You gotta have faith! Not!

Here's an AP headline from today's paper: "Obama, McCain must weigh faith factor in campaigns."

That's so sad. No one running for public office in this country should ever have to say anything about his/her "faith," The question should never come up. The Constitution of the United States is clear: "...no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." (Article VI, Section 3.)

The reality is something else. While a religious "test" is never put in so many words, the great majority of people in the United States neither know nor understand the Constitution under which they live, and thus enact, de facto, a religious test or tests for candidates for public office in their jurisdictions. The "sad" part is that many of these people disagree with our Constitution and would happily enact a fundamentalist Christian "test" for political office.

An atheist or agnostic or free-thinker could never, at this point in our history, be elected as president (or anything else, in most cases and places.)

Faith is considered by most people to be a good thing, a necessary thing. Sometimes it doesn't really matter much the kind of faith. As Dwight Eisenhower once famously said, "Our government makes no sense unless it is founded in a deeply felt religious faith-and I don't care what it is."

Or, in the words of that famous song of years gone by, "Ya gotta have faith!" That's why both the Obama and Clinton campaigns employ religious outreach directors, and speak clearly about their faith. They're not going to "cede the religious vote to Republicans."

The Republicans, of course, have long traded on their faux Christian piety. Hells bells, Bush speaks to God and God tells him what to do. Now that's "real" faith in the minds of some people. Others think it describes insanity. Many other criminals in the Republican ranks such as Tom DeLay, Newt Gingrich, Bill Frist ... well, go to Republican Offenders for all the names ... have claimed to be people of "faith" and never failed to speak of their heartfelt "faith" whenever they had the chance.

Back in 2005, a column titled "You Gotta Have Faith" by the humorist Art Buchwald, appeared in the Washington Post. The late Mr. Buchwald referred to a Democratic filibuster against Bush's judicial nominees:

"Jeepers creepers, the Republicans' dirty secret is out. The Democrats who are filibustering Congress are against people of faith. Leading the attack is Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who speaks for all of God's children in the GOP.

"Zack, the zealot, clued me in.

"I asked, 'Are you calling everyone who filibusters against judicial nominees an infidel?'

"He replied, 'What would you call them?'

"I said, 'Some of my best friends are Democrats, and I personally know several who go to church.'

"'That doesn't mean they have any faith. You can't believe in the Almighty if you don't believe in President Bush.'"

Mr. Buchwald with his usual incisive humor, sketches out the situation -- the Republican pretense of being people of "faith." (You can read the entire article here.)


An article appearing in the Deseret News by Mike Wennergren describes how faith plays out in the Logan City Council (Utah) meetings. He says, "It's a common occurrence before public meetings in Utah ... [that] A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints offers a prayer asking for guidance from Heavenly Father."

The Logan City Council, however, wanting to be more "inclusive," has invited not only LDS members, but also a Roman Catholic priest, an evangelical minister, and an Episcopal rector to pray at "every other council meeting."

Whoopee! The Catholic priest is happy because "God be present ... I think it's a good thing." (I guess he thinks if the priest is not there God is not present!) The Episcopal rector isn't so sure. "...to include any kind of religious experience in a governmental meeting of any kind is iffy."

The LDS fellow, of course, believes it is wonderful, and says it does not violate the First Amendment to the Constitution.

Of course he would say that. LDS people are thick as flies in Logan, Utah. It's pretty hard to get to God except through them.

And certainly there is a tradition of prayers being offered in these kinds of venues. Even the U.S. Congress nods to God.

That doesn't make it right, however.

Yet, maybe some good can be salvaged amidst the pious nonsense. What's happening now is that when the City Council meets for their bimonthly session, rather than have a nondenominational prayer, a council member prays (denominationally?) or offers up some kind of inspirational thought, such as a quote from Thomas Jefferson, Ronald Reagan, Mother Teresa, or the late LDS president Gordon Hinckley.

Ronald Reagan? Mother Teresa? Gordon Hinckley?

Sheesh!


Think about how funny all this is. At public meetings of a city council in a country which has a foundation document that says there shall be no religious test for office and officially promotes no religion, you've got this conglomeration of believers all of whom believe differently promoting their religious nonsense before the city council can get to work on all the secular stuff (which is what they are supposed to be about!)

So, on the one hand, there are Roman Catholics who believe that everyone except Roman Catholics are going to hell. On the other side are Baptists who believe that everyone who is not "born again" and baptized by immersion is going to hell. Then, the Mormons - they believe everyone not a Mormon is going to hell. The Episcopalians aren't really sure who's going to hell or who's not going to hell. But the Muslims are! And if you haven't decided for Allah, baby, you're an infidel and a goner!


You gotta have faith! That's the message. And most people of faith believe their faith is the best. Without faith in some god or religion, you're chances of attaining a public post in this country are essentially nil.

You gotta have faith! Thus Obama, Clinton and McCain have to go around promoting their piety (real or not) just to get people's attention; a de facto "test" for public office.

Think about this: The United States has been managed for the past seven plus years by people who claim to have faith, who wear their "faith" on their sleeves, who pretend their faith guides their decisions. These are the people, ladies and gentlemen, who have lied and cheated and have abrogated our Constitution to bring this great country to its knees. We are in desperate shape and it all began in 2000 C.E. with the elevation of Mr. Bush, the pious fraud, a man of "faith," to the highest office in the land.


It isn't possible, but I would love to get to November without ever hearing another word about God, faith, church, and religion! It would be wonderful if the candidates for public office refused to answer any questions of a religious/faith nature, and responded only to questions as to their plans for fixing our broken land. Christopher Hitchens wrote that "religion poisons everything." I'm not sure about that, but it sure as hell muddles up the politics in the United States of America!