Need help coming up with question for panel on religion and politics.

Hi all.

I've been assigned the task of moderating a panel discussion sponsored by my Democratic club on politics and religion. The title of the discussion is: "How Would Jesus Vote? The Intersection of Politics and Religion." The panelists will be progressive clergy and religious readers from a variety of backgrounds and faiths.

My Democratic club is primarily comprised of LGBT folk and straight allies, but when we host events such as this we extend an invitation to other Democratic and progressive groups and usually get a good mix of people attending.

Now here's my request for help ... What questions would you like to see a panel on religion and politics answer?

Any ideas you have would be appreciated! ... Thanks DUers!

down through the ages. Should democrats attempt to accommodate religion ...i.e. compromise with worshipers who profess a "moderate", "enlightened", tolerant or metaphorical variety of religion... or should they challenge the foundation of religion itself as "intrinsically" ( to use a Ratzingerism) irrational and therefore intrinsically dangerous and destructive?

Why are conservative Christians hostile to liberal Christians and people of other faiths?

If conservative Christians follow Jesus, why do they always quote the Old Testament and Paul yet never quote Jesus?

Based on our last election, is Christianity more about political philosophy and less about Jesus these days?

If the Founding Fathers intended a Christian nation, why were some of them Deists, atheists, and Unitarians who fall outside of Christianity and not one of our founding documents mention God nor Jesus and only uses generic religious language or Deist terms like Nature's Creator?

Lately, we have heard about liberal bias in college. Why make such an issue out of it when most conservatives don't like proper education, scholarship, and science in favor of evangelical fundamentalist Christianity and emotional reactions over reason as seen by popular conservative writers and some states considering adding intelligent design theory into schools?

As we enter the 21st century, explain why Christians have problems with sociocultural change and advances in science and technology that have helped people live longer, healthier lives?

If evangelical Christians are against homosexual sodomy, are they against heterosexual sodomy too or do they explore that sexual practice?

How can Christians claim the Bible is the word of God yet never read it in context of it's history or even the chapters of it while they take quotes to support any view they have?

What does the panel think of the ancient gospels discovered in Eygt that are dated back to a time when Jesus was still alive?

That should take all night and probably start a few shouting matches

Peter 2:10? What the hell is that?

The second book of Peter, second chapter, 10th verse.

I assume a religious panel might actually discuss the book it's religion is founded on?

That would get the panel to argue?

all of us, Theists of all views and Atheists, live together peacefully? When should the government step into our private affairs and in what ways?

are we talking about mutual utopian world-views?

examine the basic tenets of each, compare them, see where they differ and concur, and discuss how the logical extension of each are compatible with the other.

church of fascist Italy?

"Whenever we remove a brick from the wall that was designed to separate religion and government, we increase the risk of religious strife and weaken the foundations of our democracy" ~Justice John Paul Stevens

"It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself." ~Thomas Jefferson

“The number, the industry, and the morality of the Priesthood, and the devotion of the people have been manifestly increased by the total separation of the Church and the State.” ~James Madison, Father of the Constitution

“The establishment of the chaplainship to Congress is a palpable violation of equal rights, as well as of Constitutional principles: The tenets of the chaplains elected shut the door of worship against the members whose creeds and consciences forbid a participation in that of the majority.” ~James Madison

“But it is only proposed that I should recommend, not prescribe a day of fasting and prayer. That is, that I should indirectly assume to the United States an authority over religious exercises, which the Constitution has directly precluded them from… I do not believe it is in the best interests of religion to invite the civil magistrate to direct its exercises, its discipline, or its doctrines; nor of the religious societies, that the General Government should be invested with the power of effecting any uniformity of time or matter among them. Fasting and prayer are religious exercises; the enjoining them an act of discipline. Every religious society has a right to determine for itself the times of these exercises, and the objects proper for them, according to their own particular tenets; and this right can never be safer than in their own hands, where the Constitution has deposited it.” ~Thomas Jefferson, just before the end of his second term, in a letter to Samuel Miller--a Presbyterian minister--on January 23, 1808; from Willson Whitman, arranger, Jefferson's Letters, Eau Claire, Wisconsin: E. M. Hale and Company, ND, pp. 241-242.

“The principle that government may accommodate the free exercise of religion does not supersede the fundamental limitations imposed by the Establishment Clause,” LEE v. WEISMAN, 505 U.S. 577 (1992).

"Every government practice must be judged in its unique circumstances to determine whether it constitutes an endorsement or disapproval of religion." ~Justice O'Connor concurring in Lynch v. Donnelly 465 U.S. 668 (1984).

“If the Court had struck down legislative prayer today, it would likely have stimulated a furious reaction. But it would also, I am convinced, have invigorated both the "spirit of religion" and the "spirit of freedom." ~Justice BRENNAN, dissenting in MARSH v. CHAMBERS, 463 U.S. 783 (1983).

“Justice Kennedy submits that the endorsement test is inconsistent with our precedents and traditions because, in his words, if it were "applied without artificial exceptions for historical practice," it would invalidate many traditional practices recognizing the role of religion in our society." This criticism shortchanges both the endorsement test itself and my explanation of the reason why certain long standing government acknowledgments of religion do not, under that test, convey a message of endorsement. Practices such as legislative prayers or opening Court sessions with "God save the United States and this honorable Court" serve the secular purposes of "solemnizing public occasions" and "expressing confidence in the future" These examples of ceremonial deism do not survive Establishment Clause scrutiny simply by virtue of their historical longevity alone. Historical acceptance of a practice does not in itself validate that practice under the Establishment Clause if the practice violates the values protected by that Clause, just as historical acceptance of racial or gender based discrimination does not immunize such practices from scrutiny under the Fourteenth Amendment” Allegheny, 492 U.S. at 628 (O'Connor, J., concurring).

“The mixing of government and religion can be a threat to free government, even if no one is forced to participate.” JUSTICE BLACKMUN, with whom JUSTICE STEVENS and JUSTICE O'CONNOR join, concurring in LEE v. WEISMAN, 505 U.S. 577 (1992).

“At one time it was thought that this right merely proscribed the preference of one Christian sect over another, but would not require equal respect for the conscience of the infidel, the atheist, or the adherent of a non-Christian faith such as Islam or Judaism. But when the underlying principle has been examined in the crucible of litigation, the Court has unambiguously concluded that the individual freedom of conscience protected by the First Amendment embraces the right to select any religious faith or none at all.” WALLACE v. JAFFREE, 472 U.S. 38 (1985).

The Treaty of Tripoli drafted during the administration of George Washington, signed and unanimously ratified during the administration of John Adams declared:

Article 11 of the Treaty with Tripoli declared, "The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion..." (Treaties and Other International Acts of the United States, ed. Hunter Miller, Vol. 2, U. S. Government Printing Office, 1931, p. 365

When Adams signed it, he added this statement to his signature "Now, be it known, that I, John Adams, President of the United States of America, having seen and considered the said treaty, do, by and within the consent of the Senate, accept, ratify and confirm the same, and every clause and article thereof."

"The clergy, by getting themselves established by law and ingrafted into the machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against the civil and religious rights of man." --Thomas Jefferson, letter to Jeremiah Moor, 1800.
"No religious reading, instruction or exercise, shall be prescribed or practiced inconsistent with the tenets of any religious sect or denomination." --Thomas Jefferson: Elementary School Act, 1817. ME 17:425
"Believing... that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their Legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church and State." --Thomas Jefferson, letter to the Danbury Baptists, 1802. ME 16:281

"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical." --Thomas Jefferson: Bill for Religious Freedom, 1779. Papers 2:545

" the bill for establishing religious freedom... was finally passed,... a singular proposition proved that its protection of opinion was meant to be universal. Where the preamble declares that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed, by inserting the word "Jesus Christ," so that it should read "a departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion." The insertion was rejected by a great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend within the mantle of its protection the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan, the Hindoo and infidel of every denomination." --Thomas Jefferson: Autobiography, 1821. ME 1:67
"Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law." ~Thomas Jefferson

“The Establishment Clause prohibits government from making adherence to a religion relevant in any way to a person's standing in the political community. Government can run afoul of that prohibition in two principal ways. One is excessive entanglement with religious institutions .... The second and more direct infringement is government endorsement or disapproval of religion. Endorsement sends a message to non-adherents that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community, and an accompanying message to adherents that they are insiders, favored members of the political community.” 465 U.S. at 687-88 (O'Connor, J., concurring).

"In 1800, some attacked, Mr. Jefferson, for his belief in church-state separation by, saying his election in 1800: 'The effects would be to destroy religion, introduce immorality and loosen all the bonds of society.' That was said about Mr. Jefferson over 200 years ago simply because he believed in the principle of church-state separation as a way to accomplish religious liberty." ~Rep. Chet Edwards before the U.S. SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON CONSTITUTION, CIVIL RIGHTS AND PROPERTY RIGHTS, June 8, 2004 Tuesday

people, thousands of them. WWJD?