Really Pissed Off!

Exactly when did God find his or her way into American Politics? It appears that all of the Presidential candidates have had to define their religious beliefs, as an integral part of their candidacy and platform! Personally, I really don’t give a damn what their religious beliefs are, but more importantly, why should we be obsessed with this irrelevant matter. It should be irrelevant as far as the American public is concerned. It may or may not be for the particular candidate. How have we arrived at this point in History?

If you look at the History of this nation, the earliest settlers we’re religious zealots from Britain, such as the Pilgrims, arriving in New England so that they could practice their religion. Catholics chose to leave Britain and settle in Maryland and Georgia. Like any civilization in 17th Century Europe, religion played an important role in nearly everyone’s lives, and it had to be the “right” religion, depending where you lived. The Catholic Church and the Reformation were in a tug of war for the souls on mankind! Keeping this in mind, our Founding Fathers made certain that this practice would not occur in the newly established United States of America. This was so important to them that it was not only dealt with it in the First Amendment , but was the first matter addressed in that Amendment. It not only protects the people from religion, but it also protects the establishment of religion. They had seen how religion shaped both British and French politics in the 16th and 17th Century. They chose not to go that route, and with good reason.

So why are we so caught up in religion in America today? We are a nation of religions, not a “Religious Nation!” If you go back into our history, it appears that there is an ebb and flow to the importance of religion in America. Over the past century, we have seen how wars have a strong effect on how religious we are. During the Second World War, with heart of our civilization at stake, religion played a significant role in American life. After the Cold War began between the atheistic Soviet Union and the Free World, President Eisenhower approved the inclusion of “Under God” on Flag Day, June 14, 1954, to the Pledge of Allegiance to separate the two factions, and to place God on the side of the “Free World.” By the 1960s, religion began to take a back seat to many as science and “free thought” found its place in American society. School prayer was determined to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. The strong religious beliefs, which had played a large part in this nation’s history, began to temper.

As we have seen throughout the last decade, the pendulum has begun to swing in the other direction, not only with Christianity, but with the other two great monotheistic religions of Judaism and Islam. The rise of the Fundamentalism in the Religious Right in the Republican Party during the mid 1990s and the election of George W. Bush has moved religion into center stage to confront the American conscience. Israel is now inundated by Hassidic Jews from the former Soviet Union and the Third World who now confront the foundation of that nation. Most of all, we see how Fundamental Islam has impacted the Middle East, from it’s roots from the 1920s with the “Islamic Brotherhood” in Egypt to the present crisis facing the civilized world today. No matter where we turn, Fundamentalism has taken the upper hand in all of the three great monotheistic religions. We are at a crossroad in History, and we had better take a good look at the consequences as to how we proceed.

The United States has little to no control on what happens with Judaism or Islam, except to set an example how religion and politics can co-exist. We have to remember what our Founding Fathers feared most when they wrote the Constitution. Thomas Jefferson helped pass the 1786 Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which would become the foundation of the First Amendment, for the separation of church and state. Jefferson was vilified by many of his Virginians, but it passed and it has been the rock on which this nation has stood since we became a Constructional Democracy. We must “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and unto God things that are God’s." Each citizen has a right to practice his or her religion, but not at the expense of his fellow American. If we fail to do so, this nation, which is unique to the History of mankind, may well be doomed!