Okay, we know she doesn't know anything about the Constitution, because she demonstrated repeatedly during the campaign that she had no idea what a vice president does. But isn't it time we started enforcing the separation of church and state that is contained repeatedly in the Constitution?
This is from a Monday interview of Caribou Barbie (Sarah Palin, of course) on Fox News:
Faith is a very big part of my life. And putting my life in my creator's hands - this is what I always do. I'm like, OK, God, if there is an open door for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I'm like, don't let me miss the open door. Show me where the open door is. Even if it's cracked up a little bit, maybe I'll plow right on through that and maybe prematurely plow through it, but don't let me miss an open door. And if there is an open door in (20)12 or four years later, and if it is something that is going to be good for my family, for my state, for my nation, an opportunity for me, then I'll plow through that door.
Let me start off by saying, I don't really care about anyone's personal religious beliefs, especially those of politicians. I don't have a problem if they pray silently before every Cabinet meeting, or they ask God for guidance on an issue that vexes them.
I just want them to keep it to themselves.It's none of my business, no matter what they do for a living.
Religion and faith are very personal activities. Even when you go to church, it's still a personal
activity; you just happen to be sharing with like-minded people who are in
that church of their own free will. That has nothing in common with running the government. No matter how much they pretend it is, this country is not a church, and the president is not my pastor.
It's personal, and you have to understand that most people don't believe the same way you do when it comes to God. I know; for the last 40 years, the neocons have been trying to lump all "Christians" into one group, and tell you you're in "the majority," but the fact of the matter is, there are hundreds of Christian sects, and every one of them believes something different about God and Jesus Christ. For example, you Catholics and Mormons out there; did you know that quite a few of the other Christian sects refer to you as "cultists"? And you evangelicals and fundamentalists; were you aware that most other Christians think you're loons?
In other words, there are many good reasons why the founders consciously chose to remove religion and faith from the secular government. One of the most obvious is, whose God do we choose? I mean, right now, "Christians" are the majority, and a large chunk of them are trying to disregard the separation, and impose their will on the rest of us, with the evangelicals insinuating that this is a "Christian Nation." Well, okay evangelicals; what happens when immigration causes Christians to become a minority? What if, fifty years from now, the majority becomes Muslim? Are you willing to sit back and watch passively as they impose Muslim law on the country? Not likely.
Religion and politics have to stay separate.
Now, I suppose you're wondering what this has to do with Caribou Barbie's comments above.
It's not the
comments above; it's the mindset they contain, and the inappropriateness of
that mindset in the political realm. So what -- God will decide whether or not
the door opens, but you decide whether to take it? Haven't we had enough of
this crap? Ask God for wisdom and courage to do the right thing, if you want,
but don't assume God makes all of your decisions.
Haven't we had enough of presidents and other leaders who blame God for their screw-ups? We're just now getting rid of a president who swears that God told him to invade another country for oil, and who claims a heavy Christian faith, yet does everything he can to undermine Christ's instructions to his followers.
But there's an even more pressing reason why it needs to stop.
When people like Sarah Palin invoke God, there is a cynical reason for it, and it needs to stop. Right wingers invoke the name of God for a simple reason; it cuts off debate. Most people who believe are scared to death to question God in any way, so by habitually invoking the name of God, right wingers are attempting to limit counter argument. Who can argue with God, right? When Sarah Palin decides to run for president in 2012, it will be because God told her to; therefore, pretty much everything she will do, will have that "God veneer" that the rest of us will not be allowed to question.
Well, to hell with that; we have to start questioning it. If these people are going to keep invoking God and Jesus as an inspiration, shouldn't we hold them up to at least a minimal standard of behavior as a result? Apparently, there's a large part of the electorate just stupid enough to believe that Caribou Barbie is a woman of deep faith, and it makes certain people feel all warm and fuzzy inside, just because she says so.
But where's the evidence that what she says is true? If "faith" is a big part of her life, as she says, and that she will plow through a door if God opens it for her, what aspect of her faith instructed her to suggest to her audience that Barack Obama "palled around with terrorists"? What part of her "faith" told her to run around the country and tell everyone that Obama was a commie pinko, who wanted to take their money, even though none of it was true? What part of her faith told her to pass judgment on William Ayers, who has been a pillar of his community for at least the last 25-30 years, and Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who has been a respected clergyman since before she was Miss Wasilla, to the point that she was equating them with Osama bin Laden?
I'm sick of this crap, folks. If Sarah Palin knew anything about her professed faith, she would know that humility in your faith is a cornerstone, and she would resist the urge to brag to everyone about what a great "woman of faith" she is. But more than that, saying you're a 'woman of faith" does not make you one. In order to make the claim, you have to back it up with action, and little in her public life in any way supports her claim to immense faith.
Religion and politics don't mix, especially because the most vocal religious people tend not to practice their faith to any great degree. Have you ever noticed that people who rarely talk about their faith openly, are usually those politicians who do the most to help the poor and downtrodden, while those who are most vocal about their supposed "faith" are usually the first to kick the poor and infirmed when they're down, and have the least moral backbone imaginable?
The one president who wielded his professed "born again" Christian faith every chance he got actually claimed God told him to invade Iraq. He claimed that God told him to limit stem cell research, and thus reduce the possibility to find cures for diseases. He then proceeded to veto an expansion of children's health care, reduce educational opportunities for people with limited incomes, cut assistance to the poor, and burden a health care system for the elderly, by tacking on a prescription drug plan that was so flawed as to make it unworkable over the long haul. And what is "Christ-like" about the continued treatment of the people of New Orleans?
Now, if someone wants to claim he's a Christian and then do all of this, hey -- that's his prerogative as a politician. But why doesn't anyone point out that his claims of being Christian are somewhat empty, if everything he does goes against the teachings of Christ?
Enough of this crap. It doesn't matter what a politician believes that matters; what matters is what the politician does. And if we remove religion from the public discourse, then we can assess the actions by themselves, and their effect on society, and not through a "faith prism."
If we have any respect for either religion or politics, we would never mix them, ever. Politicians have to be held accountable for their actions, not passing off their accountability to God, or whomever.
