Religious left not right

(The Signal 2.22)

Kudonts to Jim Wallis whose recent article in Time claims that the era of the Religious Right is over as more pastors and congregations abandon partisan politics. Religious Right is the label commonly given to groups who support right-wing (aka Republican) politics as a part of their religious beliefs. Now I don’t know what Wallis was thinking here, but it is clear to me that he is part of the growing, misinformed public who thinks that you can be both a Christian and a Democrat. Obviously the pastors and congregations he is referring to are not Christian ones because it is pretty clearly stated in the Bible that to follow Jesus you must be a Republican (not sure where it is, but I have faith that it is there). Just take a look at Jesus’ Republican bias: he talked to his opposition rather than waging war, ministered to the lower-class, administered free health care and supported gun control (i.e. there weren’t any) all of which Bush and the Republicans are still supporting today albeit in their own special, similar yet opposite kind of way. For a guy who wrote a book called God’s Politics, Wallis should know that God gave us free will so that we could in turn legislate His laws to non-believers thus taking away their free will to oppose Him thereby legally allowing them to not choose to not follow Him. What good is religion anyway if it remains personal? The best kind of religion is a mandated one, just like the one in England that our ancestors came to America to escape. What were they thinking? Oh right, faith excuses rational thought. All that aside, we know that our country was founded on Christian doctrine since Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence, and he is renowned for his Christian/Deistic beliefs/doubts as seen in his Jefferson Bible/trinity bashing. Hopefully the Religious Right will remember this in times of struggle and soldier on for years to come.


Supplemental Material
Many people believe and/or try to make the case that America was founded on Christian doctrine by Christian men. What is the historical basis for this argument, you might ask? It is nothing more than people trying to rewrite history to further their own political agenda. Some Founding Fathers were no doubt Christians, but many of them, like Thomas Jefferson were confirmed Deists. TJ even created his own version of the Bible, known as the Jefferson Bible, which did not include any of Jesus' miracles or anything else that might hint to Jesus' divinity. In an 1814 letter, TJ says, "Christianity neither is, or ever was, part of the common law." As a former Secretary of State, Vice President, President, and author of the Declaration of Independence, I think he is a reliable source for what was or was not the basis of our government. Furthermore, the Senate ratified the Treaty of Tripoli in 1797, which explicitly says, "The Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion." Ergo, THE FACT THAT IT SAYS "GOD" IN THE CONSTITUTION DOES NOT MEAN THAT OUR COUNTRY WAS FOUNDED ON CHRISTIANITY. In conclusion, myth busted.

As for certain political parties and politicians who try to play the God card in support if their ideology, I wouldn't stand too close to them for fear of being struck by lightning. God is not a Republican. God is, of course, not a Democrat either, but Republicans are notorious for this line of thinking. When it comes to politics, if your only reason for supporting legislation is because it coincides with your personal beliefs (e.g. being anti-gay marriage because the Bible says it's wrong) then find another reason to support opinion. You cannot expect to legislate religion in a country with a separated church and state. Let the Bible be your personal guide for living if you believe it, but do not then turn around and try to make it law for someone else. God gave us free will so we could choose to follow him. By trying to make the Bible law, you are taking that away which God himself granted. "The Bible says so" argument is meaningless to non-believers, so for something to pass our officially non-Christian-based government, it needs to be supported by something else.