Tuesday, October 28, 2008

There is No Such Thing as a Christian Democracy

from Huffington Post by Robbie Gennet

There is no such thing as a Christian Democracy. There is no such thing as a Muslim Democracy or a Jewish Democracy either (or a solely Heterosexual one, for that matter). True Democracy means True Equality and no religion sees itself as equal to all the others (and they feel especially unequal to secularism and atheism). Of all the problems we face in unifying the "United" States of America, one of the largest and most damaging is those who believe that their religion should be the official religion of our Democracy. In this country, the vast majority of them feel that the USA was founded as a Christian nation and should be run like one, which is anathema to the true Democratic ideals of our founding fathers. They never once think how they would feel if they were a minority and another religion was trying to assert its dominance over them in society. Let's look at two quotes from our presidential candidates that expose their feelings about American Democracy:

"Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values. It requires that their proposals be subject to argument, and amenable to reason. I may be opposed to abortion for religious reasons, but if I seek to pass a law banning the practice, I cannot simply point to the teachings of my church or evoke God's will. I have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths, including those with no faith at all." --Sen. Barack Obama, 6/28/06

"The Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian Nation." - John McCain on video.

And just for good measure, three quotes from some of our Founding Fathers as shown in Bill Maher's excellent film "Religulous":

  • "Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man." -- Thomas Jefferson
  • "This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it." -- John Adams
  • "Lighthouses are more useful than churches." -- Benjamin Franklin

... more after the jump.

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