It's just not right to play the religion card in politics

[Abigale Applewhite]

It's just not right to play the religion card in politics
BY MARY C. CURTIS
COMMENTARY







What a difference 43 years makes.

In 1960, presidential candidate John F. Kennedy had to answer questions about his religion. Would the Roman Catholic be taking political orders from the pope? Kennedy had to reassure his critics that he would keep church and state separate.

Turn on the television now and, boy, has the picture changed. Some of the ideological descendants of Kennedy's critics are mixing politics and religion with a holy vengeance.

While flipping through the cable channels recently, I saw Pat Robertson and his prayer partners standing before a big picture of the Supreme Court, holding hands and praying. Angry about recent court decisions, especially one striking down a Texas anti-sodomy law, he initiated "Operation Supreme Court Freedom."

Robertson prayed that justices who have "entered into the arena on the side of evil" -- John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sandra Day O'Connor, he later acknowledged -- would retire or just go away. He ominously mentioned their age and history of cancer or heart problems. Whatever happened to preachers praying for people to get well?

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/living/6479922.htm


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[Liberator_Rev]

1. Tricky questions:

Many Liberals mistakenly believe that our Constitution puts religion on the sidelines and that there's no room for religion on the political playing field. That's a big mistake. Whether we like it or not voters can be interested in anything like, including the most ridiculous or absurd ideas imaginable, and smart politicians relate to voters, WHEREVER THEY ARE.

Our Constitution was designed to prevent any such ideas from being embraced AS OFFICIAL POLICY by those elected to high office, but there's nothing whatsoever in that Constitution to prevent those RUNNING for office to appeal to the shared interests of voters.

Now considering the fact that 80% of voters IDENTIFY THEMSELVES as Christians, SMART candidates (usually Republicans) try to pass themselves off as the more Christian candidates, and politically challenged candidates (usually Democrats) try to avoid giving the impression that they have any interest in religion.

Guess which one are getting massacred at the polls. See our insightful site on this very important matter :


http://www.LiberalsLikeChrist.Org/ChurchState .

& check out Christ's answers to the "Christian Coalition" & "Religious Right" at http://www.LiberalsLikeChrist.Org/Christlike .

[w4rma]

5. I agree (n/t)

[Abigale Applewhite]

2. Trickery

Religion, is being used with the ignorant to entice them to vote for a party that has nothing in common with the republican party. Wonder how long it will take to wake up. I guess when they are hungry. As in the late 20's & 30's.There republican administrations, much like the one we have now, and then the great depression, after that it took 3 generations of americans dying off,before another conservative right wing administation was elected,and that was Reagan, what happend, conservative policies, plus union busting, and in ten years under bush another recession..... It take some people a long time to come fully awake,but when they do they usually don't fall asleep early for a long time...A hungry and ill child without food and healthcare, will awaken a person from a deep sleep quickly.

[PATRICK]

3. with the possible exception

of the Deist founding fathers, religion not only has been used but very much abused in all our history. The reason prayer was banned from schools in the first place was because schools regularly browbeat any and all other Christian sects with standard protestantism flavored regionally. It probably did not get into law(after a LONG period) because of immigrant Catholics alone but the issue has always been a bnegative one. The Churches(and cult leaders) have always used their fringe values and material needs above their core values when inching into the political arena, proving endlessly the wisdom the principle of separation is not carried far enough.

The hardest thing is to activate pew people to accept call to social moral values. Suddenly that is not the "preacher's job" unless it is a fundie cult mapping out your outrage factor and voting card for you. The ones most eager to "participate" in democracy are the worst using the most brash and manipulatory methods.

It also shows how badly the GOP has degenerated. The populist Dems that really used Church's and values in the past now use secular toothpaste with small Lieberman sellouts to the vaguest of maudlin fundamentalism.

[ilpostino]

4. From Eleanor Clift

Her Newsweek online column handles the same subject. An excerpt:

The introduction of charges of religious bias into the political bloodstream is a hint of what’s ahead as Rove and the Republicans gear up for Bush’s re-election campaign. “This is going to be the most polarizing election since probably the Civil War,” says the GOP strategist. Explaining why he believes that, he says the country remains evenly divided with the fault lines evident in everything from policy prescriptions to cultural leanings. Republicans are as unified behind Bush as Democrats are inflamed against him. The coming campaign has all the makings of a culture war. “It will be the patriots versus the unpatriots,” says the strategist.

[Abigale Applewhite]

6. Thomas Jefferson view

52. Freedom of Religion

Because religious belief, or non-belief, is such an important part of every person's life, freedom of religion affects every individual. Religious institutions that use government power in support of themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths, or of no faith, undermine all our civil rights. Moreover, state support of an established religion tends to make the clergy unresponsive to their own people, and leads to corruption within religion itself. Erecting the "wall of separation between church and state," therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society.