Church and State in America

Anyone who hasn’t noticed the rabid up-tick in the perceived toxic ties between the presidential candidates and their religious affiliations gets a sincere “get well soon,” because you have to be in some kind of coma. The only one who appears to have escaped the holy vetting is Mrs Clinton, which may speak more to the fact she has no real religious associations outside of the little prayer circle she attends in the Senate.

But look. As Clinton thrashes wildly in dead air preparatory to plunging to her political death, Obama and now McCain are getting the religious scrubbing of a lifetime because they’re going to be the nominees. The reasons the electorate is finally paying attention to their religious ties however, run a lot deeper than Fixed Noise’s manufactured crisis ‘o video loops of Jeramiah Wright, or the totally whacktard theologies of the neocon nutballs associated with McCain.

Like it or not human beings are hard-wired to long for something higher, deeper, and more profound than material reality; a higher universe reality— the world of spirit. Religion is a personal and real reality for most of humanity. But when institutionalized religion becomes sanctioned by the state, tacitly or overtly, we’re all in danger of policies being directed by the personal interpretations of the religion-specific values held by a small number of people. Remember: the last time we tried mixing government with religion, we wound up burning people at the stake.

The recent erosion of the fragile wall between church and state produced by policies and attitudes of the Cheney-Bush debacle, which either directly or indirectly facilitate the bizarre theories of a coming apocalypse, are unfortunately only one of several afflictions currently threatening our liberty.

Here’s a check-list of a dozen things, in no particular order, that lovers of freedom and liberty should monitor as frequently as they would a weather station— with constant vigilance. . . followed by examples of how they are threatening our liberty right now, every day.

Usurpation of unwarranted power by either the executive or legislative branches. Signing statements— what, 157 at last count?

Machinations of ignorant and superstitious agitators. Rush Limbaugh; Anne Coulter; Shaun Hannity; Bill O’Reilly; Glen Beck. . .

Retardation of scientific progress. Stem Cell Research; Terri Schiavo. . .

Stalemate of the dominance of mediocrity. “Stay the course” Bush; health care crisis; no energy policy; no higher moral vision. . .

Domination by vicious minorities. Swift boat morons; Fox News. . .

Control by ambitious and clever would-be dictators. George Bush ala Dick Cheney. . .

Disastrous disruption of panics. Global War on Terror; Gasoline prices; subprime lending crisis. . .

Exploitation by the unscrupulous. Haliburton, KBR, all other war profiteers. . .

Failure of social and economic fairness. Toleration of poverty; no higher education for the poor; ridiculous minimum wage; no health care; no working immigration policy; unfair taxation. . .

Union of church and state. Neocons and Bush on a mission from God; “In God we trust” on our money; paid Christian ministers in the House and Senate. Every elected senator or Congressman knows how to pray, and they certainly can pray on the record if they want to. But there’s no place for paid or voluntary professional clergy of any religion to be in our House and Senate, leading our elected representatives in prayer or worship.

Loss of personal liberty. Habeas Corpus; NSA spying; Fear mongering government regulations.

And now, because I follow Jesus,

let’s close with a short prayer, shall we?

Stumble it!