Religious Politics

The headline in today’s Louisville Courier-Journal was: Legislature too wrapped up in religion, Jewish leaders say. The first line of the article reads:

The leaders of Louisville's Jewish community have taken Kentucky legislators to task for what they see as an excessive amount of religious overtones to the legislative session and related events.

I tend to agree. Since the so-called "Religious Right" ingratiated itself to the Republican Party with the election of Ronald Reagan, religious politics have been entering into state legislatures and Congress more and more frequently. And it hasn’t only been religious politics, but specifically Christian, fundamentalist, right-wing politics.

In the letter sent to the Kentucky legislature by the Community Relations Council, the public policy arm of the Jewish Community Federation of Louisville, four recent examples of religious politics were cited:

• A bill authorizing the posting of the Ten Commandments at the Capitol.
• A bill authorizing the posting of the motto "In God We Trust" at the Capitol.
• A governor's prayer breakfast at which only Christians spoke.
• A church group's survey asking legislators whether they had professed faith in Jesus Christ.

Looking at these examples provided by the Community Relations Council, I am again shaken by the thought that we have forsaken modernity for the pre-Enlightenment Dark Ages. For example, why do fundamentalist Christians have this obsession with the Decalogue? If they are Christians, have they never heard that Jesus, when asked what was the greatest commandment, said:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets. ~ Matthew 22:37b-40

So if they must post something, why not simply the word “LOVE” and be done with it! It sums up all Ten Commandments and more. Best of all, LOVE is not specific to any one religion. In one way or another, the commandment to love is a part of all of the great religions and most of the minor ones.

Unfortunately, from my experience love is not central to right-wing fundamentalists. Now, if Jesus had used the words “hate God” and “hate your neighbor,” that might be more to their liking and understanding.

Or, what about the posting of the motto "In God We Trust." One blogger writes:

…the religious right has pushed an agenda outside of THEIR walls. My money says "in God we trust." That's not my agenda. It's one that was pushed on us. (Our money didn't always say that, by the way). Same thing for a whole raft of issues.But, I guess, religion in America has become so powerful that even we are willing to cowtow to them.

I won’t say that trusting in God isn’t on my agenda; after all, I am an ordained Christian minister and I do trust in God. However, as the blogger above indicates, not all Americans are religious and trust in God. Beyond that, the image of God takes many forms in people’s minds. My picture of God may be nothing like the picture of God another person holds dear. And, I, for one, will not force my image of God onto another person. I think that this is really what it is all about: forcing a few people’s conception of God and religion onto other folks.

When it comes to government sponsored gatherings—prayer breakfasts included—I firmly believe that one must make every effort to be ecumenical. I think that this is especially important when the host of the gathering is the governor of the state. When the only speakers—the only prayers—come from but one religious tradition, the citizens of the state who are not of that tradition are alienated. That is exactly why the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States—the first of the Bill of Rights—says:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

I have attended many such gatherings and have prayed at many such gatherings. And at each I have been aware that there were people who where not Christians present as well as Christians who were not part of a Mainline Protestant Denomination such as mine. Therefore, I was always careful to sculpt my prayers so that the words were inclusive of the Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Baptists, Seventh Day Adventists, Mormons, atheists, agnostics, etc. who were not of my tradition. And I ask: why is the so-called Christian Right so unwilling to be inclusive?

Finally, if I were a member of the Kentucky State Legislature and someone gave me a questionnaire that included the question “Have you professed faith in Jesus Christ?” I would be incensed. First, my religious beliefs are my own and they would have nothing to do with my role as a legislator. Second, I thank God that there is no government established religion in the United States as there has been and is in other countries.

Like the the Taliban in Afghanistan and other fundamentalists of other religions, the right-wing Christian fundamentalists in the United States have an agenda: that everyone is to believe and worship God as they do. It has been part of their plan going back thirty or more years to Pat Robertson and the creation of the so-called Moral Majority and Christian Coalition. There is no question in my mind as to what their ultimate goals are. But let the Religious Right speak for themselves:

We want...as soon as possible to see a majority of the Republican Party in the hands of pro-family Christians by 1996.—Pat Robertson, Denver Post, 10/26/92

There is no such thing as separation of church and state in the Constitution. It is a lie of the Left and we are not going to take it anymore.—Pat Robertson, November 1993 during an address to the American Center for Law and Justice

I want you to just let a wave of intolerance wash over you. I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good...Our goal is a Christian nation. We have a Biblical duty, we are called by God, to conquer this country. We don't want equal time. We don't want pluralism.—Randall Terry, Founder of Operation Rescue, The News-Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, 8-16-93

The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians.—Pat Robertson, fundraising letter, 1992

I don't know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God.—George H. Bush

To me, your religion is your religion and it is none of my business unless I am called to be your pastor. I truly wish others would not attempt to force their religion onto me—or onto you.