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Atheists and believers: Let’s worry about ‘government as God’
...Before the Tea Parties, it seemed Americans had found something new to believe in. Government seemed to offer everything a hungry spirit requires. Consider the parallels (X = God or Government):

1. In times of crisis, people turn to X to give them comfort and pray X will solve all their problems.

2. X possesses special knowledge about the affairs of ordinary people, which these ordinary people do not possess.

3. X has a special power to intercede in their affairs to positive effect, as long as they are faithful and obedient.

4. Forces beyond anyone’s control can be tamed by the will of X.

5. X can work through proxies and agents to exert its will. The agents and proxies are anointed by X.

6. X requires sacrifice, whether in tithes (taxes) or submission to its will.

7. Such sacrifices to X are rewarded tenfold (by X), because it has infinite resources.

8. People organize and evangelize to their fellow men in order to convert them.

9. Raids and crusades have been justified in the name of X, particularly during times of crisis.

10. X is personified in the form of a messiah....

...Worshipers of government are not so tolerant. They’re not nearly as concerned with your intentions. They have apotheosized compulsion itself, which means they’re worshiping government power. Despite all the talk of “social justice” and the “common good,” they cannot escape the fact that politics is the means by which men bend other men to their will and call it “good.” The casualty is liberty....