Posted on 04/03/2005 5:15:43 AM PDT by Joe Republc
WASHINGTON - By adopting religious views as political doctrine and legislation, the Republican Party is leading the country on a dangerous path that could trample the Constitution and lead to bitter division, says former Sen. John C. Danforth, a GOP stalwart.
The political success Republicans have had in harnessing the energy of Christian conservatives doesn't justify the GOP becoming their voice, Danforth said in an interview Wednesday.
"It becomes extraordinarily divisive and legislatures get themselves entangled with writing religious documents into legislative form," Danforth said. "It's exactly what the Constitution says we can't do and it's exactly what we can't do if we want to keep the country glued together.
"I'm surprised people have been so mute about this," he said. "I thought if nobody was saying this, I should."
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(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
We can't have laws against murder or theft since they are in the 10 Commandments.
Yeah John, we should base our laws on the results of slanted ABC News polls.
That way we can be modern, and popular in the eyes of the world.
Justice will surely prevail in such a culture.
</sarcasm>
Well said. Hear! Hear!
After all, we ALL can positively identify M-16 muzzle flashes....etc., etc.
Perhaps it's your non-religious thinking that makes you a very sharp wit.
Keep it up, but try religion some day...
What the heck does he think the laws and Constitution of this country are based on now?
I don't think Danforth is evil.
Compromising and stupid, perhaps.
Well, you could adopt the one used by the Founders of the USA--briefly, the Judaeo-Christian tradition.
If you consider nourishment and hydration artificial life support, we already have laws to prevent this. Especially from birth through age 18, for humans.
Animals have it even better, where their caregiver must provide sufficient hydration and nourishment under penalty of law. You can butcher an animal, or kill it outright. You cannot legally starve, dehydrate, or torture it to death.
According to Jefferson, "it was intended to be an expression of the American mind, and to give to that expression the proper tone and spirit called for by the occasion."
Of constitutional interpretation (the role of the judiciary), Jefferson advised:
"On every question of construction, carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed."
"The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time: the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them." - Jefferson
"Ideas have consequences," according to Weaver. Ideas such as those expressed by Jefferson and the other Founders produced the U. S. Constitution and the "miracle of America," an America that symbolizes liberty for oppressed peoples from all over the world.
Does Danforth, or any other 21st Century lawmaker believe that excluding ideas rooted in religious thought from the lawmaking process is somehow threatening to liberty?
If so, he should begin reading the prolific writings of the generation that conceived and brought forth this republic, including those who ratified it Constitution.
That should be "its Constitution."
Good Point!
Liberalism is its own religion.
I wonder what made him crawl back into the public eye and what he's angling for. I thought he was retired and would retire to a trailer in the Ozarks.
I'll bet he wants a top-echelon job with the amoral World Council of Churches.....or something at the amoral United Nations.
Leni
I'll be more specific. How do you make the choice and avoid disagreement?
On this thread alone I see Christianity (with and without Methodists and Episcopalians,) Judeo-Christian and even Liberalism as a religion. Ok, the Liberalism line is probably tongue in cheek, but I doubt you'll ever get total agreement on what is included under the rubric of Judeo-Christian. There will always be disagreement when faith alone is the question.
I know devout Christians that are free market capitalists and devout Christians that are fervent socialists. I recall great pushback when a few ministers (Falwell, Roberts) decided an election had validated their faith. I also recall religious folks of one group pushing back strongly on John Kennedy; worried that he'd be more loyal to the Pope than to the Constitution.
I know Republicans who switched to Democrat because of concerns that the Religious Right was becoming too dominant.
I'd hate to see the conservative movement be set back again because folks are perceived to be confusing an election win with validation of their faith over all others.
You guys go ahead and have the last word; this is too much like arguing taste. I'm checking out of this thread.
Amen from the Recovering Episcopalian corner of Free Republic.
Consent of the governed.
The Schiavo case ought to be particularly disturbing to people who doubt the existence of a Supreme Being, Heaven, and Hell. If there is no life after death, then all any of us has is his or her life here on earth, making that life all the more significant and inviolable to its possessor.
Probably at the time Elizabeth I founded the church. She deliberately combined as much of Protestantism and Roman Catholicism as feeasible under herself as the head of the church with the political objective of creating a church that could appeal to as many of her subjects as possible. By doing that successfully she reduced the upheavals surrounding the Reformation and prevented any successful Catholic revolt.
Not even a pet rattlesnake.
Our lawyer who was Episcopalian, and now is a So. Baptist wrote a letter to the church heads after he was saved and told them the reason that he was leaving was because they were sending his family to hell. I am sure that, that went over well.
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