July 08, 2006
"like firecrackers and drunken yahoos on the Fourth of July"
Patrick Hynes of Anklebiting Pundits (referring to this Op-Ed) makes a useful distinction...
....I might quibble with Meacham in a couple of places, as when he says the Founders “struggled with religion’s role in politics.” They, of course, did no such thing. They fought, bitterly at times, about religion’s role in government, but religion and politics—in this Christian nation—have always gone together like firecrackers and drunken yahoos on the Fourth of July. Politics and religion are so intertwined that Thomas Jefferson, who was not an orthodox Christian actually pretended to be one by attending church regularly and contributing large sums of money various churches across Virginia in order to maintain his political viability. The insistence that we separate religion from politics is a relatively new obsession of the modern political Left....Posted by John Weidner at July 8, 2006 12:37 PM
Very useful distinction. And, as was obvious in the 2004 campaign, "the insistence that we separate religion from politics is a relatively new obsession of the modern political Left" - not just the run-of-the-mill Left, because all the major candidates of both parties pay massive lip service to their faith - this is happening on the far left...
Posted by: Ethan Hahn at July 8, 2006 02:12 PMBut even run-of-the-mill Left candidates will say that's it's "unfair" or "improper" for Republicans to be mixed up with religion, or for churches to support Republicans. (While they themselves feel free to campaign from the pulpits of black churches, and hand out "walking-around money." And of course Jackson or Obama can be as religious as they please.)
Posted by: John Weidner at July 8, 2006 03:17 PM
