But oh, that we might return to the America of John F. Kennedy, as reported by Timothy Egan in this post to the NY Times:
Forty-eight years ago an Irish Catholic presidential candidate said this about a bedrock principle of his:
“I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.”
And, “I believe in a president whose views on religion are his own private affair" [Timothy Egan, "Godless," Outposts: New York Times, 2008.06.11].
Or the America of Teddy Roosevelt, who said putting "In God We Trust" on our money "not only does no good, but it does positive harm." A statement like that today would lose a candidate Pennsylvania faster than not sleeping with a flag pin.
Timothy Egan writes about well-known pastor Rick Warren's opening his megachurch to homosexual dads and his vow, matched by megapastor Joel Osteen, to "not endorse a candidate, allow politics in the service, or issue thinly disguised election 'guidelines,' hint, hint [Egan].
Read Egan's article, and take heart: maybe we can get politics back to politics... the way the Founding Fathers intended.
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As a believer in Jesus Christ, I could not agree more that church and state do not mix well, and we should avoid attempting to blend them. A couple of years ago, Tony Blair said that that mixing church and state is "a bit unhealthy." Jesus said it better: "Render unto Caesar ..."
ReplyDeleteI do not, of course, mean to suggest that we should become a nation of atheists. But preachers who stand in the pulpit and spout politics, or politicians who seem to believe that they are special agents of God, give me the willies.
People like Jerimiah Wright, Michael Pfleger, John Hagee, and Pat Robertson!
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