Website design By BotEap.comReligious controversies always produce more bitterness and irreconcilable hatred than arise from any other source. (George Washington, letter to Sir Edward Newenham, June 22, 1792.)

Website design By BotEap.comControl your enthusiasm for progressive candidates who flaunt their religious faith. This essay

Website design By BotEap.comexplains why godspeakers, attractive as they may be, are likely to prove dangerous to the kind of nation JFK envisioned:

Website design By BotEap.comI believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute… where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly on the general population. (Sept. 12, 1960 at the Greater Houston Ministerial Association)

Website design By BotEap.comObviously, all progressive candidates are preferable to the typical divisive far-right fundamentalists like Mike Huckabee, Mike Pence, or just about any Republican in Congress, on the Supreme Court, or in Donald Trump’s cabinet. However, the progressive candidate who flaunts his religiosity, even though he checks all or most of the well-regarded liberal boxes: gay, young, smart and well-educated, kind, attractive, funny, veteran, maybe even vegan. and so on – must still be viewed skeptically as a likely danger to the preservation of what remains of our secular Republic.

Website design By BotEap.comThis is not an idle concern. Not to mention Midwestern mayors who at this point may seem too attractive to be true, concern for devout believers must be evaluated by enthusiasts of science, rationality, and especially the strict separation of church and state. state. It seems advisable to exercise extreme caution with those who claim that theology informs their political positions.

Website design By BotEap.comIn some ways, secularists may be heartened by an attractive Democratic presidential candidate displaying Christian piety, as the first thought might be the feeling that this increases their chances of eligibility. We have seen cases where a certain devout liberal, such as the elders in the play goodbye birdie, who seems Perfect in every way questions Trump’s religion, moralistically scolds hypocritical vice president for being part of a chair porn star and uses Biblical references to support his positions. Unfortunately, the public interest in a secular democracy is not well served by politicians arguing over who is a good Christian or the number one believer. Who cares or should care? Let the faithful have these discussions, if they wish, but keep them in churches and religious homes, not in candidate forums or political campaigns.

Website design By BotEap.comPersonally, I confess that I would prefer a handsome Democratic candidate who embellishes his speeches with Christian babble primarily as a ploy to win over segments of the religious right, than someone who actually believes in such nonsense. I never thought I would adopt or at least adapt Barry Goldwater’s infamous comment from the 1964 presidential campaign to justify such convenience (i.e., Extremism in defense of freedom is not a vice; moderation in the pursuit of justice is not a virtue). However, given the circumstances in 2019, I have no such qualms, so here it goes:

Website design By BotEap.comFalse piety in defense of liberty is not such a terrible vice, if it is done to avoid another Donald Trump term. Discourse that diminishes the supernatural but damages the possibilities of reason in government is not a virtue.

Website design By BotEap.comConvenience aside, here are a couple of examples of the candidate’s current, otherwise brilliant rhetoric, that trigger my theocracy alert sensibilities:

Website design By BotEap.comOn CNN at a town hall meeting, he said: My feeling is that the Scripture is about protecting the foreigner, the prisoner and the poor and that idea of ​​welcome. That’s what I get in the Gospel when I’m in church.

Website design By BotEap.comActually, I much prefer someone who feels this way all the time, with everyone, and not just when reading a gospel and/or in church.

Website design By BotEap.comThe ideal candidate also criticized the vice president in a way that just seems spiritually strange:

Website design By BotEap.comThe Vice President’s perspective has a lot more to do with sexuality and, I don’t know, a certain vision or righteousness.

Website design By BotEap.comI find it challenging to connecting Pence to sexuality, especially given his overdeveloped focus on righteousness, moral correctness, and righteousness.

Website design By BotEap.comWhen a candidate throws out quotes from holy books and inflicts what he or she considers revealed wisdom from religious dogmas and teachings, the clear message is that their political views are informed, guided, or related to spiritual or faith-based matters. . This, in turn, adds to the widespread delusion and hopes of religious fundamentalists that America is a Christian nation.

Website design By BotEap.comJames Madison believed that religious bondage shackles and weakens the mind and renders it incapable of any noble enterprise, any enlarged outlook.

Website design By BotEap.comI wonder if an otherwise attractive candidate would go along with President Madison or President Kennedy’s commitment cited above to an absolute separation of church and state.

Website design By BotEap.comIn a Washington Post article the other day, David Niose offered this take on an attractive candidate for the presidency:

Website design By BotEap.comThere’s a reason progressives have toned down religion in their ranks over time, and that reason is called progress. Science and empiricism, together with values ​​that recognize the dignity and worth of all individuals, are understood as the legitimate basis for a progressive political dialogue. (David Niose, Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s progressive Christianity is also nothing to celebratein Friendly Atheist by Hemant Mehta, April 21, 2019.)

Website design By BotEap.comWhat America needs now is a candidate somewhat in the Courtland Palmer mold, described below in a funeral oration for the colonel. Roberto Green Ingersoll:

Website design By BotEap.comHe investigated for himself the questions, problems and mysteries of life. Majorities were nothing to him. No bug could be old enough, popular enough, plausible enough, or profitable enough to cripple his judgment or keep his conscience clear. He was a believer in intellectual hospitality, in the fair exchange of thoughts, in good mental manners, in the comforts of the soul, in the chivalry of discussion. He believed in the morality of tools, that virtues are the friends of humanity, the seeds of joy. He lived and worked for his fellow men.

Website design By BotEap.comUnfortunately, neither George Washington, John F. Kennedy, James Madison nor Courtland Palmer are available, but there are many others who would promote a political agenda that would keep the government affairs of all people separate and distinct from the conflicting spiritual agendas of Christianity and others. religions