Obviously many people didn’t perceive the satire of my letter. The irony of my letter seems to be lost on those partisan conservatives who assume that God is only on their side politically. 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. My letter asked the question, “Sound familiar?” because I mimicked past commentary and preaching from evangelicals in the 96 and 2000 elections who railed against Clinton and Gore but promoted Bush as a God given Savior to their cause. 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. In my letter I intentionally reversed candidates and issues that right wingers used in the last two elections and claimed that God endorsed them to illustrate what it feels like for others with diametrically opposing political views to use God as a political tool against their party and candidate.
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. Neither God nor Jesus is mentioned in the Constitution. That was intentionally done by our nation’s founders. 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”