It is obvious that many conservatives didn’t perceive the point of my letter about them being against free will and choice. That fact is as true today as is was then and their letters confirm it. The pathetic nature of my detractors is that they don’t hesitate to say that if one doesn’t agree with “w’s” politics then you hate America and are for the terrorists but when that logic is turned around and directed at them the way I did concerning the Constitution they can’t take it. If you dish it out you have to be able to take it but most of them can’t seem to deal with that notion. The distinction they don’t seem to comprehend is that I don’t advocate the issues they hate. My advocacy is for the freedom and liberty guaranteed in the Constitution. It is the height of intellectual dishonesty to deny the secular nature of the U.S. Constitution and no one has ever claimed that we should have a purely secular society. We are a religious people and we will continue to have a religious society as long as that is the case. To twist what I said and claim I said something I didn’t is very deceptive but typical of these conservatives. It’s ironic that conservatives today argue against our liberal founding fathers’ secular Constitution but at the same time get most of their ideas from an immoral right wing drug addict radio talk show host. I am a Christian who holds very similar religious views as my Christian friends but some falsely assume that since I don’t go along with their political views that I support the morality they rail against. Nothing could be further from the truth. My faith doesn’t think gambling, pornography and many other vices are moral but I don’t push to have my religion enacted as law. There is no virtue in NO freedom of choice. There is much disagreement in our society as to when human life begins and ends. If you want to believe it begins at conception, fine, but don’t expect everyone else to agree with you. Flesh and blood don’t define human life. The soul does. One would think that religious people would understand that. When the soul enters and leaves the human body is subject to debate and varies from person to person. Today fundamentalists want to force women to carry a fetus to term even when they have been raped or as a result of incest. They also believe in capital punishment for women and doctors who have abortions or perform them. There is much disagreement about this so why allow extremists to force their narrow religious views on everyone? Liberals don’t force their views on others by enacting laws to force euthanasia on individuals. Most liberal patriots I know only want to maintain the Constitutional freedoms and liberties as intended by our founders. They feel that each person has a right and responsibility to make choices using their own conscience. They don’t think the government should interfere in personal private matters. When did the Republican Party become the party of big brother interfering in the private lives of its citizens? It is comical how conservatives moralize about their favorite issues but ignore others. For example, how can we allow homosexuals to threaten the sanctity of divorce? I think Jesus had something to say about divorce but I don’t recall him mentioning homosexuality. Heterosexuals don’t have a very good record of maintaining the sanctity of marriage. Who are they to cast stones? Just because alcohol is legal doesn’t mean you are forced to drink alcohol. It is a choice you are allowed to make. That is free will and liberty as guaranteed in the Constitution. I don’t teach my children to not murder or steal or support unnecessary war and the killing of innocent civilians in Iraq because of a law. I teach them Christian values because my faith and my Savior taught that. I don’t expect the government or our public schools to do what the Church and the family are responsible for. You can enact as many laws as you want but it will not do any good until the heart of people are changed. The government can’t do that. That is God’s purpose and should be the goal of God’s people. Many evangelicals have the warped view that we must enact laws and attain more political power to force people to change. How ironic that they seem to have more faith in the political power given by man than they do the power of God. That has been tried throughout history and it hasn’t worked in Christian Europe and now in the middle-eastern Muslim countries. Extremist religions which gain political power, whether they are Christian or Muslim or any other have been the cause of more wars and violence throughout history than any other. Why are we making the same mistakes in this country that so many others have? Why don’t we learn from history? The irony of my letter seems to be lost on those partisan conservatives who assume that God is only on their side politically. Their ignorance of American history is astounding. They continually use revisionist history to support their false views of Constitutional foundations. I personally don’t believe God takes part in politics and I don’t believe Christians should use God as a political tool in order to gain votes. That is unethical for politicians to do and blasphemy for ministers but it doesn’t seem to stop them from doing it. I realize many politicians quote scripture and call upon God for guidance but that is a far cry from saying that our Constitution is based on Christianity. It is not. Lincoln was severely demonized by the religious people of his day because he refused to join any church or religion. Anyone with even a minute knowledge of his life would know that. He was under intense pressure from evangelicals and placated them by invoking God in his speeches as many politicians do. He understood the secular nature of the Constitution and refused to change it to conform to the fundamentalists of his day. I wonder how he would fair in the Republican Party today? The argument we are still having today by fundamentalist evangelicals has been settled. Our founding fathers settled it. They decided not to have a Christian Theocracy or a religious democracy. They intentionally made our Constitution secular. There are many historical facts to prove this. Read the book “the Godless Constitution” and see for yourself. It does not contain the name of Jesus or God and I still challenge anyone to prove otherwise. They are not arguing with me. They are arguing with the reality of the Constitution and its founders. Many politicians try to claim that God supports them. Bush himself claimed God called him to be president and then he asked fundamentalist leaders to lay hands on him as though he was being anointed as a religious president. This is the ultimate act of self serving heresy by a politician. Using God as a political prop is despicable. Many fundamentalists have fallen for the ploy and follow “w” down the road to anti-Christian political policies. I strongly believe in separation of Church/State and feel our religious leaders have lost site of its importance. I know our country’s founders wanted it and insisted on it but today our leaders lack the wisdom to understand how it not only benefits our secular government but also it assures the freedom and independence of our religions and Churches. After all without it there would be no tax exemption of Churches. Is that what religions want? Close examination of our country’s history shows how fundamental the separation of Church & State is to our being. The 1st Amendment guarantees it and the Supreme Court has consistently upheld it. Without it religion becomes just another weapon for politicians to abuse so please don’t let politicians drag Almighty God into the mud of partisan politics. Our faith should steer clear of man made corrupt politics. No one person or party holds an exclusive contract on God’s grace and will. Don’t be fooled by politicians who claim they do. It is a lie. Our government is a man made civil secular creation. That was done intentionally. They had suffered under religious/political tyranny in Europe and they understood how oppressive and evil government could be when controlled by the Church. They insisted on our country not making the same mistakes so many others had by mixing religion and politics. Let’s keep both strong and independent by keeping them separate. We don’t need another Spanish inquisition so don’t follow politicians and preachers who justify their agenda by using God for political purposes and declare any who disagree with them as being unchristian and unworthy to hold office. That is a lie and will only lead to our loss of freedom and independence as a sovereign nation and people.
Now, let’s all hold hands and sing “Kum Ba Ya”