The Iowa Caucuses are in full swing, and not in four years have we seen so many traveling dime-store preachers as we do right now. Some of the commercials are so blatant in their hypocrisy that they border on comedy. If commercials were true, we’d see Rick Perry and Mitt Romney sprout wings. I’ve seen more reality in an SNL skit. It makes a person long for the days when we strung up medicine showmen for their attempts to lie to us. Wait…I’ll get a rope.
The Republicans want a rope as well. It just shows you how much the religious right hates the President. They’re so Christian they would hang that uppity black guy (I’m sure they aren’t so polite as to use the term black guy, but you get the meaning). After all, he is a foreign-born Muslim with delusions of being a Christian radical with a Hitler complex.
How dare the President carry on with the economic policies created by the previous administration? Would a Christian do that? I’m not even remotely a fan of the policies, but somehow they’ve been able to hang the blame on the black guy. Look at Rick Santorum. He has the audacity to attack the president even while benefiting from his economic stimulus. That’s kind of like drowning a guy for pulling you from a raging river. It’s so Christian of you! There’s so much baring of false witness here, that Moses is considering Marketing as a new line of work.
Christian zealots like to point out that this country was founded on THEIR religious principles. I will just tell you now that if you espouse this rhetoric, you are either A: ignorant, or B: a liar. There is no C. You only get to choose A, or B. You would have learned the truth in 7th grade. I know I did. It’s in Article 6 of the Constitution:
“…no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”
I would love to see that article taken one step further. If you use religion to further your political career, then you forfeit your bid for office. Don’t take this as my admonishment of religious thought. I actually admire people of faith. I just don’t think these people have any. It appears to me, at every instance, they’re using religion as a tool for hate.
If you think religion or zealotry are great qualifications for public office then might I suggest moving to Iran? I mean with the public beatings, stoning, and other human atrocities, it seems to work well. Oh wait! They’re not Christian. I’m sure that would never happen in a Christian-based society. Well, there were the Crusades, where Christians attempted to beat their ideas into the heads of the “Moors and Saracen’s.” How about the Spanish Inquisition where people were beaten, maimed, and killed, for attempting to advance scientific and political thought (gee…no connection to today at all). What about the conflict between Protestants and Catholics that has raged for hundreds of years in Ireland and England? Want something more recent? How about religious sects right here at home who rape children, subjugate women, and attempt to usurp our government all in the name of Christ? Can you say Warren Jeffs? How about Waco? Did you really think Muslim zealots were the only groups who killed over religion?
The reason the Article was added to the Constitution in the first place was to prevent what is actually happening today. In fact it was the preachers who lobbied so heavily for the amendment. They wanted to make sure God wasn’t being used as a bargaining chip for what they saw as a torrid process…Electioneering. Our founding fathers also didn’t want what was happening all over Great Britain at the time to spill over into this country. They feared that once a state religion took hold, all manner of atrocities would ensue. If you ask me, it seems they were right.
Satan is so proud!