Faith and Politics

       

Watching the recent debates both on the Democrat and Republican side it I find it sad where each candidate feels they must declare that they are a Christian to make them eligible to run for President. This is totally contrary to what many of our best know founding fathers wanted or believed. Yet many try to say that we were founded as a Christian nation. No we are a secular nation accepting of ALL beliefs.

 

For those that don’t remember many of the original settlers came to this continent to be free of religious persecution in their European countries. Even Thomas Jefferson when he drafted the Declaration of Independence noted in the second paragraph that, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Jefferson never said the creator of just the Christians, or just the Jews, or the just the Muslims or any specific faith. Also Thomas Jefferson was the author of the Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom instituting separation of church and state in Virginia, which was passed in 1786.

 

What is little known, Jefferson held many offices during his life and was challenged by certain evangelicals of his time who tried to make his religious beliefs an issue even back then. They attacked him viciously in the public square, the pulpits and in the press for his “deistical” beliefs. But Jefferson made it his policy never to respond to the attacks on his beliefs. Boy, over 200 years later some things just don’t change.

 

I find the following quotes from our founding fathers to be very telling on their beliefs and the rights of all to believe what is in each person’s own heart:

  “It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God.” – Thomas Jefferson “My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.” and “Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law.”  – Thomas Paine “… the path of true piety is so plain as to require but little political direction. George Washington, 1789, responding to clergy complaints that the Constitution lacked the mention of Jesus Christ  “If they are good workmen, they may be from Asia, Africa or Europe; they my Mahometans (Muslims), Jews, Christians or any sect, or they may be Atheists…” George Washington, to Tench Tighman, 1784, when asked what type of workman to get for Mount Vernon 

“When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and god does not take care to support it so that its professors are obliged to call for help of the civil power, ‘tis a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one.” Benjamin Franklin

 

The wisdom of these incrediable men to this day are as true today as it was back then.

 

I know George Bush’s major selling point when he first ran for President was that he was a born again Christian. Even from many pulpits followers were told to vote from him because of what his perceived religious beliefs were. Six years later, I hope we elect the next a President who is of high moral character, regardless of what religious faith they subscribe or not subscribe to, that will put the poor and middle class first, who won’t torture, who won’t attack nations that never attacked us. And who at the end of their term, their own party’s presidential candidates will not be running away from them.

 

The fact that we in this country where can believe and worship as we each chose, but we do have those in our country who use religion only to divide us. When Congressman Keith Ellison recently got elected we had TV talk show bigots like Glenn Beck asked the Muslim congressman, “I’m not accusing you of being an enemy, but that’s the way I feel, and I think a lot of Americans will feel that way.” We even had a certain idiotic congressman say Ellison shouldn’t use the Koran at his swearing in ceremony only the bible. What about “Freedom of Religion” doesn’t he understand? I guess there are those that would be happy see the Christian version of the Taliban in this country? How sad, how very, very sad. By the way the Koran he used was Thomas Jefferson’s.

 

We are a great nation because of the diversity of our cultures and beliefs. And those that want to deny anyone these freedoms are truly Un-American.

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