Santorum to participate in event to promote one religion over all others

[dajoki]

Link
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=1335467

Getting Religion Wrong Again - Justice Sunday III

Statement of Marco Grimaldo
Director of the Faith and Progressive Policy Initiative
January 6, 2006

Here we go again. This weekend, Jerry Falwell, Sen. Rick Santorum, and Tony Perkins' Family Research Council will hold an event in Philadelphia along with a nationwide telecast to convince Americans that a vote against Alito is somehow anti-God. This is precisely the kind of intimidation that the founders of our nation sought to avoid as they carefully crafted the First Amendment of the Constitution.

Simply put, there is no one "religious" view of the Constitution. Moreover, it is wrong for Sen. Santorum, as an elected government official, to participate in an event that would promote one view of religion over all others. A Supreme Court nominee should be judged on upholding the Constitution, not on his personal faith, and we are confident that any senator who casts a vote against Judge Alito will do so because of sincere disagreement with Alito's record rather than religious animus.

Our nation's tradition of religious tolerance and pluralism depends on the protection of the Federal Courts. The constitutional guarantees of free exercise of religion and separation of church and state have made our nation the most religiously diverse and robust democratic country in the world. We must not allow Jerry Falwell or anyone else to inject their narrow view of religion into the process of selecting a Justice for the Supreme Court of the United States. It is the participants of Justice Sunday III, not Alito's opponents, who are imposing a "religious test" on this important public office.

See also: Religious Groups Respond to 'Justice Sunday': A Resource Guide http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=575063

[C_U_L8R]

1. Wasn't this yesterday??

From the sound of the silence, it seems like it was a flop.

[dajoki]

3. could have been n/t

[FreedomAngel82]

7. I think so

I didn't hear about it. Someone was on the Majority Report from DailyKos last night and saying how quiet the "religious right" are with Alito unlike how they were with Roberts and Miers. It's very interesting on how quiet they are. :shrug: Last time they had it all over the media advertising for it and had bigger republican names like Frist and DeLay and even Zell Miller. It's very strange. Maybe even a lot of them are weary of him with the spying and torture. This Christian is heavily against Alito but that doesn't mean I'm anti-God like they'd think. Oy. With them it's always black and white which is quite sad. I'm so glad of those religious groups standing up to this. It's so nice to not be a loan voice anymore. :)

[applegrove]

2. Playing the role of GOP sheep.

[CatholicEdHead]

4. So, I guess he does not care about polls anymore

Since he has been playing towards the center recently.

[dajoki]

5. little Ricky is in a big fight...

for his seat.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

6. As a Christian...

It shames me to have individuals like Falwell soil the term. I wish he'd meet Jesus soon, in person so that He could tell him to take all those ill-gotten gains and shove them: right through the eye of a needle, that is, along with a Camel.

Why are these fools using such gentle and good teachings to try and control others? The separation of church and state is vital for democracy but ours is certainly not the best in history. The Greeks hold that distinction. In fact, in light of recent events, we no longer have a democracy in this country of tyranny, thanks to money-grubbing hypocrites like Falwell.

[Muddy Waters Guitar]

8. That's really scary

Jefferson, Washington, Madison, Franklin-- all the Founding Fathers implicitly appreciated that America would work as a democracy, only if the electorate were capable of critical thinking and able to contemplate the issues for themselves with reason and sound judgment. Demagoguery is the inverse of this, and a great menace to democracy from within.

Few forms of demagoguery are more insidious than these sorts of pseudo-religious political injunctions, which make use of people's deeply held beliefs to stroke their fears and compel them to vote in a particular direction, forsaking their duties as citizens of a republic. And with the likes of repugnant hatemongers like Falwell and especially the repulsive Pat Robertson, we're seeing this more and more today, aided and abetted by modern technology.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

9. Muddy Waters

I saw the trend start at the beginning of the administration, when the spin tyrant said, "Atheists aren't patriotic." I thought to myself, "what about Thomas Payne?" He was an atheist and I strongly suspect without his writing COMMON SENSE, no Constitution or American Revolution would have ever taken place. In my thinking, Thomas Payne was the consummate patriot.

[dajoki]

10. i believe...

this started with raygun and the moral majority.