Christian Nationalism - Anti-American And Unconstitutional

 

Throughout history, religion has been used to justify violence - both between countries and inside countries. Those convinced they are members of God's "true" religion have felt justified to vilify, attack, and even kill those who disagreed with them. Even different sects of the same religion have been guilty of this bigotry. And the result has been centuries of violence and death.

Our Founding Fathers were well aware of this, and they did not want their new nation to fall into that trap of religious violence. So they created a secular nation that would stay out of religious issues. They made sure of this by including their wishes in the Constitution. They included three things in that Constitution:

* The government would not establish a religion or show favoritism toward one.

* The government would not keep any citizen from freely exercising the religion of his/her choice.

* There would be no religious test for holding government office.

For the last couple of centuries, that secular nation has survived, and those three rules have allowed the nation to avoid the worst religious strife and violence. Every American citizen has been free to engage in any religion they wish (or no religion), and members of different religions and sects within a religion (or no religion) continue to serve in government positions.

Because this system of keeping the government out of religion has worked so well, one might assume that Americans would wish to keep that system intact. And most Americans do. Poll after poll has shown that most Americans want to keep their religion and their government separate. But there is a minority that disagrees.

The Christian Nationalists don't believe in secular government or the constitutional protections it offers. They want to force all Americans to abide by their own religious beliefs, even though they are only a tiny minority of Americans. They would subjugate Americans of other religions, other christian sects that disagrees with their views, and those who prefer to engage in no religion at all.

They claim the United States was created as a christian nation. It wasn't. The Founders were clear to not do that. They intentionally created a secular government that would honor all religions. And even at the founding go this nation, there were citizens of many religions (and no religion).

They claim the Founders were all christians. Also untrue. While many were christian, others were deists, and some had no religious beliefs. What they all agreed on was that the secular government they created would stay out of religion.

They want all government laws to be based on their own particular view of the Bible, and would reject multiculturalism and equality. And they want all government officials to be christian.

Their views are blatantly unconstitutional, anti-democracy, and anti-American. We must fight hard against their pernicious views of America.

Why Is Religion The Default Position In Our Secular Nation?

This is part of a thought-provoking article by Kate Cohen in The Washington Post: 

Despite the promise of our Constitution, we don’t really live in a secular nation. . . .

In our country, religion is the default, and the burden of opting out — even the burden of knowing you have the right to — falls on the nonbeliever. . . .

I’m so tired of this.

The first time I remember opting out was in elementary school in rural Virginia, when my classmates went to learn about Jesus every week in a trailer off school grounds. I got to stay behind in an empty classroom because I was Jewish.

Now, I’m an atheist and I live in New York state, which requires public schools to lead students in the Pledge of Allegiance every day. In theory, when my children were younger, they had the right to get out from “under God” as long as they didn’t mind being, you know, those kids. The only way not to stand out was to stand and recite, like everyone else.

The Supreme Court doesn’t think I should mind. In 2014, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, in Greece v. Galloway, upheld the constitutionality of prayer at town board meetings, no matter that religious prayer might exclude some people. “Should nonbelievers choose to exit the room during a prayer they find distasteful,” he wrote, “their absence will not stand out as disrespectful or even noteworthy.” No problem, nonbelievers: You are free to leave.

I am grateful for my civil rights and am keenly aware that many countries afford no such escape clause. But mine is supposed to be a nation whose laws and institutions do not endorse any religion, even as they offer protection to those who believe.

In a secular nation, if your public school required you to get your children vaccinated, but your religious beliefs prevented you from doing so, you could get an exemption — not from lifesaving public health regulations, of course, but from public school.

In a secular nation, if you believed Islam prohibited you from seeing an image of the prophet Muhammad, you could choose not to look.

That’s what an art history professor at Hamline University in Minnesota apparently assumed, when she warned students in her syllabus and in her class last fall that she intended to show a 14th-century painting of the prophet. Thinking she was living in a secular nation, she offered her students the chance to opt out and then showed the image. She was fired.

Of course, people can always sue; the professor is. But that seems backward, like having to take special steps to make your phone protect your privacy. Our rights should come standard right out of the box.

In January, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the National Women’s Law Center filed suit in Missouri, arguing that the state’s extreme abortion ban imposes a narrow religious belief on everyone else. Indeed, lawmakers had cited religion as motivation for restricting the reproductive choices of the people of Missouri, and the law itself refers to “Almighty God” as “the author of life.”

In a secular nation, a legislator who thought abortion was a sin would absolutely have the right not to have one.

In our nation, by contrast, after that religious belief is enshrined into law, someone has to make the legal argument that Missourians “have the absolute right to live free from the religious dictates of others.”

They do — they have that right. We all have that right. It’s right there in the establishment clause of the First Amendment. But as long as this country’s default setting is religious — both culturally and politically — we have to fight for it.

Percentage Celebrating X-Mas As Secular Holiday Growing

Poll after poll has shown that religion is shrinking in this country. There are less religious people with each generation. That has not kept anyone from celebrating Christmas though. Americans love the Christmas holiday as much as ever. It's just that many now see it as a secular holiday rather than a religious one.

Note that in the last 14 years the percentage who think Christmas should be celebrated as a strongly religious holiday has shrunk by 12 points -- from 47% to only 35%. The percentage saying it's not too religious has grown by 7 points -- from 19% to 26%.

I think this trend will continue in the coming years, as religion becomes less important in the lives of Americans.

Secular Caucus Had Another Overflowing Crowd At The Texas Democratic Party State Convention

The picture above is from an excellent article in The Texas Observer by David R. Brockman. It shows the crowd gathering for the Secular Caucus at the Texas Democratic Party Convention. The crowd grew even larger than this, and by the time it started, there were people lining the walls and standing just outside the door. It was a GREAT turnout -- just like two years ago at the initial Secular Caucus.

Guess how many states have a secular caucus at their state convention (of either party)? The answer is one -- Texas! That makes me very proud of my state and my party. The secular movement is growing in all 50 states, but the Texas Democratic Party has welcomed secular voters (humanists, agnostics, atheists, and others) into their party.

NOTE -- As some of you may have realized, the old guy in the blue shirt down front is me. And sadly, the photo looks just like me.

Only 55% Say They Celebrate Xmas As Religious Holiday

On this holiday, celebrated by 88% of all Americans, I thought you might find this survey by the Pew Research Center interesting. They surveyed 1,503 adults across the nation between November 29th and December 4th, and their survey has a margin of error of 2.9 points.

It shows that most people are simply not very interested in the right-wing evangelical myth of a "war on christmas". Only 37% think a christian-only display should be put up on government property. Another 29% don't mind a display being put up as long as non-christian groups can also put a display up, and 26% don't want any religious displays on government property.

Americans are not very worried about whether businesses tell them "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays" either. Only 32% think a business should say "Merry Christmas", and 15% say they should say "Happy Holidays". A 53% majority say it simply does not matter which is used.

The third chart is most interesting to me. It shows that christmas is becoming a secular holiday in this country. Only 55% say they celebrate it as a religious holiday, while 33% say it is a secular holiday for them (and the rest don't celebrate it as either). Note that the younger the respondent, the more likely they see christmas as a secular holiday. It would not surprise me if when the next generation comes of age the percentage celebrating it as a religious holiday will fall below majority level.

Secular And Cannabis Caucuses Very Popular At Convention

The photos above are from the first two Democratic convention caucuses I attended on Friday. The top picture is from the secular caucus. About 275 people showed up for that. The second picture is from the cannabis caucus. That one had a turnout of at least 500 delegates.

Those are some very nice numbers -- considering it was the first time the state convention had scheduled a caucus on either subject, and there were numerous other caucuses scheduled at the same time. I'm proud of both caucuses, and would gave to say that their first foray into holding their own caucus was a huge success.

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The third caucus I attended on Friday was the caucus of my senate district -- Senate District #31. I was elected by caucus members to serve on the permanent Convention Credentials Committee (and I thoroughly enjoyed fulfilling those duties).

Our senate district also elected two members of the State Democratic Executive Committee (SDEC). They are Suzanne Gentry (from the Midland/Odessa area) and Mike Purcell (from Amarillo). Both are popular and hard-working Democrats, and were overwhelmingly elected by the SD 31 caucus.

NOTE -- I apologize for the poor quality of the pictures. I am not much of a photographer, and I only had my I-Pad with me instead of my camera.