Sunday, February 19, 2012

Wrong theology–which one?

cwjmo120212Rick Santorum, the current darling of the Right, was quoted as saying that “Obama’s agenda was ‘about some phony ideal, some phony theology. Oh, not a theology based on the Bible, a different theology,’ he added. He went on the Sunday news circuit to back pedal somewhat and said while Obama believes ‘man is here to serve the Earth,’ he [Santorum] believes ‘Earth is not the objective. Man is the objective.”’

He goes on to say, “I was talking about the radical environmentalists. This idea that man is here to serve the Earth as opposed to husband its resources and be good stewards of the Earth. I think that is a phony ideal.”

He’s going back somewhat to the 19th century idea of “manifest destiny” and some other religious views that don’t concern themselves with what happens to the planet. He seems to side with those who know that Jesus will come back soon and rescue us all, so who cares about the Earth now?

At the same time he acknowledges that Obama is a Christian and he seems to be OK with that. However he forgets that many Protestants look upon Catholics (such as Santorum) and say that they are not true Christians with their allegiance to the Pope and Mary and saints, etc. To some Baptists, an Atheist is better than a Catholic.

This is what happens when you start involving religion in politics. I remember when John Kennedy had to address his Catholic faith. He gave a speech in which he said that basically his faith was a private matter and that as president he wouldn’t let the church dictate his actions. It was a different time then. I don’t think Nixon would have helped his campaign if he jumped on Kennedy’s religion like Santorum brings up Obama’s religion. But today, thanks to the nutters on the right, a person’s religion is a big thing. In fact if seems now you have to pass a religious test to get elected, despite what the constitution say about that. Look at the 2008 election where Obama and McCain had to go to Rick Warren (amongst other things they had to do) to get his blessing on their religiousness.

We are on a dangerous road now where religion plays such a large role in politics. We have essentially a state religion (Christianity) and every politician is judge against it. Is there anyway we can get Thomas Jefferson back to helps reinforce the wall between church and state? Seems like there is a hole you could drive a truck through.

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