I know I’ve been remiss about my Sound Off! postings, but I’ve had other cakes to bake what with an important election going on. After it is over, I hope that I will have more time to dedicate to writing my essays. So, without further ado, here is the latest.
What poses a greater danger to Democracy than terrorists, Islam, LGBTQ people, socialism, atheism, or people who douche-park? Christian Nationalism.
Christian Nationalism is based on the entirely mistaken notion that the United States was founded on Christian principles. The Founding Fathers may have been religious, but many of them were freethinking deists. They believed in a Higher Power, but did not adhere to any particular faith. Also, American colonists had witnessed how bad things can get when religion and government mix, in the old world and the new. Groups who fled religious persecution in Europe became the persecutors when they set up their own societies in North America.
The Founding Myth by Andrew Seidel completely destroys the claims of Christian Nationalists one by one. This book also shows that “Christian” law would be totally opposed to the Constitution and the spirit of this nation. It is a must-read.
The following quotes prove that the Founding Fathers did not in any way plan to set up the United States as a Christian nation:
“Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law.” – Thomas Jefferson
“All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.” – Thomas Paine
“Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man.” – Thomas Jefferson
“Religion and government will both exist in greater purity the less they are mixed together.” – James Madison
“During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity, in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution.” – James Madison
“The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion” – from the Treaty of Tripoli, signed by President George Washington
“The United States is not a Christian nation any more than it is a Jewish or [Muslim] nation.” – John Adams
“The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext, infringed.” – James Madison
Christian Nationalists are trying to re-create something that never existed in the first place. They are not trying to return the USA to Christian values, they are trying to destroy the heart and soul of this nation. They are living in a fantasy world and working under a host of misconceptions.
If they gain power, their plans will be devastating to this country and its residents. All manner of people will face violent, vicious persecution: non-Christians, feminists, people of color, scientists, LGBTQ, and many, many more. Even many Christians will come under fire because they adhere to the “wrong” kind of Christianity. Human and civil rights will be abolished. The USA will become like those countries in the Middle East that are under the thumbs of Da’esh (aka ISIS, ISIL, Islamic State) or the Taliban. For Christian Nationalists, The Handmaid’s Tale and 1984 are guidebooks, not warnings.
Education will suffer as only schools that indoctrinate pupils with fundamentalist religion will be permitted. Dissent will be harshly punished – when people are absolutely convinced they are Right, any means of enforcing their will is acceptable. Racism, LGBTQ-phobia and sexism will become the law of the land. The horrors are far too numerous to list in one of my essays; indeed, entire books enumerate the likely results of a religious right takeover.
There is one way we can fight back, which is not only peaceful but legal: VOTE! Make sure all your kith and kin vote if they are registered. Volunteer to drive people to the polls. Make sure you do your homework about all candidates in all elections, and remember the down-ballot races – that is where extremists began their takeover. The 2022 midterm election could be the last chance we have to save our country.
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