This Is Not Helpful
August 29th, 2006 | by Todd W |I don’t want to live under a Theocracy of any form. Human history is rife with the misery that follows when one class of people claim to speak for God. Regardless of the motive or how benign a faith might claim to be, God as a ruler of Man is not appropriate so long as fallable men represent the unknowable will of God.
The Religious Right of the GOP has long been an uncomfortable faction for me. I’m not interested in politicians being too literal with Biblical law, just as I am not interested in living under Sharia.
That isn’t to say anything of religious origins has no place in society. On the contrary, the secular aspects of the Ten Commandments are a very reasonable core for a just society, and somewhat codify Natural Law. We shouldn’t toss them aside strictly because they are from the Judeo-Christian ethic. But we shouldn’t enshrine “Thou shall not worship false gods” right up there with “Thou shall not kill”.
Katherine Harris, of Florida 2000 fame, has shot off her mouth in an entirely inappropriate way.
U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris told a religious journal that separation of church and state is “a lie” and God and the nation’s founding fathers did not intend the country be “a nation of secular laws.”
The Republican candidate for U.S. Senate also said that if Christians are not elected, politicians will “legislate sin,” including abortion and gay marriage.
I don’t know where Ms. Harris received her education on the nation’s founding, but the Founders were mostly Deists, who generally rejected Christianity and all revealed religions. They were quite specific about theology being seperate from politics, and while they acknowledged the Divine Providence in Creation, they believed that God did not intervene in earthly matters. A quick search of the Federalist Papers reveal a handful of references to religion, and mostly in the context of securing the freedom of the citizenry to worship as they please.
Ms. Harris continues -
Separation of church and state is “a lie we have been told,” Harris said in the interview, published Thursday, saying separating religion and politics is “wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers.”
I suppose one could make the case that electoral outcome is a result of God moving us to go to the voting booth. I wonder if Ms. Harris would then accept the Presidency of Bill Clinton as divinely inspired? How about Hillary pulling it off in 2008?
Ms. Harris and her fellow travelers are free to think as they choose. I wish they would go form their own party and become a fringe minority, but for whatever reason, the rapidly diminishing GOP will continue to embrace this stuff.
It is getting harder and harder for me to find a party with which I can remain comfortably affiliated.
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