Politics and Religious Illiteracyby William Edelen
This is NOT a political column. It is a column about religious and historical illiteracy spilling over into the political arena. Those of you who know me are well aware of the fact that I would write exactly the same column, whether the stupidities came out of the mouth of a Republican or Democrat or Independent. Arianna Huffington (Mrs. Michael Huffington) recently gave a speech here in San Francisco. I tremble before the mass of historical and religious illiteracy that poured forth from her mouth. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, as well as the other four of our first six Presidents who gave us the blueprint for this great country, must be in a state of total trauma. If the San Francisco Examiner is accurate, and I assume they are, as other sources gave the same account of her speech . . . here are only a few samples. I regret that space here so limits me to only a few. Arianna Huffington: "The Founding Fathers were spiritual people and the separation of church and state has been over-interpreted and misinterpreted." Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, who gave us the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, were not even remotely spiritual as she uses that word. They were Deists and Humanists, as they often clearly stated in their own words. James Madison: "Religion and government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together. A just government, instituted to perpetuate liberty, DOES NOT NEED THE CLERGY (or the church)." And again: "These are the fruits of the legal establishment known as Christianity: pride and indolence in the clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity, and in both clergy and laity, superstition, bigotry and persecution." So said the father of our Constitution and Bill of Rights. Thomas Jefferson: "There is not one redeeming feature in our superstition of Christianity. It has made one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites." So said the author of our Declaration of Independence. Arianna Huffington: "We need to welcome God back into our public schools." Her brand of "God," no doubt. Have you ever noticed that it is only the Bible "God" they want back in the schools? Certainly not the unknown Mystery of Buddhism, Taoism, Judaism, Native Americans, Classical Humanism and all the other dozens of intelligent concepts of that cosmic Mystery we call "God." Thomas Jefferson: "No power to prescribe ANY religious exercise, or to assume ANY authority in religious discipline, has been delegated to the general government. Prayer is a religious exercise. The Government has not been invested with the power of effecting ANY uniformity of time or matter regarding religious exercises. CIVIL POWERS ALONE have been given to the President of the United States." Arianna Huffington should have spent less time trying to walk on hot coals (one of her former spiritual exercises, she said) and more time down in the library studying. (By the way, she did blister her feet, she said.) She also wants Christmas displays (crèches) on public buildings and on public land and town squares. It is beyond belief that any human being could be so religiously and historically illiterate, with a husband running for the United States Senate. What does her husband believe about these vital issues? Even a serious sophomore student of history knows that in every instance where the state has become involved in religion, the results have been exactly as Madison said; "Superstition, bigotry and persecution" and more: hundreds of thousands have been butchered and the blood flowing became a flood. We have been left a precious gift from our Founders. Watch. Listen. Be aware of those who are trying to make a mess of it.
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