SC&A Vent, For Real

If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, where do you suppose those who deliberately mislead others leads?

SC&A are furious- actually, we are beyond furious. Given what we have recently read, our reaction is not unexpected. We are not in the habit of asking our readers to extend themselves on our behalf. We have never done so- until today.

We ask that you read our post in it's entirety, and refer to the links we provide.

MaxedOutMama and Mamacita both recently linked to the same post on Daily Kos.

The post is an eloquent and heartfelt account- and incidentally, an extraordinary story and turn of events, of the grandson of a Holocaust survivor.

Towards the end of this moving account, the writer makes an extraordinary statement.

Now when I see the hate and bigotry that comes out of those that call them "Christians" or "Moral People", I know that this is how it began seven decades ago in Europe. It was too late, when people finally woke up, millions had been carted away in cattle cars to their deaths.

We were stunned, to say the least- and then became even more furious.

How dare the author of that post presume that it was "Christians" or "Moral People" that were responsible for the horrors of the Holocaust?

In fact, it precisely the non-believers that perpetrated that time of darkness. It was those people who abandoned God and abandoned morality that perpetrated those crimes against humanity.

Of course, the self righteous fool that wrote that piece ought to be ashamed of himself. While he certainly has the right to express his ideas, so does everyone else- everyone. For that writer to presume to speak for all people of religious faith and all people of conservative ideals is outrageous.

Shall we categorize all liberals with Bill Clinton's family values?

Do we consider all liberals to equate Israel with Hitler's Germany? These liberals have supporters that want to 'gas the Jews' and 'Finish what Hitler started.'

Do you think that is an overstatement? See this- It was written by a liberal with real credentials.

Do liberals- or for that matter, conservatives, really want to play the comparison game?

A pox on both your houses.

This country was built on principles that are both moral and religious. Neither trumps the other.

A long time ago, in a place far away, the following eulogy was offered:

Here lie men who loved America because their ancestors generations ago helped in her founding, and other men who loved her with equal passion because they themselves or their own fathers escaped from oppression to her blessed shores. Here lie officers and men, Negroes and whites, rich men and poor . . . together. Here are Protestants, Catholics and Jews together. Here no man prefers another because of his faith or despises him because of his color. Here there are no quotas of how many from each group are admitted or allowed. Among these men, there is no discrimination. No prejudices. No hatred. Theirs is the highest and purest democracy …

Whosoever of us lifts his hand in hate against a brother, or who thinks himself superior to those who happen to be in the minority, makes of this ceremony and the bloody sacrifice it commemorates, an empty, hollow mockery. To this, then, as our solemn duty, sacred duty do we the living now dedicate ourselves: to the right of Protestants, Catholics, and Jews, of white men and Negroes alike, to enjoy the democracy for which all of them have here paid the price …

We here solemnly swear that this shall not be in vain. Out of this and from the suffering and sorrow of those who mourn this will come, we promise, the birth of a new freedom for the sons of men everywhere.

Those words are as sacred today as they were over 60 years ago, were offered by a chaplain at Iwo Jima, spoken in tribute to the fallen.

Those words are also applicable to every single one of us.

SC&A know very well that portal to hell that was Auschwitz the writer of the Kos post speaks of. We have seen the place and walked on that earth that is like no other. Strange as it may seem to our Kos contributor, it is also one one the most sacred places you will ever visit. In truth, it is not a 'visit.' That place envelopes you. We wrote about it, here. We hope you take a few minutes to read.

It wasn't religion that was at the root at of the Holocaust- it was the absence of religion that opened those gates to hell.

Many Christians did nothing. Many moral people and atheists did nothing.

There were countless people that were saved by Christians. There were countless people that were saved by non religious people.

There are buried in Normandy and elsewhere in Europe, Americans, Canadians and others, from all nationalities and cultures, that had deep religious convictions. There are also buried there, men with high morals and values.

All the blood shed was bright red.

All of it.