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Mainstream Alabama Baptists |
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December 2007 From the Executive Director ...
Christmas Season has given way this year to Campaign Season. Various states moving their presidential caucuses and primaries into January and February resulted major pushes in December by all the candidates. As these election campaigns heat up, it seems the candidates are trying to “out faith” each other. In the aftermath of the Moral Majority, the Christian Coalition, and other conservative Christian organizations seeking to impact the political process and elect candidates committed to their agenda, the faith of candidates has become a hot button issue for many voters. Evidently, for conservative Christians, the ability of Mitt Romney to govern fairly is not a question. For them he is disqualified by his religion. He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons). Barack Obama is a lifelong Christian, but many who oppose him are circulating a rumor on the Internet that he is a closet Moslem. Article VI of the U.S. Constitution states, “… no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” Ideally, voters should not question a candidate’s religion, only their potential to govern wisely and fairly and to be a benefit to the nation as it’s leader. Realistically, however, voters will choose those who share their values and religion.In the midst of all of this, calls are being heard for us to return to our roots as a “Christian Nation.” Remarkably, a majority of voters assume that the United States was founded as such, a Christian nation. In reality the country was established as a secular state, with no governmental preference given to any religion. Those who had a hand in its founding were believers, either Christian or deist. But the “no religious test” clause in the constitution confirms that they intended a secular state. Then, at the prodding of colonial Baptists, the First Amendment was added, forbidding the government from “establishing” a religion or interfering with the “free exercise” of religion. In the words of Thomas Jefferson, a wall of separation between church and state was established. Anyone who disputes these facts is engaging in revisionist history, claiming the nation’s founders did what the revisionists wish they had done. It is one thing to curry the favor of the religious right in campaign propaganda. It will be another thing, and tragic for our nation, if we elect a president who believes in the myth of a “Christian Nation.” Such a one, I fear, will further compromise the line between church and state, in the manner the current administration has done with “faith based initiatives.”
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