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Pious Democrats, Meet Your Maker »

Posted by: stephen-johnson 2 years, 6 months ago

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By Terry Michael - If you publicly pious candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination could look up from your talking points for a moment, I'd like to introduce you to the founder of our party -- our earthly father, if you will, Thomas Jefferson. Consider some of President Jefferson's views on religion and politics, which he expressed in a

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stephen-johnson

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Comments: 34

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deathray
June 7, 2007, 11:03 a.m.
We live in a time when the candidate's calculus is to be as many things to as many people as possible, in order to get elected.
This is as true for the Democrats as it is for the Republicans.
Avg rating: (+3/-0 3)
stephen-johnson
June 7, 2007, 11:06 a.m.
From the article:
"A man with the moral rectitude of an Eagle Scout, Simon understood why the Founders included not a single reference to a deity in our Constitution. The best way to protect your right to be guided by faith (and mine to be guided by reason) is to keep our understandings of where we come from and how we come to be moral animals on the other side of a very high wall between the state, with its coercive powers, and the temples created by believers.
The willingness of Democratic candidates to breach that barrier reflects a failure of nerve in a political party that ought to be our best hope for secular governance in a world where so much hate and murder is still being unleashed by "people of faith," whose beliefs were never touched by The Age of Reason and The Enlightenment -- the same felicitous era in human history that gave us Jefferson and others averse to the mingling of religion and governance."
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deathray
June 7, 2007, 11:31 a.m.
No, I don;t think they are pandering to their own. Thy may be trying to improve their image to the "values" voters on the right, but they won't change their votes because of their connection with God, they only care about how they will vote on "values" issues.
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stephen-johnson
June 7, 2007, 11:32 a.m.
"Got us a little hypocrisy and pandering going on, eh?"
In the political sphere, what else is new?
BTW I liked your Paris Hilton post
Avg rating: (+1/-0 1)
ameliog
June 7, 2007, 11:43 a.m.
The GOP has pandered this way for years, so why the surprise that another political party is getting in on the act? The cries by the right about hypocrisy seem less to do with any real piousness than they do with potentially losing voter market share. People who live in glass houses should not cast stones.
The Dems first get bashed as being non-religious because we don't hear enough public statements from them on their faith, and then when they do they are accused of pandering. Some people want to find fault with the other team no matter what, and the double standard continues.
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ind06
June 7, 2007, 12:04 p.m.
though America was founded by men who strongly, as Jefferson, believed in the separation of church and state, America's general populace has always had a strong fundamentalist streak. Today's return to values is nothing new in American history, several such nation-wide revivals of "old-time" religion have occurred throughout our nation's history, in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Deathray's well-put point about Mr. Delay's attempt to do an end run around the separation clause is also nothing new. Our country's history is littered with politicians who have made similar attempts. William Jennings Bryan springs immediately to mind.
In a perfect world intelligence, education, empathy and statesmanship would count most as qualifications for office but our world is far from perfect.
Thanks for the article Stephen.
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RedRiverJ
June 7, 2007, 12:34 p.m.
Do politicians not think we are smart enough to know FAKE WHEN WE SEE IT???????? Puke in my shoes.
anioklyComment has been removed: User banned.
anioklyComment has been removed: User banned.
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FRICKANDFRACK
June 7, 2007, 9:39 p.m.
Read how this phrase was used in context,talking points are fine but people should also research their subjects.The First Amendment states "Congress shall make no law..." this did not prevent States from doing so as the Tenth Amendment says "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people".And of course those Baptists lived in a Congregationalist state.
http://www.sullivan-county.com/nf0/nov_2000/jef...
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jovial
June 8, 2007, 12:25 a.m.
When I first heard that the Democratic debates would have questions relating to the faith of the candidates, I was shocked. I couldn't believe my ears. Is this pandering? I think so. Who decided to inject these questions into the debate? Wolf Blitzer? The whole debate was a circus and a waste of time. I still don't have any idea who I'll vote for. Hopefully, we will have another debate where more meaningful questions will be asked.
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innocent-bystander
June 8, 2007, 5:13 a.m.
Did you read about Jefferson being part Middle Eastern? It was on Natinal Geographic or something. Some lab tested him on behalf of his descendants. I think they used Family Tree DNA, Genealogy by Genetics, Ltd, 1919 N Loop West, Ste 110, Houston, Tx, 77008; 1-173-868-1438; email info@familttreeDNA.com; http://www.familytreedna.com.