Apparently, attempts are underway to open a new front in the supposed "war on religion" in my home state of Louisiana as it takes center stage in the presidential primary season. Truth be told, from what I have seen lately, those claiming there is a war on religion are the ones most guilty of waging that assault.
With sadness and disbelief, last weekend I watched as Greenwell Springs Baptist Church pastor Dennis Terry introduced presidential candidate Rick Santorum at his church. Terry believes -- incorrectly -- that America was founded as a Christian nation and that those who don't agree with him should "get out." I have been a Baptist my entire life, and I have been a minister for more than 50 years -- the last 20 in a church in Monroe, LA. I can tell you without question that Pastor Terry's perspective is not authentic to the historic Baptist tradition. Indeed, I fail to see how it is consistent with the teachings of Jesus who invited all people into his presence.
The reality is that Pastor Terry's perspective, though terribly troubling, is not unique to him. Unfortunately, such vicious and exclusionary rhetoric has become widespread across the more conservative branches of Christianity. Equally disturbing is the fact that a candidate seeking the Republican presidential nomination would embrace this point of view. No doubt Rick Santorum is a conservative Republican who relies much more on religious rhetoric than I would like any candidate for public office to do, but until now I had not seen him associate himself with a perspective that tells people who do not hold his view on religion to "get out" of the country. Whether or not Mr. Santorum knew what message Pastor Terry would convey in his introduction, he in the end provided a platform for a discriminatory and close-minded perspective inappropriate for anyone wanting to serve as president for all Americans.
The Republican Party has long claimed to be a big-tent party with room for all and an appreciation for different points of view. It is an idea that many have been suspicious of for a while, for good reason. But this week I was reminded of what none other than Senator Barry Goldwater had to say in 1981: "I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in A,B,C, and D. Just who do they think they are?"
No one will ever confuse Goldwater with a liberal. He was, in many ways, the father of the modern conservative movement, and yet he understood the danger of applying a religious test to public office. Where are the leaders of today who are willing to stand up and say: "I am a person of faith, but I will not dictate what yours should be. I am a national leader, but I will not use my office to codify my religious doctrine and further divide this nation."
I have learned by personal experience lessons that motivated the founders of our nation to make a provision of religious freedom a part of the United States Constitution. Historically, institutional entanglements between religion and government have hurt both, though religion typically has been hurt much more than government. Religious people do not need the government telling them how to manage their faith any more than governments need religious people attempting to use the machinery of democracy to advance their particular sectarian theology or morality.
Let's move past the idea that opposing the imposition of one set of religious doctrines on the rest of society is a war on religion. Let's move past the idea that asking people to follow the laws of our democratically elected government is somehow a challenge to religious freedom. Let's move past the idea that the fact that a majority of Americans are Christians somehow makes this a Christian nation. Instead, let's celebrate the diverse nature of faith in this country that has thrived in large part because of the religious freedom guarantees in the First Amendment.
Wajahat Ali: HuffJummah: 'The People of America': A Religious Sermon
Kevin Bermeister: With God and Church on Their Side: Which God Is That?
Paul Wallace: 11 Reasons I Have Not Left Church
Carole Bennett, MA: A Father (and Rabbi) Loses His Son to a Drunk Driver
Religious war - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lexington: Obama's “war on religion” | The Economist
History of Religion - Maps of War
You tell the catholic church that if they want to continue to rake in government money, then they need to allow same sex couples to adopt from their network of foster care centers. Now they can no longer discriminate if they want government funding. They call this a war against their religious rights; their religious right to discriminate. Well a government contract is not a right, but rather a privilege; and if you want the money then you can’t discriminate.
And, if the "self-fulfilling prophecy of Armageddon" comes to pass, it will, and the fight will be between superstition and sanity.
And you are already making the call to arms, arent you by your comment -, you wonderful loving atheist. I guess thats what your belief system inspires in you -- the call to get rid of people who don't think like you.
The reality is that ALL religions are cults and the ones with paid clergy are scams. Paying a man to intervene for you with a God who does not exist is insane. Wasting money on this is terrible folly.
The Christian churches invented all sort of holy mysteries so that their sheeple would have to pay them for sacraments and keep them clothed in silk and gold, and build them workplaces full of golden chalices and silver candlesticks and supply them with luxuries.
The Protestants got rid of the gold and silver along with the sacraments but they too demanded that the sheeple support their preachers and live by whatever set of rules they thought up.
The world would be a lot better off if all the useless parasites who live off the labor of churchgoers were forced to go out and earn a living, and if all their big gaudy buildings were sold and the money given back to the people who paid for them.
"écrasez l'infâme!"
I smile everytime I hear an american claim we are a christian nation. a nation with on going wars for other nation's resources and our own corp profits and an economic system of survival of the fittest that looks and acts more like social darwinism than the the teachings of jesus.
and this jesus is the only way to God or heaven or whatever. that has so much ego centered behavior it is amazing more cannot see this aspect of the christian religion.
Nearly four-in-ten Americans (38%) now say there has been too much expression of religious faith and prayer from political leaders, while 30% say there has been too little. In 2010, more said there was too little than too much religious expression from politicians (37% vs. 29%).
One of the angles that surprised me about this is how the pattern applied across the board, at least with regards to partisanship: self-identified Democrats, Republicans, and independents all agreed that they see too many politicians making too many expressions of religious faith. While the conventional wisdom generally holds that American voters want and expect such talk from candidates, the evidence points in the opposite direction.
Also note, a majority of Americans want churches and other houses of worship to keep out of politics.
http://www.pewforum.org/Politics-and-Elections/more-see-too-much-religious-talk-by-politicians.aspx
If Rick Santorum believes religious has been pushed from the public sphere, he needs to get out more...better still just get out of the race. The larger point to remember, though, is that religion in American public life is already able to thrive, not despite the separation of church and state, but because of the constitutional principle.
Whereas so many countries have official state churches, the United States, the first democracy to separate government and religion, has an open marketplace of ideas. Religious choices are left up to individuals and their personal beliefs, and the result is a vibrant, diverse culture where people are free to worship, or not, as they please.
By no means is anyone waging "war" on my religion. Along with the UCC people, we question what we do all the time. That's healthy. I view my walk with God as deeply personal. It's instruction on how to live my life, not any one else's. It's a bit like going to the doctor: my prescription for heartburn is not intended to cure your rash.
If you think "Religion is a mental appendage from our Bronze Age past that no longer serves any purpose toward furthering the progress of humanity," you certainly have never seen a liberal church going into the gay community to apologize for the war from the religious right on them, or watched people from a liberal church join protests against draconian border fences, etc. We do that, and so do a bunch of other churches.
and things that give me a happy life. I care not for personal philosophies or religious
beliefs. Religion and politics do seem to cause more friction and discontent than
necessary, but that is due to the contentious nature of mankind. These are not really
the most important things in our existence. Being true to yourself may be.
Our founding fathers were what they were, mostly Deists and liberal Christians with a few traditional Christians along for the ride, and that ride was kept non-denominational and non-religious for a very good reason. They knew how Christian nations in Europe, as well as Christian communities in the new world, had persecuted opponents and nearly killed each other off in the process on occasions too numerous to count. The benign pluralism they sought was the only way they knew to ensure peace among all religions, and all denominations of the Christian religion to boot. We should all thank God they did what they did.