By Tom Kando
It’s becoming curiouser and curiouser. We now have at least one major presidential candidate who preaches the re-unification of Church and State. Rick Santorum has announced that the absolute separation of Church and State is nonsense (and that President Kennedy was wrong in defending that aspect of the 1st amendment). Presumably, Thomas Jefferson and the Constitution are also wrong. Millions of evangelicals appear to support Santorum’s views.
Are these people suggesting that we should model ourselves after countries like Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan? Those countries do not practice the separation of Church and State. There, Sharia Law controls much of human behavior, especially sex and gender-related behavior.
Secularism may also be in retreat in other parts of the Arab world. In Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere, the Arab Spring may be leading to an Islamist Renaissance.
Recently, our troops in Afghanistan burned some old copies of the Quran by mistake. This was not meant as an affront to Islam. The copies happened to be among a bunch of other old books. But the local reaction was violent, causing a dozen deaths, including that of several Americans. President Obama and several of our military officers apologized profusely.
(Question: what happens to old copies of the Bible, say, when a new edition comes out? Or to old copies of the US constitution, or any other book, for that matter? How do you get rid of old, obsolete, decrepit copies?)
But religious vehemence and zeal are wonderful, we are now told by Republicans. Today, we have suicide bombers, honor killings and holy jihad. A few centuries ago, we had crusades, the Inquisition, witch burnings, the reformation wars pitting Huguenots, Anglicans, Lutherans and Calvinists against the Catholic Church and causing millions of deaths.
What a marvelous record, the mixing of religion and politics throughout the centuries! By all means, let’s return to that, Mr. Santorum. leave comment here
12 comments:
Let’s pray he wins today in Michigan. It would be delicious justice if Santorum was the Republican nominee, thus making the Republic Party even more irrelevant than it already is.
When are we going to give a sanity test to all candidates?
The man who coined the phrase "Separation of church and state," Thomas Jefferson, supported federal subsidies to Catholic missions among native Americans. Though not Christian himself, he believed the native American population would be less hostile if it was Christianized. Apparently, he did not believe, either, that the separation should be "absolute." Frankly, it is quite a leap to equate a belief that separation should be less than "absolute" with the Inquisition and witch burnings.
Thank you for your comments.
To Dennis: I am not equating anything with anything. Just reminding people of the sorry record of mixing politics and religion.
Tom,
Thanks for your blogs…Every night on the news I cannot believe what I am hearing…Where do these people come from?
Amazing…What is going on?
Hi Tom.
You know Christians aren't like those crazy Muslims; they know true religion, and all the rest are believers of false religions and gods.
So you gotta support the glorious Santorum, the only true prophet among all the candidates.
Don't you read the statistics? nearly 50 percent of the elderly receiving social security payments and Medicare are against big welfare government like ours: "Down with Big government", and elect true, (blue? not red?) patriots like Santorum and all the Republican Congress. Then we'll have euthanasia like Netherlands.
Well said Tom.
These people who want to assert their religion and values on others are the very reason the framers addressed the issue of separation of Church and State. Its a twisted view of history on the part of Sanatarium (sorry I couldn't help my self) and his supporters.
Republicans and their religiosity. I live in the South, which many refer to as the bible belt. I am always disappointed when politicians like Santorum talk about reunifying church and state but DO NOT mention reunifying the gap between the rich and the poor. Somehow creating a more kinder and just system in which we care for the elderly and think seriously about the plethora of health issues that poor people face never gets embedded in the religious fever that republicans seem to have. If their Jesus did the things that the bible said, then republican values should emulate this. Instead the reunification that the republicans want will politicalize religion as the core value all American should hold and demonize all who do not adhere to republican values as not being in touch with American values. Nonsense!
Demagoguery does no one credit. Raising absurd conclusions is cute but not effective with thinkers.
Tom, you couldn't have said it better. Why is it that some Americans feel they can breach the important separation of church and state that is the foundation of our country's strength. Would they be so zealous if religious beliefs that they rejected were foisted upon them? What arrogance to think they can dictate to all Americans what they should or should not believe! How dangerous to our democracy. Why aren't the mainstream politicians speaking out? Their silence is not golden.
Thanks for your wonderful thoughts and rational thinking!
Cheryl
Thanks for the many comments, folks.
I was in Holland, preoccupied with other things.
Most of us seem to agree about this subject - church and state.
I like Gail's comments - how about "reuniting the gap between the rich and the poor."?
Jesus is reputed to have said that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. That leaves most presidental candidates out.
Frankly... Anyone who supports a merger of church and state is NOT an American. I mean, given that one of the founding tenets of the US of A was a complete separation of church and state, They can't be Americans. At least, not at heart.
So... Let's not elect the non-American, Rick Santorum.
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