Why I'm Rooting for the Religious Right

Opinion Journal ^ | May 5, 2005 | James Taranto

[savagesusie]

the government does not belong in the bedroom

You should reflect more on your statements. The state does have a right to be in the bedroom when there is a rape, incest, or pedophilia--wouldn't you say? They should also have a right to outlaw sodomy, since it has great social and monetary cost to the public.

There is no such concept as the "right to privacy" under a Christian philosophy since God is omniscient. There is also no constitutional "right to privacy" (which has been created by activist judges) but there is a clause that states clearly--for the general welfare.

BTW, Christian "decency" standards are never the same as the radical feminists' concepts of decency.

[lucysmom]

I really believe that the in your facers will be held more accountable for the souls pushed away than those who did not engage in the great commission.

When my kids were small I had a very good friend who was a decent moral person, but wanted nothing to do with religion. I mean REALLY wanted nothing to do with it. She had had a very bad experience as a child with church.

My youngest daughter asked how she could be a good witness to my friend. I suggested we accept her as she was, pray for her and leave it up to God. My daughter was not very satisfied with what seemed to her a passive answer.

Within a month of that conversation with my daughter I got a call from my friend telling me that she had accepted Christ and had become a Christian. My older daughter said "what would really be weird is if we had dinner at her house and SHE said grace". Well, that happened too.

The profound lesson for us was the power of God to act and change a heart where every human avenue seemed blocked.

[Treader]

"Cramming it down people's throats'is making laws or using existing laws to enforce Christian standards of behavior. In other words, its doing the same thing leftists do when leftists are in power."...... Please provide a case example, before us all. Ya know, just so your proffer can be proven and thus accepted as fact.

[joesbucks]

Did your daugther keep niggling at the friend, or did the power of your prayer make the conversion.

I read an article on time or maybe it was an email. Someone was impressed by a person of very high moral character but a genuinely nice person. Somehow the first person decided to look into this "Christianity thing" only because at some later date the first person asked what made the person they were impressed by so nice, kind and of high moral character. It was at that time the nice person witnessed. The nice person of high moral character got the opportunity to witness because they didn't wear their Christianity on their sleeve. Their godly life was their great commission. God shined through this person without yelling at women going into abortion clinics, screaming at people as they walk down the street or constant harping you've got to find Christ.

My wife is like that person of high moral character and a good kind person. When I've wanted to turn away, it's her Godly like life and character that brings me back.

[Treader]

I clearly stated- "Please show the "separation of church & state" clause, pause or insinuation- in any United States Documents of Federation.".... and your feeble reply is a referance to a diplomatic treaty letter- over 20 years after the fact I prescribed. Okie dokey, eezee peezee...good luck with what ever it is you are doing.

[Vision Thing]

What we need in this country is a whole lot more of people minding their own business.

Whazzup, newbie.

Why don't you quit being a hypocrite and mind your own business.

[lucysmom]

To go beyond that is to assert that our government must ignore the plain fact that our society, indeed our common law, isfounded on Christian principles. There are those who think that we have put those principles on a non-religious footing, but that is merely a claim, a sectarian view, the view of the ten percent of our people who say they have no religion. This is not France, where that number is a much greater part of the whole,

Of course you can provide documentary proof for that.

The founding fathers came to the task of creating a new government from the experience of religion, its persecutions and wars in Europe. The colonies, themselves were not of one accord in belief or practice. Throw into this mix the Enlightenment and contact with native American thought, and you have a very diverse group with a common goal of forming a government that works for all. This is not to ignore the theological belief of citizens, but to respect that each has the right to his belief and no religion or sect has prominence over another.

We accomplish this by giving the greatest possible freedom to the individual to choose how he will live his life with as few laws as possible governing personal, "moral" behavior. For instance, the Bible forbids charging interest on loans to the poor without regard to whether the loan will ever be paid back or not and yet our laws allow rates of interest for poor credit risks that are clearly condemned. We accept that. Why then should we rail against abortion that is clearly allowed and even required under certain circumstances in Jewish tradition by creating a law against it? As long as we don't pass a law requiring abortion, we are allowing religious freedom.

So the laws should remain minimal while each of us, according to our own religion are held to a higher standard.

You might want to do some research on the Iroquois confederation and the influence it had on the structure of our government.

[bray]

Some people translate the separation to eliminating Christmas from the public square while celebrating Hanakah and Kawanza. The Govt can make no laws interfering with religious freedom.

Pray for W and Our Troops

[lucysmom]

Did your daugther keep niggling at the friend, or did the power of your prayer make the conversion.

My daughter had been niggling to the point where it was becoming a problem. God made the conversion, we got out of His way and on His side.

My wife is like that person of high moral character and a good kind person. When I've wanted to turn away, it's her Godly like life and character that brings me back.

A dear friend from my high school days has a daughter who is retarded and has other problems as well. It took 13 years to diagnose the source of her disability. He told me that had it not been for his wife's absolute integrity, he never would have been able to cope. It sounds like you are lucky enough to have a wife like her.

[Old Professer]

First, religion is wrong; faith is almoast essential to life and sanity, but in what or whom do we place our trust?

[Old Professer]

There is no "A" in almost and no skill in these old fingers, sorry.

[Tribune7]

but in what or whom do we place our trust?

The one who endows us with inalienable rights.

[lucysmom]

United States Documents of Federation.".... and your feeble reply is a referance to a diplomatic treaty letter- over 20 years after the fact I prescribed. Okie dokey, eezee peezee...good luck with what ever it is you are doing.

The Constitution clearly says that the treaty is the "supreme law of the land". Beyond that, it is sugnificant that the treaty was unamiously ratified by the Senate. I have read many arguments pro and con taking statements from one or another of the founding fathers and extralpilating from that, intent. In this treaty, we have a clear statement of intent, clear assent of the Senate, and a signature of the President of the United States giving credibility to the statement that the United States was not founded on the Christian religion.

The US Constitution was ratified on December 15, 1791, the treaty was signed November 4, 1796, not a period of 20 years. Perhaps you are confusing the first, failed government under the Articles of Confederation with our current system.

[New Orleans Slim]

"Whazzup, newbie."

What's up, oldbie?

[New Orleans Slim]

"You should reflect more on your statements. The state does have a right to be in the bedroom when there is a rape, incest, or pedophilia--wouldn't you say?"

Yeah, yeah. Cute. I'm talking about consenting adults.

"They should also have a right to outlaw sodomy, since it has great social and monetary cost to the public."

No you're wrong. How about an argument next time? (And is that same sex sodomy only, or all sodomy?)

"There is no such concept as the "right to privacy" under a Christian philosophy since God is omniscient."

Given that I am not a Christian, why should I care what Christian phislosophy says?

"There is also no constitutional "right to privacy" (which has been created by activist judges)"

Who's talking about right to privacy? I'm talking about small government not telling people how to live. If you disagree with small government, then you are a leftist. And I don't care if you couch your leftism in Jesus or Marx.

"BTW, Christian "decency" standards are never the same as the radical feminists' concepts of decency."

Funny, I can't tell the difference when either group starts whining about music videos/music/movies/TV/womens' fashions/etc.

[RobbyS]

First, as a person of Indian background, I do not accept the theory that the Iroquois had much influence on the Founders, except maybe as an example of a confederation. But leaving that aside, yes, Madison et al, had the horrible example of the European religious wars and the pernicious effect of contending state churches. More narrowly, however, we have the British experience, of English Puritans, Scots Presbyterians, and Catholics who were
hostile to the extension of the extension of the authority of the Church of England to the USA. The notion of an American bishop is one of the seldom recognized causes of the American Revolution. The American Whigs had in common a desire to do away with the whole English monarchy: No king, no Lords, No Church. Furthermore, there was a movement away from state churches. The underlying cause of this was, I think, the Great Awakening, which minimized theological differences and emphasized a common fervor and morality, a spirit of egalitarianism that was one of the engines of the Revolution. The English historian Christopher Dawson called John Wesley one of the Founders of the United States, since he embodied this spirit, even though he personally was an English Tory. The Baptists, among others, were
transformed during the generation before the war,and it was no accident that
they and Jefferson and Madison became political allies in Virginia and it was in their behalf that Jefferson proposed his famous statute of Religious Liberty.
From Jefferson's point of view the statute may reflect his adherence to the views of the Scottish Enlightenment,and in another way a natural evolution of English whiggery, but in practical terms it represented the interests of the Virginia Baptists. The growing influence of evangelicalism in every sect, especially after 1800, is the reason for the disappearance of the state churches that had survived the Revolution. It had nothing to do with the First Amendment, which was simply a reflection of current sentiment. At a time when state churches were being disestablished, a national church was certainly not in order. If you want to know the place of religion in the United States fifty years or more after the Declaration, read Justice Story' commentary on the Constitution, or Tocqueville.

[Trimegistus]

In the News/Activism forum, on a thread titled Why I'm Rooting for the Religious Right, Treader wrote:

"Your contradictions almost outweigh the worth of consideration- bah bah bah- little black sheep, have you any wool? "... and everthing back the way it was in Hoover's administration." What are you talking about???"

Your question is pretty incoherent, but I think you're asking what I mean by the Hoover crack. I was merely pointing out that for many modern conservatives (including myself), the important issues are national security, reining in the loony Left, and such -- and _not_ many of the "traditional conservative" issues. So that the rise of the "South Park conservatives" referenced in Taranto's original article doesn't necessarily mean a return to old-fashioned Mom and Apple Pie small-town Republican ideals.

Oh, and sheep say "Baa," not "Bah." Get it right next time.

[Sam the Sham]

The marketplace has no role whatsoever to play in moral questions.

Typical libertarian paganism.

[Sam the Sham]

Your foolishness ignores the fact that law is values. Education is values. There is no such thing as value free law or value free education. If we lose, expect your children to be taught at school to refrain from "heteronormative" language at Rainbow Day and expect Christian churches that preach that sodomy is sinful to be prosecuted for "hate speech".