Bush's Secular Mandate

I have a mission for Bill Bennett, who has grossly misinterpreted Bush's mandate.

Before the election, we had to inform Democrats, "It's the war, stupid." Now we have to remind the Republicans that, "It was the war, stupid!" If there is anything that can save the evasive, self-propagandizing Democrats from Whigdom, it is the foisting upon America of religion via legislation. If we are fighting a war to protect ourselves from religious fanatics, why would we acquiesce to religious fanatics at the ballot box?

I have no problem with Americans who wish to practice their religions, so long as they do not force me to do so. Or, as Thomas Jefferson once put it, "But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." I hope Bush remembers this. Another quote is even more relevant, both on the war front and on separation of church and state, "In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own." This describes both the origins of the problems in the Middle East as well as the barbarity to which we will descend if we fail to keep church and state separate. Another good one I hope gets bandied about when Supreme Court nominations come up is this: "Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law."

-- CAV