“I truly believe that dragging Jesus Christ into partisan politics is a grave mistake. It will do Jesus no good at all to be seen in the company of politicians — apt to ruin his reputation, if you ask me.” ~ Molly Ivins, Columnist
It’s concerning that there’s a movement afoot again to merge Christianity with politics. The founding fathers, made a point not to endorse any particular religion in our national blueprints. Religion was not given a seat at the political table, with good reason.
Most of the founders were Deists. Deists believe in a supreme creator, but do not believe that creator intervenes in the affairs of men. If we were still using the word, I think a lot of folks might choose that label these days, even those who like to say “thoughts and prayers” and warm a pew on Sunday mornings.
Second, I don’t think it was lost on the founders that many of those who emigrated to the New World in the 1600s and beyond did so because they were weary of their national system of government telling them how they were allowed to practice their chosen religions. The New World offered an opportunity for free expression of faith, and as a result we got the Shakers and the snake-handlers and a thousand other iterations of Christianism.
What do they all have in common? Each one tends to believe they, and they alone, are right. It’s practically a tenet of the faith to believe in the infallibility of one’s own religious dogma and to cling to whatever traditions your church-of-choice has appropriated from other cultures and religions. I hate to burst your bubble, but most of our cherished “Christian traditions” were stolen and repurposed to fit… so the fledgling church could transition from the Pagan holidays of yore to something centered around Christ and Christianity. From Christmas trees to Easter eggs, none of it is original, yet we defend these practices far more vehemently than we defend, say, our God-assigned responsibility to care for the poor, the sick, and refugees.
But we’re a Christian nation! It says so on our money and we say it in the Pledge of Allegiance, right? Those are recent additions, a fact many have forgotten or never learned. “In God we Trust” and “one nation under God” were added to our currency and to the Pledge of Allegiance in the 1950s, a backlash to the beginning of the Cold War and the fear of Communism.
The founders understood that the infusion of a particular religion, whether Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Zoroastrians, or the Church of Gnome (you can be legally ordained into the Church of Gnome and perform services, by the way), into any system of government wouldn’t end well. For heaven’s sake, Christians have a hard time getting along with each other, evidenced by the number of church splits and ensuing sects over the years. Christianity’s track record is at least as bad as that of any other world religion when it comes to being divisive, hateful, and controlling. No doubt the founders were well aware. Even in those early days, the Quakers and the Presbyterians were having disagreements.
Our personal faith and values should shape our personal lives and guide our actions, but should not be used to force our particular doctrines on others in the public square.
