Hucka-bee ran
a disgraceful ad touting himself as a "Christian leader", "defined"
by his faith.

And so the speech itself, entitled Faith in America, had to be a
little different. It was not in the end a call to American pluralism.
It was a rallying cry to all believers to wrestle the public culture
of the United States away from nonbelievers. It was a pitch designed
to say that whatever doctrinal differences Mormons have with
mainstream Christians, they are trivial compared with the war against
secularism.

So we were told, rather baldly: "Freedom requires religion just as
religion requires freedom . . . Freedom and religion endure together
or perish alone." Of course freedom and religion can go together. But
freedom requires religion? There are many free, secular societies
where this doesn't seem an exhaustive explanation. And while freedom
of conscience can indeed be defended by religious doctrine - just
read your John Locke or Second Vatican Council - it has also in
history been persecuted and repressed by religion. Why were Locke and
the second council even necessary?

And then you noticed that Romney's embrace of pluralism does not
actually include atheists or agnostics or those with no faith at all.
This was not a minor oversight. In fact those who want to preserve a
secular hue to public debates were given no quarter: "It is as if
they are intent on establishing a new religion in America - the
religion of secularism. They are wrong."

Romney, moreover, explicitly stated a core religious doctrine of his:
"There is one fundamental question about which I often am asked. What
do I believe about Jesus Christ? I believe that Jesus Christ is the
son of God and the saviour of mankind." If his point were to say that
it is irrelevant what your religion is when you run for president,
merely that you have a religion, then why this explicit statement? It
tells his audience that he is not a Jew or a Muslim.

In his famous 1960 speech to the Houston ministers, John F Kennedy
issued no such theological credo. And the explanation for Romney's
doing so is pretty simple: he wants the political benefit of being a
Christian without the political cost of being a Mormon "Christian".
The speech was therefore a purely political manoeuvre, as is almost
everything that comes out of Romney's mouth. In order for a Mormon to
win over the Christian right, he has to unite with them against a
common foe: the religion of secularism.

***************************************************************
You are invited to check out the following:

The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm

American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm

The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html

[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or
Separation of Church and State in general, listed below]

HRSepCnS · Historical Reality SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/

***************************************************************
. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no
law respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic
reasoning. Words take their meaning from social as well as textual
contexts, which is why "a page of history is worth a volume of
logic." New York Trust Co. v. Eisner, 256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct.
506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.). Sherman v. Community
Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992) . . .
****************************************************************
USAF LT. COL (Ret) Buffman (Glen P. Goffin) wrote

"You pilot always into an unknown future;
facts are your only clue. Get the facts!"

That philosophy 'snipit' helped to get me, and my crew, through a good
many combat missions and far too many scary, inflight, emergencies.

It has also played a significant role in helping me to expose the
plethora of radical Christian propaganda and lies that we find at
almost every media turn.

*****************************************************************
THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
****************************************************************