Part One |
Part Two |
Part Three
AlephOf course, you've all read the news reports, like this one from The Hague:
---
- The Hague, January 1, 2012 The Federation of Theocratic Governments
(FTG) announced at one minute past midnight of the secular calendar the
welcomed Godly capitulation of the former European Union Empire to the
FTG demands for religious rule. From now on, all members of the former
European Union will abide by the Theocratic Laws of their respective religions,
regardless of geographic location or current participation in religious
rites or ceremonies. Those without a religion will be assigned a religion
based on their parents' beliefs, or if their parents were non-believers,
their grandparents'. The Christian Theocratic Global Union has the
largest number of new citizens, closely followed by the Islamic Theocratic
World. The Haredi-Jewish Unified Creation of Ha'Shem, received the
third largest group. The Hindi World of Illusion Government was the largest
recipient of the smaller TG partners.
Under the terms of the agreement, the citizens of each
government will follow its religious rules and laws, with religious courts
and religious figures serving as adjudicators. The Combined Moral Police
(CMP) of the FTG will enforce joint laws, such as those of women's
roles, mixed faith gatherings, dating without appropriate religious chaperone,
and other obvious moral codes in common among the shared fundamental beliefs
of each member of the Federation. Unmarried women were warned to stay
out of public places, and all women were dismissed from their employment
in all except the Haredi-Jewish Unified Creation of Ha'Shem, where
men were dismissed and required to participate in Yeshiva Study while
married women worked to support their husbands.
This marks the last major geo-political government
to fall to the ideologically and theologically organized new governments.
G-d be praised for the saving of humanity in G-d's image, a divided
but fundamentally believing Federation of Theocratic Governments, whose
rule of the world is ruled from above.
---
I've been living in one of the very few remaining minor geo-political
nations that, until the fall of the European Union, had resisted the Federation.
Now, with no trading partners outside of the Federation to speak of, and with
a Federation Holy Writ banning trade with non-Federation members, my little
out of the way country has surrendered its tiny bit of sovereignty to join the
Federation. That is, the elected government abdicated its secular power to the
fundamentalist religious leaders within our boundaries, who have taken on local
and regional roles in their respective religions. There were no newspaper announcements,
however, as the newspapers were closed by the Federation for their sustained
opposition to theocratic rule.
My first awareness of the change was when CMP officers, in conservative religious
garb pounded on my door. They asked for me by name. They had two problems to
address with me. First, even though the Haredi-Jewish Unified Creation of Ha'Shem
did not recognize my Judaism, they could not decide which Theocratic Government
I belonged to. Their records indicated that my father was Jewish, but my mother
Protestant Christian. Neither attended a recognized synagogue or church, both
being rather liberal humanistic in their views. My grandparents, while having
been raised Jewish, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Muslim, each rejected their
birth religions and eventually all religion (although one pair flirted with
the Baha'i Faith). Clearly, to the CMP officers, this interfaith and interracial
family had been spawned by the devil, but there wasn't yet a Satanic Theocratic
Cult within the Federation.
The second issue they raised was my wife's employment. As I was not
going to be accepted by the Haredi as a Jew, despite my own conversion within
an Orthodox framework, I could not go to Yeshiva while she worked. Her place
was in the home only, according to the rest of the Federation. Her high-tech
salary, twice my teacher’s wages and then some, additionally affronted
them. They had a Writ demanding that she remain at home, clean the house, stay
out of public places without an appropriate chaperone, and only have procreative
sex--that is, the common women's law of the federation legislatures.
They informed me that her employer had received a Writ to dismiss her, without
additional compensation, immediately. The penalty for violating either Writ
would be public flogging, dousing in a river, and a shaved head for my lovely
wife, for a first infraction. Death for any subsequent violations. The employer
would receive a fine and have its doors locked until he complied.
Needless to say, my wife was treading up the stairs even while the CMP read
me the Writs. Her employer had obviously complied with the Writ. We looked at
each other and shrugged. Her Jewishness would be accepted by the Haredi-Jewish
Unified Creation of Ha'Shem, had she not married me. The CMP read her
a Writ of Citizenship which told her that if she denounced her marriage to me,
she would be citizen of the Haredi-Jewish Unified Creation of Ha'Shem.
The HJUCHS would find her an appropriate Jewish husband. If she failed to comply
with the Writ, she would join me as a banished human without a G-d or citizenship,
left to beg. She looked at me again. We both shrugged again.
Then I had an idea. I asked the CMP if I might approach the Elders of the
Federation.
"What use would they have to speak with the likes of you?"
"I'd like to apply for membership in the Federation, under the
auspices of and representing the Theocratic and Lovely Union of My Marriage.
We are a religion of two, holding G-d more sacred than human religion or politics,
and believing that G-d created us each for the other. We believe, of course,
in only the most fundamentalist and literal reading of our Sacred Text, our
marriage, which we believe exists to bring us together in harmony and to enjoy
peaceful relationships with all other marriages, lovers, and friends in our
circle."
That's probably why I'm now speaking to you through these prison
bars. The CMP officers brought me here, then went off to consult with their
superiors. Or so they said. I wonder if I will ever be able to join my true
religion?
Part Two |
Part Three