A couple of comments came in on yesterday's posting about government, politics, religion and Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum's recent expostulations on this subject.
First off, Tiger says "I think Santorum is pandering. He can't be that stupid." OK. . .works for me.
Next, new commentator "Om" contributes an impassioned argument in favor maintaining a separation of religion and government. It's worth a look.
Om makes a great observation in the closing part of the comment by saying ". . .isn't our political process a good one despite our complaints? Just
think, if not for the pressure and the heat of the campaign, we would
not have been fully exposed to the true and inner drive of Mr. Santorum. . ."
Seems like a good point to me. We Americans often gripe about our politics because there seems to be so much of it, and it seems to include so much hot air. But if the Republican presidential nominating contest had concluded, say, a month ago--at which point it would have already been in full swing for about one half of a year--then this particular set of Mr. Santorum's opinions might not have been revealed. Doesn't matter if you are for or against; all would be equally ignorant.
But let's not stretch out the campaigning any longer than it already is. . .please!
By the way, the Smithsonian magazine has an excellent article that provides good background information on this subject (it has nothing to do with Mr. Santorum). Much of today's conversations on the "wall" between church and state cites our third President Thomas Jefferson for originating the concept. While it is true that Jefferson was an advocate of maintaining separation between the two institutions, he was predated in American history by the beliefs and actions of Roger Williams, the founder of the Rhode Island colony. The article is in the January issue, entitled "God, Government and Roger Williams' Big Idea", and it is available online by clicking here.
It would be good to hear from anybody who has views on this subject that are different from what has been written so far.
2 comments:
I disagree with Tiger...I think he CAN be that stupid!
Gary - I have decided that it would be best if the South would just secede. Would you please do a blog about what if the South did secede? Why isn't the south pursuing secession? What would life be like after the south did secede?
My Answers: 1) The south would finally learn the hard lessons of reality (they receive more than the give to the US.) 2) Because they're just white people who have misplaced their anger about their own ineptitude onto the rest of us truly productive members of society. 3) Life would be so great!! The rest of us would have more money to do important things like educate our young people, build an amazing infrastructure for commerce and recreation, invest in medical research (which the south couldn't afford to buy from us), etc, etc.
Let's make the south a quaint vacation destination and a separate country.
Submitted by a southern "ex-pat" who truly loves the south but is tired of what they are doing to the rest of us. Maybe you could list their recent contributions like the tea party, family values, religious extremism, hatred... to name a few. Well they probably contribute more than their fair share to our military personnel. Hmmmm....
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