A Theocracy Won't Forgive Our Trespasses

 

JAY BOOKMAN

Published on: 11/18/04

LINK

 

Listen to us talk at each other, will you?

 

We Americans are actually debating in the public square not which policy is the most practical or most wise, or which leader is the more competent, but which is the most Christian. We have taken religion ? the highest expression of human thought and spirit ? and we have cheapened it by using it as a weapon to attack and belittle those with whom we disagree.

 

Religious leaders are even daring to instruct us in how to vote, and in some cases are suggesting that those who dare to vote contrary to their leaders' wishes risk their soul and standing with God.

 

This is America?

 

We know better than this. Or at least we used to. We used to understand that government and religion function best when they function independently, when the only link between them is the indirect link of human beings acting out their private faith through public service. We used to understand that if religion takes a direct role in government, government must inevitably take a direct role in religion, and that the long-standing wall between them was built for the protection of both institutions.

 

But I guess those are some of the traditional American values now under attack by the dominant political and cultural elite, the Christian right. Yes, that group still likes to depict itself as the most victimized group in American public life, but that's a mere pose, a sham designed to stroke its members' egos and satisfy their need to feel persecuted. That same group, after all, is also beating its chest, proclaiming itself as the nation's most powerful political group to which even the president and Congress must now pay homage. Logically, both self-images cannot be true.

 

It's too bad, really, because in a rough sense we already know how this story ends. We've seen it so many times before. There is no case in recorded human history, regardless of era or culture, in which religion and government have been intertwined without eventually compromising basic human freedoms. Inevitably, every time, that relationship gets out of control and people get hurt.

 

Despite what the political and cultural elite try to tell us, though, there's still hope. The values that have made this country great and nurtured a strong religious tradition still have some power among the people. According to a nationwide poll taken in August by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, for example, 65 percent of Americans still say it is inappropriate for churches and religious leaders to endorse candidates. And 69 percent say it is wrong for political campaigns to request church membership lists, as President Bush's campaign did.

 

A substantial majority ? 64 percent ? say it would be improper for Catholic leaders to deny Communion to Catholic politicians who take positions contrary to church teaching. In fact, of all the groups polled, that practice was condemned most strongly by Catholics themselves, with 72 percent saying it was improper.

 

Unfortunately, those remnants of common sense may not survive what's coming. In his second term, President Bush has promised a significant expansion of his faith-based initiative, which envisions giving lucrative tax-funded grants to churches and other religious institutions so they can spread their faith in the name of social improvement. That's exactly the kind of thing that our Founding Fathers tried to prevent with the First Amendment, but once President Bush appoints a few more activist judges to the Supreme Court to reinterpret the Constitution his way, that kind of traditional thinking won't matter.

 

And money will be the true tie that binds. Once we've got politicians dangling million-dollar grants in front of cooperative ministers, and ministers free to pledge their flock's support to politicians who send money their way, oh what a lovely mess it's gonna be.

 

Of course, some may still believe that religious leaders will somehow be immune to the corrupting influence of power and money, but if so, they haven't paid much attention to history or the headlines.

 

Or to the Bible either, for that matter.

It's so very true. This is the kind of thing I worry about now that Bush managed to get reelected.

from the article:

"65 percent of Americans still say it is inappropriate for churches and religious leaders to endorse candidates"

 

 

Partisan politics (candidates) should not be part of a church service/mass/etc. I can see how a priest/minister etc. can denounce something like abortion based on church beliefs, but they shouldn't put thir endorsement on candidates or let them address the congregation during a service.

 

Religious leaders like Falwell and those guys may endorse Bush and Reps, but Dems do it all the time in black churches as well.

This is exactly why the Democrats won't win in 2008. They refuse to see their mistakes and are now just saying the election was decided by a bunch of religous nutcases.

This is exactly why the Democrats won't win in 2008. They refuse to see their mistakes and are now just saying the election was decided by a bunch of religous nutcases.

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100 percent correct. :thumbup

See another thread for my response to that. It isn't going to make a difference with the "moral values" crap if the same people spewing it are hegemonic anyways.