an infant's capacity to pledge political fealty.
Even when voiced only by adults, I still have doubts about the Pledge of
Allegiance. Set aside the salient problems with the "under God" bit. Set
aside, too, the idolatry of pledging allegiance "to the flag" or to even to
its political organization—"the republic for which it stands"—rather than
to the ideals embodied in the U.S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution.
(Chalk one up for the Methodists,inter alia, on that count.) I balk on grounds that the extant Pledge
demands too much.
In its current form, the Pledge of has its speaker promise allegiance to
the flag and its associated political regime, followed by a description
of the latter. The Pledge does not clearly condition allegiance on "the republic"
hewing to the principles that alone might justify it. Surely, though, we would
owe no allegiance to a tyranny.
Here, then, I offer a first cut at a Pledge that better reflects to political
philosophy that gave rise to the U.S.:
I pledge allegiance, to the republic, of the United States of
America, on condition that, it respects my rights, both Constitutional and
natural.
To call for revising the wording of the Pledge isn't as mad as it might
at first seem. The "under God" bit got added in the 1950s, of course, and
others have since suggested
alternative versions. I've found no revision, however, that corrects the
odiously unconditional structure of the present Pledge. I think that friends
of liberty should accept nothing less (though they still might well demand
more).
Regardless of the Pledge's wording, though, I'll be damned if I'm going
to give one of those Nazi-styled salutes. I've got quite a different sort
of salute for totalitarian statists. And happily, it economizes my effort
while maximizing my message.
COMMENTS: At least now, if anybody wonders why education and state
should be separated we can point to the current pledge for one reason (of
many).
We can say: "Look! When the state controls education, it makes 5-year-olds
pledge allegiance to it like Hitler Youth!" posted by Gil
