If the Religious Right makes good on its threat to start its own political party it will be very interesting to see if they will admit that this is a pluralistic country and that the president is president of all the people. The exclusive language put forth by Dr. Dobson has no place in the government. I certainly defend his right to speak up about his beliefs and to try to influence government policy. But a political party representing an exclusive Christian position would violate constitutional law if it began treating the government as a theocracy. As much as civil liberties have disappeared under this current administration I shudder to think what this political party would consider appropriate obedience to God. Would they support laws against all that they consider blasphemous? What would the fate of Muslims in America be under an administration of their candidate.
I do share Pastor Tom's assessment that splitting the vote on the right would be helpful to any candidate to the left. I would certainly welcome that.
Blog you later,
Pastor Ian
Monday, October 1, 2007
DR. DOBSON, WHAT ABOUT THE CONSTITUTION?
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7 comments:
In all honesty, Mr. Lynch, I think alot of this sabre-rattling from the Religious Right concerning Iran and their president is more jealousy than actual distaste. Iran is what some of these folks would like America to be. A theocratic dictatorship of fundamentalists where a holy book is the law of the land and punishments for dissent are swift and painful.
I like the Idea of being accountable to God. I would not be in favor of the government making me be accountable to God. And never should we create an atmosphere where only Christians of a specific theology feel welcome. That would be like domestic terrorism.
Seamus, welcome to my strange little corner of cyberspace. I'm not sure if your psychoanalysis of the Religious Right is on target, but the sabre-rattling part is most definitely correct. In Iran, the president has limited powers (e.g. can't even appoint the cabinet) so any threats from him are rather idle. He also has an approval rating so low that it rivals our own democratically elected president's poll numbers. Iran, even moreso than Iraq did, has cooperated with IAEA,has the right to pursue nuclear energy and so far there is no evidence that they are pursuing nuclear weaponry. Perhaps we should let democracy takes its course and get this madman voted out of office...both in Iran and the US.
Whoa, madman in the U.S.!!?? He's back folks, with keypad and coffee ready to do battle with all who exhibit any kind of minor intelligence. Too bad this blog wasn't read my more would-be Ians. The world would be even more interesting than it already is. 3 cheers and Guinness for our man of steel..er, renewable aluminum?
BTW, Governor Huckabee??!! I like the guy, but that's like trying to get Aunt B or Opie elected. Yikes. Try again Tom.
Thanks Ian.
I'm sorry, my sarcasm doesn't travel well on the interweb. I understand how Iran's government work and know that their president holds limited power and is unpopular. However I don't think many Americans know this and the GOP is in no hurry to fill them in. They've got an empty slot in the "Enemy/Bogeyman" section (Osama just isn't cutting it anymore) and Romney, et al seem to have found their man.
As the son of a nuclear engineer, I'm all in favor of peaceful nuclear power and agree that Iran has been a lot more forthcoming with things than Iraq ever was, however Iran's puppet-master role with Hamas makes me wary of them in that regard.
Finally, while "Jesus is just all right with me" (thank you Doobies), to quote the 1797 Treaty Of Tripoli...
"The United States is not a Christian nation any more than it is a Jewish or a Mohammedan nation."
-Seamus, who forgot his bloody password.
Seamus, I could hear your sarcasm just fine, did you not hear mine?
Indeed the "puppet master" issue regarding terrorism is a clear problem, but it is not begging for a military solution. International police investigation and international courts need to be used first. The US has rejected this avenue and then has the gall to say that war is the last resort after taking a shortcut to get there.
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