Christian nationalists - wanting to put God into US government

[Superfly]

You have it backwards actually. It is government that should not be forcing faith onto others. People of faith should definitely be part of government, and they always have been. By the way, the Jesuit Catholic priest from Massachusetts served in Congress as a Democrat until 1981, not a Republican. So much for your "right-wing" utter nonsense. As many as 14% of the first Congress were part of the clergy, today that number is just 1%.

I don’t give a **** what religion you are, or if you are even a religious person at all, in the government.

I just don’t want to know about it.

Keep your religion out of my government and we will do just fine.

 

[weaver2]

The American Protestant obsession with using the power of secular government to enforce their religious beliefs on nonbelievers is ugly and dangerous.

The Catholics are no slouches either.

 

[venice_ca]

The Catholics are no slouches either.

Conservative Catholics, that is. And they’re not the ones calling for the end of the death penalty.

@Somerville
While Christianity may be the dominant religion in the US, there are many denominations which do not necessarily speak with one voice.

Most Christian religions have members spanning the political spectrum.

While some Protestant fundamentalists advocate theocracy (by another name, of course), many more Christians support the separation of Church and State.

So whatever crazy ideas are floating around about a Christian God-fearing country, that’s a minority opinion. They’re just awfully loud.

 

[Juin]

Is America now or has it ever been a "Christian nation"?

Yes. In the sense that Christians are the majority.

 

[Juin]

They fear not being in control of everyone, to not be wearing the boot they wish to stomp on our necks.

The sooner they become a miniscule minority, the easier all of us can breathe.

beware what you wish for, there is always another freak waiting in the wings to stomp on your neck. No Christian denomination in California is a threat to my right to smoke. The jihad against my marlboro pack is from the fanatic faction of the Democratic Party. They have already taxed me to death, and they are not yer done. I long for a smokers' paradise. A haven for persecuted smokers. A United Smokers of America

 

[Juin]

They want to put the Christian God in government. Just like a lot of Muslims have put the Islamic God in government.

Are Christians not in government?

 

[CaughtInThe]

Are Christians not in government?

Are islamists?

 

[Somerville]

beware what you wish for, there is always another freak waiting in the wings to stomp on your neck. No Christian denomination in California is a threat to my right to smoke. The jihad against my marlboro pack is from the fanatic faction of the Democratic Party. They have already taxed me to death, and they are not yer done. I long for a smokers' paradise. A haven for persecuted smokers. A United Smokers of America

How far does your "right to smoke" extend - in your mind? Should you be allowed to smoke in a restaurant, in a doctor's or lawyer's office, in a government (federal, state, county, municipal) office, in a school building? Tell the curious where you should be allowed to smoke - or not - your choice.

A haven for smokers would be nice. You would kill each other much more quickly in a nicotine-rich environment.

 

[ColdHardTruth]

The US is not now, nor has it ever been, a "Christian nation." The US was established as a secular nation that accepts everyone regardless of their religious belief, or lack thereof. Congress was specifically prohibited from interfering with the free exercise of religious belief. The States, however, did establish official State religions since the First Amendment only applied to Congress. At least until the Fourteen Amendment was ratified in 1867 and the Supreme Court finally got around to applying the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the States in Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U.S. 296 (1940).

So it is not accurate to say that the US has ever been a Christian nation, but it is accurate to say that several States were Christian States at least until 1940.

You are incorrect.

The founding fathers emphatically stated otherwise.

"The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."
--John Adams

The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus by the Supreme Being in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter. ... But we may hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with all this artificial scaffolding....

Our founding fathers understood well the extraordinary danger of mixing religion and politics; we forget that lesson at our great peril. If we forget, just glance over to the Middle East. I tremble in fear for my country when the majority of conservatives believe we are a Christian nation; that frightening majority has forgotten our history, ignored our founding principles and abandoned our most cherished ideal of separating church and state. In mixing religion and politics, the religious right subverts both. And the world suffers.

Founding Fathers: We Are Not a Christian Nation

As we witness yet again the brutal and bloody consequences of religious intolerance in the form of ISIS, we have a majority of Republicans pining for a Christian America. Proponents of converting the United States into a theocracy do not see the terrible parallel between religious excess in the...

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