Still, his op-ed (brought to my attention by Karen at Christianity General) represents a much broader opinion -- although one that's rarely stated so bluntly -- that the principle of religious liberty is a scam liberals have created. Check this out:
As a Christian, I think it's time to rid ourselves of this notion of freedom of religion in America.
Now that I have your attention, let me take a moment to make my case. Freedom of religion has become the biggest hoax placed upon the Christian people and on our Christian nation.
When reading the writings of our Founding Founders, there was never any reference to freedom of religion referring to a choice between Islam, Hindu, Satanism, Wicca and whatever other religions or cults you would like to dream up. It was very clear that freedom to worship meant the freedom to worship the God of the Bible in the way you wanted, and not to have a government church denomination dictate how you would worship.
Christianity, by its own definition, does not allow freedom of religion. A Christian is defined as a follower of Jesus Christ.
Of course, it's complete BS. The founders where smart fellas. If they'd really meant for the United States to be unfree, they'd have called their young state "The United States of Jesusland." At the very least, they'd have written, "Oh, by the way, the United States is a Christian nation," somewhere, at some time. In fact, they wrote the exact opposite at one point. Article 11 of The Treaty of Tripoli reads (emphasis mine):
As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.
The Treaty was passed unanimously by a Congress made up primarily of founders and signed by President John Adams in 1797. Clearly, no one in government thought the US was a 'Christian nation,' since there was absolutely no argument over this wording. They let the fact that the US is not, 'in any sense,' a Christian nation be written into international law. Argument over, right?
You'd think so, but it's so damned easy to forget how dismissive fundamentalists can be of the obvious reality. These are the guys who go to museums to look at exhibits of dinosaurs on Noah's Ark -- something catastrophic has happened to the BS detecting part of their brains. Not even plain, obvious facts can rock their unshakeable faith.
Which brings me to my point; you might remember the Hindu prayer Rajan Zed led before the US Senate and the bigotted response of morons attending. That response didn't come out of nowhere and it wasn't the opinion of a few nuts -- it's the opinion of a whole bunch of nuts.
And many of those nuts are in the US Congress.
Wall of Separation:
Last week, an Idaho congressman blasted Zed's invocation and, to make matter worse, criticized Minnesotans for electing a Muslim as a member of the U.S. House.
"We have not only a Hindu prayer being offered in the Senate, we have a Muslim member of the House of Representatives now, Keith Ellison from Minnesota," U.S. Rep. Bill Sali (R-Idaho) told "One News Now." "Those are changes -- and they are not what was envisioned by the Founding Fathers."
According to the news service, which is sponsored by the Rev. Donald Wildmon's American Family Association, "Sali says America was built on Christian principles that were derived from scripture. He also says the only way the United States has been allowed to exist in a world that is so hostile to Christian principles is through 'the protective hand of God.'"
We've got the 'protective hand of God?' Why are we wasting our time and money on a nuclear arsenal and a ridiculously huge military, then? What a bunch of chumps we must be.
Sali's not some nobody -- although the House of Representatives is home to a lot of reps who'll turn out to be one term failures. Sali was elected by his fellow Republicans to be the 2007-8 President of the GOP Freshman Class -- clearly, they all see leadership in this lunatic's future. He's their sort of guy. Just crazy enough to keep the Bible bangers on board.
You've got to wonder what these phony patriots are doing in a government they clearly despise. They hate the US and (almost) everything it stands for -- freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom of speech are all bad. They don't like trial lawyers (Amendments I and VII). They don't like warrants or trial by jury (Amendments IV and VI). In fact, if modern religious conservatives had written the Constitution, it'd look like this:
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
Praise Jesus.
Amen.
That's it -- and even that would eventually be repealed. That's the totality of constutional principles that they embrace. "Freedom" and "liberty" are just words they use to demonstrate their "patriotism," but the beliefs they stand on are hostile to freedom or liberty. They have no use for either.
It may be that local right wing nut Al Bedrosian of Roanoke, VA has done us all a favor -- he's been way too honest about what people like himself and Bill Sali really want -- totalitarianism, religious oppression, and theocracy.
Remember that the next time one of these phonies brings up 'patriotism' -- their patriotism is a lie.
--Wisco
Technorati tags: politics; religion; Constitution; law; republican; Congress; Why do Bill Sali and the religious right hate America?
