The United States of God

My earlier views of the unsoundness of the Christian scheme of salvation and the human origin of the scriptures, have become clearer and stronger with advancing years and I see no reason for thinking I shall ever change them.
-Abraham Lincoln, to Judge JS Wakefield, after Willie Lincoln's death in 1862.

It's unfortunate for the religious right that history exists. They'd have you believe that every President of the United State spent all of their time thinking about God -- what God wanted from them, what God wanted from the country, what they could do that would please God, etc. George Washington, for example, shuffled around his office on his knees, hand clenched in constant prayer, fulfilling his duty as elected lead shaman of a new democratic republic. Every president thereafter followed Washington's lead.

But the hole in this rewritten history is that there have been four presidents -- at least -- who weren't Christian. John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Millard Fillmore, and William Howard Taft were all Unitarian. Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Andrew Johnson didn't belong to any church at all. Turns out a lot of heathens have been elected lead shaman.

That someone bothered to write these sort of facts down represents a problem for right wing revisionists who claim the US is -- and always was -- a "Christian nation." But what has been written can be erased, truths are only problematic so long as they're known. The ongoing effort to transform a secular government based on law and reason into a big church based on reverence for Jesus is a big project. Every unfortunate fact must be hidden -- preferably by painting over them with new "facts."

And here we come to Virginia Rep. Randy Forbes. Not surprisingly, Forbes is a Republican and a loyal and reliable foot soldier for the religious right. History offends Forbes' Christian sensibilities, so history must be changed. Forbes has a plan to do just that.





The history so offensive to Forbes and other Christian right crusaders comes in the form of a new visitors' center for the US Capitol. Tourists waiting for Capitol tours no longer have to wait outside, but can now wait in the Capitol Visitor Center (CVC), which is a 580,000-square-foot, three story structure filled with exhibits and the inevitable gift shop. For the most Jesus-addled Republicans, the exhibits are insufficiently Christian.

Sane people see it for what it is, insane people see it as literally evil and an insult to a Christian heritage they've pretty much made up.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU):

...During the dedication, congressional leaders hailed the CVC as something that should make Americans proud.

“As both members and visitors enjoy the educational benefits of the Capitol Visitor Center,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), “we will be inspired to explore new paths and to write new chapters in our nation’s great history. With that reverence for our history and dedication to progress, may this Temple of Democracy continue to be a place where people of diverse background and opinion can find common ground for the common good.”

But there is one segment of the population that is anything but proud of the Capitol Visitor Center: The Religious Right has spent the last few months complaining about the new structure, issuing salvo after salvo against it. The CVC, according to these groups, is a “godless pit” and a shrine to secular liberalism. They’d like to rework it -- and add a heaping helping of “Christian nation” propaganda.

Especially ridiculous in his complaints was S. Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint. He complained that the CVC exhibits "are left-leaning and in some cases distort our true history. Exhibits portray the federal government as the fulfillment of human ambition and the answer to all of society’s problems."

Yeah, that's terrible. What's basically a museum about government focuses on -- *gasp* -- government. What a bunch of liberal BS. A museum about government should teach that Jesus runs everything. Because, if there's one perfect place to rewrite history, it's in a museum dedicated to historical education.

"The ruckus over the Capitol Visitor Center is yet another manufactured controversy courtesy of the religious right," said Americans United's Barry Lynn. "These groups want to enlist Congress and use the Center to promote their fallacious and discredited ‘Christian nation’ view."

So Forbes introduced H. Con. Res. 34, a bill subtitled, "Calling upon the Capitol Preservation Commission and the Office of the Architect of the Capitol to place the Lincoln-Obama Bible on permanent display upon the Lincoln table at the Capitol Visitor Center for the benefit of all its visitors to fully understand and appreciate America's history and Godly heritage." You see the problem already.

Law professor Howard Freidman boils the bill down to it's most unconstitutional and inaccurate basics:

Whereas the Holy Bible is God's Word;

Whereas each President, after taking the oath of office, has repeated President Washington’s petition prayer seeking divine help by saying, "So help me God";...

Whereas in Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, he referred to God 14 times, to verses in the Holy Bible 4 times, and invoked prayer 3 times in 701 words; ...

Resolved ... That Congress calls upon the Capitol Preservation Commission ... to place the Lincoln-Obama Bible on permanent display ... at the Capitol Visitor Center for the benefit of all its visitors to fully understand and appreciate America's history and Godly heritage.

That's right, we're to use unchurched doubter Abraham Lincoln's Bible to declare, in US law, that "the Holy Bible is God's Word." At the same time, visitors can "fully understand and appreciate America's history and Godly heritage."

"It’s offensive to see Forbes attempting to use Lincoln as a vehicle to promote 'Christian nation' claptrap," writes AU's Rob Boston. "He’s merely trying to exploit one of our greatest leaders by laboring to portray him as some type of antebellum Jerry Falwell. In fact, the religious views of our 16th president have been hotly debated by scholars for years."

Of course, the bill is doomed on so many levels. It has no chance of passing in the Democrat-controlled House. If passed, it would almost certainly be vetoed. If it miraculously survived the veto pen, it would be struck down by even our currently right-leaning Supreme Court.

Maybe Republicans like Forbes and DeMint are setting themselves up to lose, so they can go running to the nutjobs with "proof" that our "Christian nation" is under attack by godless heathens, Muslim terrorists, and -- I don't know -- the Masons, maybe. Lot's of money to be raised that way.

Or maybe they're just as crazy as they seem to be. Maybe, despite all evidence to the contrary, they believe their own BS. Maybe they believe that history, as it's always been written, has always been wrong. That the US really was meant to be a big church, but got sidetracked on day one.

Whichever it is, the people they're representing are being rendered stupid by their actions. Propaganda by people like Forbes and DeMint is encouraging people to be ignorant.

I suppose that's the point. Only the most ignorant voters would elect people like these.

-Wisco


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A Christian Nation?

John McCain was down in the polls -- way down -- in the fall of 2007. Far from being the presumptive nominee, it was widely believed that the Straight Talk Express had been sidelined and was on its way out. So John, believing he had very little to lose, decided to kiss a little evangelical right butt.

McCain had been mending fences with the religious right for some time, carefully distancing himself from his reputation as a "maverick" and recasting himself as a typical Republican robot with no opinions outside the right wing orthodoxy. An interview with Beliefnet offered a golden opportunity.

Q: A recent poll found that 55 percent of Americans believe the U.S. Constitution establishes a Christian nation. What do you think?

A: I would probably have to say yes, that the Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation. But I say that in the broadest sense. The lady that holds her lamp beside the golden door doesn't say, “I only welcome Christians.” We welcome the poor, the tired, the huddled masses. But when they come here they know that they are in a nation founded on Christian principles.

All that poll really proved was that 55% of Americans had never read the Constitution -- if they had, they'd realize that it doesn't talk about Christianity at all. McCain, with his decades as a Senator, couldn't honestly make the same claim of ignorance. Clearly, he was lying to tell the religious right what they wanted to hear. John McCain had entered that self-confirming right wing echo chamber. "Yes," he might as well have said, "Whatever Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell say about the Constitution is true."

And that echo-chamber didn't waste any time bouncing McCain's message back. That's the way this whole thing works -- you sday something you wish was true, wait for someone to agree, then point to them as independent proof of your statement. You say something, wait for the echo, then say, "See? He agrees."

"The fact that the left-wing Muslim groups vociferously reacted against McCain's remarks, just added validity to his comments, and indeed value for his presidential nomination hopes," wrote Christian Coalition blogger Jim Backlin. That Muslim groups objected to McCain's comment that he wouldn't vote for a Muslim in that same interview -- not the "Christian nation" comment specifically -- is beside the point. Muslims are evil and, if they don't like someone, that someone must be on the right track. The echo chamber sometimes works in reverse.

But more important than where this "Christian nation" crap comes from is the question of why it's manufactured at all. Why do you need to pretend that law calls for a Christian government when officeholders are already overwhelmingly Christian? Do they believe that Americans' faith is so weak that they have to trick them into thinking they're required to be Christian?

The answer to that may be yes -- and that worry is not without cause. A study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, as reported by Associated Press, shows that the evangelical right has good reason for concern about their future.

The U.S. religious marketplace is extremely volatile, with nearly half of American adults leaving the faith tradition of their upbringing to either switch allegiances or abandon religious affiliation altogether, a new survey finds.

The study released Monday by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life is unusual for it sheer scope, relying on interviews with more than 35,000 adults to document a diverse and dynamic U.S. religious population.

While much of the study confirms earlier findings — mainline Protestant churches are in decline, non-denominational churches are gaining and the ranks of the unaffiliated are growing — it also provides a deeper look behind those trends, and of smaller religious groups.

Despite efforts by evangelicals to reach those they call "the unchurched" -- i.e., unaffiliated Christians -- that segment of the population is growing, not shrinking.

"The U.S. Religious Landscape Survey estimates the United States is 78 percent Christian and about to lose its status as a majority Protestant nation, at 51 percent and slipping," AP reports. "More than one-quarter of American adults have left the faith of their childhood for another religion or no religion at all, the survey found. Factoring in moves from one stream or denomination of Protestantism to another, the number rises to 44 percent."

In fact, previous census figures show that Christianity as a whole is headed toward becoming a minority religion by 2030, making up about 49% of the population. How do you ensure Christian political dominance in a nation without a Christian majority?

Convince everyone that it's the law.

This whole "Christian nation" myth is the religious right making an end run around its own failure to reach the unchurched. "The religious demographic benefiting the most from this religious churn is those who claim no religious affiliation," AP reports. "People moving into that category outnumber those moving out of it by a three-to-one margin."

To make matters worse for the religious right, the next generation isn't moving their way. A quarter of Americans between 18 and 29 are unaffiliated. The evangelical movement is already seeing a drastic decline in influence. The presidential campaign shows that. The candidate making the most noise about abortion and gays and evolution is the absolutely certain to lose Mike Huckabee. Other Uber-Christian candidates like Sam Brownback and Mitt Romney likewise went nowhere. The once mighty religious right is barely registering in the debate.

Given this, it's no surprise that they'd want to convince everyone that they don't just have a place in government, but that they are the government -- by law and in the Constitution. Whether or not it's true is irrelevant.

The problem is that the religious right is in a race against reality. This "Christian nation" propaganda is fast becoming a moot point. Is it possible to be a Christian nation in a nation where the majority is heathen? Even if everyone believed it was enshrined in the Constitution, the United State's institutional Christianity would only be nominal. Christians would not have more influence because of it.

So John McCain, once so eager to kiss up to the religious right, barely talks about religion anymore. The movement is dying and history is moving on. The US, founded as a secular nation, is returning to her roots after a fit of religious hysteria.

--Wisco

Technorati tags: politics; elections; 2008; Republican; poll; religion; Constitution; John McCain leaves the Religious Right at the altar -- just like everyone else

Onward, (Crazy-Assed Right Wing) Christian Soldiers...

It's a little disturbing to look at Christian Embassy's homepage. A group dedicated to spreading the word of God throughout government, CE obviously believes in a top-down approach to evangelism -- get the boss and the staff will follow. It's an abusive approach, using the power of the employer over the employee, sure. But this is all about Jesus and, when the stakes are that high, nothing is out of bounds. Besides, government is temporary -- Heaven is eternal. God's laws take precedence over those of nations.

That's why we see links on that page titled, I Work on Capitol Hill, I am a Member of the Diplomatic Community, I am a Presidential Appointee, and I Work at the Pentagon. Christian Embassy clearly has no time for peons.

So it's no surprise that military officers have been abusing their position to convert the heathens below them.

Washington Post:

The Defense Department's inspector general has found that four generals and three other military officers improperly participated in a fundraising video for an evangelical Christian group, inappropriately offering support for the religious organization while appearing to operate within the scope of their official government duties, according to a 47-page investigative report.

Investigators concluded that the officers should not have participated in the filming in 2005 of a 10-minute video for Christian Embassy, a nonprofit religious group, which ultimately used the video as a fundraising tool. While Christian Embassy has hosted prayer meetings at the Pentagon for years, the inspector general concluded that the officers' endorsement of its activities -- while in uniform, showing their rank and in the halls of the Pentagon -- violated ethical rules.

"The overall circumstances of the interviews emphasized the speakers' military status and affiliation and implied they were acting within the scope of their official positions as DoD spokespersons," the report concluded.

In other words, the video made it look like the Pentagon and the Defense Dept. endorse CE. The report is here [PDF].

This is more than just some club that's been misrepresented by military generals. This is those in power using the power of government in non-governmental ways. It's a violation of the Constitution and, to be a generous as I possibly can, a complete misunderstanding of what it really means to be an american.

Wall of Separation:

Perhaps the most disturbing feature of the report is the justification employed by some of the officers: They argued that Christian Embassy had become so fully ingrained in the Pentagon that they regarded it as a "quasi-federal entity."

In fact, Christian Embassy is a wholly private group. It was founded 30 years ago by the late Bill Bright, who also founded Campus Crusade for Christ. Bright, a Religious Right activist, believed that fundamentalists of his stripe must exercise influence and control over all areas of life, including government agencies.

The report shows us that military involvement in CE is hurting our legitimacy abroad. Wall of Separation tells us, "During the investigation, Major Gen. Sutton admitted that while he was stationed in Turkey, his Turkish driver presented him with a copy of a newspaper called Sabah that called Sutton a member of a radical fundamentalist Christian sect. The online version of the paper included clips from the Christian Embassy video."

And Sabah's absolutely correct. Christian Embassy is a radical fundamentalist Christian sect. In 2003, founder Bill Bright signed the 'Land Letter' -- a letter to President Bush telling him that invading Iraq would be justified under the theory of a 'just war.' Other signatories were Nixon figure Charles Colson, Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention, and D. James Kennedy of 'Sweet Jesus do I ever hate gays' fame. Like the signatories to the PNAC letter to Bill Clinton, the signatories to the Land Letter are a fine collection of right wing nuts.

The letter cites President Bush himself almost exclusively as a source -- which you'd think would be a little weird in a letter to President Bush. Wouldn't he already know all of this?

Of course, not a single reason why invading Iraq would be a good idea holds up now (all you bloggers and forum warriors out there heed this example -- single sourcing will bite you in the ass down the road). Then again, when almost everything you believe is summed up in the Bible, I suppose single sourcing becomes second nature.

How right wing and dangerous are these guys? In writing about the Christian Embassy's and other right wing evangelical groups' influence in the military, Chris Hedges, former New York Times Mideast Bureau Chief and author of American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America, writes:

If the United States falls into a period of instability caused by another catastrophic terrorist attack, an economic meltdown or a series of environmental disasters, these paramilitary forces, protected and assisted by fellow ideologues in the police and military, could swiftly abolish what is left of our eroding democracy. War, with the huge profits it hands to businesses and right-wing interests that often help bankroll the Christian right, could become a permanent condition. And the thugs with automatic weapons, black uniforms and wraparound sunglasses who appeared on street corners in Baghdad and New Orleans could appear on streets across the U.S. Such a presence could paralyze us with fear, leaving us unable to question or protest the closed system and secrecy of an emergent totalitarian state and unable to voice dissent.

Alarmist? Maybe. But when you've got a bunch of nuts who think that God's law takes precedence over US law trying to take over government, who's law do you think they want to enforce? If a godly, christian government is what they think the Bible requires -- and they do, hello death penalty for gluttony -- do you think they give a damn about the Constitution or your right to religious freedom?

As I said, the best thing you could say about these people is that they have a profound misunderstanding of what it means to be american. At worst -- which seems to be the case -- they don't give a good goddam. They love the America they envision in their christian fantasies -- no gays, no muslims, no jews, no atheists, no agnostics, no pagans, no buddhists, no hindus, no adultery, no pornography, no abortion, no divorce, no staying home from church on sunday, no religious freedom or freedom of speech whatsoever.

Think Iran, only with everyone talking about Jesus instead of Allah. Their America is pretty much the same place.

--Wisco

Technorati tags: politics; Pentagon; military; religious right; Bush; Constitution; Christian Embassy isn't a big fan of religious freedom