Who Do We Lie To When We Tell Ourselves Not To Do It?

Who else?  The deprived and needy self who is incessant in her grasping, social climbing and wants.  “I tell myself I should stop eating so much, but I cannot seem to stop”.  The needy self cannot listen because it is heeding the needs from below.  It is all in the service of getting fulfilled symbolically.   And the lying self does not really want to lie but she needs and has no other choice.  Or someone I know cheated someone and said, “it is OK because I am straight with my God.”  Or, "I don’t discriminate but the new law tells me that If I declare I follow God then I can discriminate".  I assume that means, as it used to, “I don’t have to serve Blacks” for example.  So under God anything goes.  He dictates and I follow slavishly, and I am morally correct because I am not challenging God, I am his obedient servant.

But wait a minute, what about if I too follow God and he tells me to enter that store and be served? Now we have two Gods with contradictory messages.   Who to obey?  After all, no one person has a monopoly on religion.  Suppose my God is Allah?  Can I just obey him or is there only one God in the repertoire?  Does that support the constitution on freedom of religion?  No matter, he is my God and I listen to him no matter whom you listen to.  Can two Gods have different ideas? Which one says that it is OK not to serve gays.  What if the other God says it is OK?

Tricky territory with a very loose moral compass.  And some use only the one that suits their needs.  Why not get rid of the whole idea and serve all humans?  Because the governor has the ear of those bigots who want to legitimize  discrimination and make it all sound so religious and moral;  how to turn immorality into morality with the government’s help.   This is never to expand liberty but to deny it.  "I won’t serve gays because God told me not to".  Was it God who let you be immoral?  "I’m not immoral cause I am obeying God".  Isn’t that the same thing? God helps you discriminate, so it is not you, it is Him?  "God is letting me exercise my free will to keep gays and Blacks out".  Don’t forget that for many decades that is exactly what it meant:  “We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.”  So the government is saying I will be complicit in your hate so long  as you couch it in religio-moral terms.  Then it is not longer you; it is just your beliefs.  Oh no, that is not enough.  If you hate you need a moral cover; so it has to be my religious beliefs.  Since you can call anything your religious beliefs you are now free to do anything.  Charming.