One might think that Republican presidential candidates are actually
running for the office of Christian Ayatollah of America.
In a recent New York Times article headlined
“Republican Field Woos Iowa
Evangelical Christians” the nine candidates who showed up in the worship hall
of Point of Grace Church in a Des Moines suburb, went to great lengths to
convince Iowan evangelicals just how really, really Christian they are.
This could almost be consider quaintly amusing if it were not for the real threat that Republicans are attempting to
inject their religious beliefs into our nation’s laws. Our “founding fathers,” which Republicans are
so fond of quoting, never intended the United States to become a theocracy.
The U.S. Constitution, which Republicans use to justify their bigotry
against gays as “religious freedom” specifically states in Article VI,
paragraph 3, “no
religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or
public trust under the United States.” Yet
the Republican candidates vaunt their Christianity as if it were, indeed, a “qualification”
for the Presidency. “If you don’t love
Jesus, you can’t be President” could be their campaign slogan.
You may draw your own conclusions. Here are some quotes from the NYT article with
a few of my comments thrown in.
“Many portrayed
Christians as an increasingly persecuted community, seeking to appeal to the
evangelical audience with vows to protect what they described as religious
liberty for people of faith.”
My comment: Christians “persecuted”
in the United States? I don’t know of
any Christians who have been “persecuted” in America in my lifetime. Did we crucify anybody recently? “Religious liberty”? Has anybody forbid Christians from worshiping
as they please which is all the Constitution guarantees?
“Rick Perry, the
former Texas governor, told of moving back into his childhood bedroom after a
career in the Air Force, when he felt lost, until he had an epiphany that “I
was going to spend the rest of my life doing God’s work.”
“I just really
never realized how large the pulpit was going to be that he was going to make
available to me 30 years later as the governor of Texas,” he said.
My comment: Now you may remember
that Perry, as Governor of Texas, asked his citizens for three days of prayer
for rain to end a drought in his state.
It didn’t work. God evidently
wasn’t listening. Sorry, I do not want a
President who thinks praying to god will solve the country’s problems.
“Carly Fiorina,
the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive, talked about how after losing a
daughter to addiction, “it was my husband Frank’s and my personal relationship
with Jesus Christ that saved us from a desperate sadness.”
“And Bobby
Jindal, the Louisiana governor, said the most important moment in his life was
not his wedding day or when he held his first child, but “the moment I found
Jesus Christ.””
My comment: Almost makes you want to weep, doesn’t it.
“Mr. Rubio, a
Florida senator, defended traditional marriage. “I remind people that the
institution of marriage as one man and one woman existed long before our laws
existed,” he said. “Thousands of years of human history teach us a simple
truth: The ideal way to raise children is when a mother and father married to
each other, living in the same house, raise children together.”
My comment: Now I just wonder who
Rubio is referring to as the people who are not mother and father married to
each other and not raising children together.
“Mr. Jindal
offered a message for “Hollywood and the media elite.”
“The United
States of America did not create religious liberty; religious liberty created
the United States of America,” a line that earned a standing ovation.”
My comment: Well, that’s not exactly
historically true but Republicans don’t put great value on facts.
“Mr. Cruz, the
Texas senator, also used much of his speech to highlight the importance of
religious liberty, and said that believers in traditional marriage must “fall
to our knees and pray” between now and the start of oral arguments next week at
the Supreme Court on a case that could legalize same-sex marriage across the
country.”
My comment: Republicans now want god
to influence Supreme Court decisions. I
wonder if god had anything to do with Citizens United? I
hope god responds as he did to Texans prayers for rain.
Am I the only one
who thinks that Presidential candidates should discuss issues and offer solutions
to the very pressing problems we are dealing with in America and the world rather
than tell us how much they love Jesus?
Here is a link to
the full NYT article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/26/us/politics/republican-field-woos-iowa-evangelical-christians.html?ref=politics
