Monday 25 October 2010

Right, Even If For The Wrong Reasons

The American Founding Fathers were not Christians. They were Deists, and their position is exemplified by The Jefferson Bible, from which he excised all reference to Christ's Divinity, Resurrection or miracles. However, the actual phrase "the separation of Church and State" does not occur in the Constitution.

Rather, the First Amendment's reference to religion was designed to stop Congress, full of Deists as it was, from suppressing the Established Churches of several states, although they all disestablished them of their own volition later on. This might not have been what Christine O'Donnell meant. But there we are.

Like neoconservatism, the Tea Party is strikingly uninterested in abortion or in the definition of marriage. It is really about lower taxes and nothing else. Indeed, where religion is concerned, it embraces Sharron Angle's ties to Scientology, Christine O'Donnell's dabbling in witchcraft, and Rand Paul's Aqua Buddha, cheered on by the Moonie-founded, and until recently Moonie-owned, Washington Times.

1 comment:

  1. Yep, and lots of Ayn Rand references as well, "Going Galt" and all that sort of thing. What did she think of religion in general and Christianity in particular? What were her views on abortion? And yet, if William Jennings Bryan were running today, a real Christian populist, the Tea Partiers would probably be calling him an evil Commie. So much for American conservatism.

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