Separation of Church & State (*doesn't understand)

As a American citizen, I don't want a person's faith to be legislated upon me. I don't want Senator Kerry do "vote Catholic." Don't want Senator Edwards to "vote Methodist." I am a very strong supporter of the separation of church and state and I believe a man's faith should have no role in the way he serves his electorate.

As any person knows, President Bush and VP Cheney's past doesn't live up to todays mask they sport daily to the American people. Numerous DUI's and draft deferments are etched into their record. Their entire Bush family follows this pattern as well. When I say that I am asking you to look at their relatives and their daughters. I simply don't buy into the smoke and mirrors of these two men. I think John Kerry nailed it on the head during his speech at the DNC. He quoted Abraham Lincoln in saying, "I want to pray humbly that we are on God's side. Not that God is on our side."

The religous right are foot soldiers of the Republican Party. In fact, I consider it to be bigger and more powerful than the labor movement. But in the real world, the Republican party neither the Democratic party cares about John Q. Public's religous beliefs. Think about the real issues for a change, the ones that effect the downtrodden people of this nation, and not some issue like abortion that affects only the people that are put in that position. The GOP illustrated my point this past June in their primary. We all know Roy Moore, the "Ten Commandments Judge." Moore endorsed three candidates to run for judicial positions this past summer. Those three people were Pam Baschab, Jerry Stokes, and Tom Parker. Only one of those three were elected, Tom Parker. Now, the Republican party is turning against Parker and his platform. My local GOP county chair is for Robert H. Smith, Parker's opponent. And my neighbor whose uncle was appointed to a federal judgeship by the first President Bush is writing letters for Smith. The bottom line is that the Republican party doesn't want this to "drag" on them. They want to be looked upon as the religous, down home party, but they do not want candidates to run on the sole basis of being more religous than the other guy. Just watch, Parker will lose by 10% in heavily Republican Alabama because so many people from his own party will dissent from him and his views.

The GOP doesn't care about your faith, but they are more than glad to exploit it to recieve your vote. If Bush was running for some office in... I don't know say, a middle Eastern country, do you think he would be running around with his hands clasped together then? No, it wouldn't be the popular thing to do and he would likely lose just because of that. Just think about it. It is so clear.

Bamalefty: Good Post. When churches start telling their congregation what candidate to vote for and then some priests start telling their parish that if they vote a certain way (for Kerry) they must go to "confession" they obviously don't understand the role and oath taken by the Office of the President (or the US Supreme Court). The President's oath is to perform his duty and execute per the "US Constitution", serving the citizens of the United States in the fair and secular manner set forth by our founding documents.

Bush has made it clear he is incapable of "separation of church & state" and cannot separate his born-again Christian mentality from his sworn oath to serve our country as President. If he were, he would not go to war unless last resort; he would not push to change the US Constitution to appease a particular religious group on such issues as defining marriage, banning all abortions, etc. etc. He has already proved over and over that he is incapable of abiding by his sworn oath in the past 4 years and has no right to even run for another 4 years. I personally think he has performed enough impeachable acts in the past 4 years to not even be in this election at all.

If anyone did not see the horror show on CNN last Sunday night titled "The Fight Over Faith", it is re-showing on Saturday (3 showings). It is a must to see! Anyone watching this will see that Bush could be any one of the idiots screaming from the pulpit... especially the one screaming for Bush to Kill them all! (even if it takes 10 years). Yes, he truly believes (my opinion) that the only way to have democracy and cleanse the middle east is to kill them all. It is very scary.

I searched to see if CNN had any transcripts or tapes for "The Fight Over Faith" and could not find one. But, in my search, I learned it is supposedly scheduled for re-showing 3 times this Saturday. I did not find a transcript, but the CNN website reports this will be shown again "The Fight Over Faith" on CNN: Saturday, October 30th (6am & 8pm & 11pm Eastern Time). Mark your calendar if you have not yet seen this atrocity.

For those that did not see this horror show on it's first showing this past Sunday night, you might want to tune in to CNN this coming Saturday at one of the above reported re-showing times.
"The Fight Over Faith" it has a click for additional showings which currently show to be 3 times this Saturday.

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/presents/

And to prepare yourself for the full impact of the above showing, you might want to read (if you have not already) the NY Times Article before and after watching the above horror show: (if you do not have a free id to view below article on NY Times you will need to create a login and view the article). Read this NY Times article and then watch the horror show on CNN this Saturday. This combination is very scary. A real prelude to Sunday's Halloween.

"Without a Doubt"
Published: October 17, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/17/magazine/17BUSH.html?oref=login&pagewanted=1&oref=login

From JFK's speech, September 12, 1960, to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association

"But because I am a Catholic, and no Catholic has ever been elected President, the real issues in this campaign have been obscured--perhaps deliberately, in some quarters less responsible than this. So it is apparently necessary for me to state once again--not what kind of church I believe in, for that should be important only to me--but what kind of America I believe in.

I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute--where no Catholic prelate would tell the President (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote--where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference--and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the President who might appoint him or the people who might elect him.

I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish--where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source--where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials--and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all.

For while this year it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of suspicion is pointed, in other years it has been, and may someday be again, a Jew--or a Quaker--or a Unitarian--or a Baptist. It was Virginia's harassment of Baptist preachers, for example, that helped lead to Jefferson's statute of religious freedom. Today I may be the victim--but tomorrow it may be you--until the whole fabric of our harmonious society is ripped at a time of great national peril.

Finally, I believe in an America where religious intolerance will someday end--where all men and all churches are treated as equal--where every man has the same right to attend or not attend the church of his choice--where there is no Catholic vote, no anti-Catholic vote, no bloc voting of any kind--and where Catholics, Protestants and Jews, at both the lay and pastoral level, will refrain from those attitudes of disdain and division which have so often marred their works in the past, and promote instead the American ideal of brotherhood.

That is the kind of America in which I believe. And it represents the kind of Presidency in which I believe--a great office that must neither be humbled by making it the instrument of any one religious group nor tarnished by arbitrarily withholding its occupancy from the members of any one religious group. I believe in a President whose religious views are his own private affair, neither imposed by him upon the nation or imposed by the nation upon him as a condition to holding that office. "

China_cat: Thanks so much for sharing and posting this.
That's the kind of America (goals and mission), I would like to once again see displayed by the leaders of our country.