A Religious Test for Public Office
The Enlightenment has officially been rolled back.
US News: Focus on the Family founder James Dobson appeared to throw cold water on a possible presidential bid by former Sen. Fred Thompson, declaring, “I don’t think he’s a Christian.” [A spokesman clarifies], “We use that word—Christian—to refer to people who are evangelical Christians.” He said that, while Dobson didn’t believe Thompson to be a member of a non-Christian faith, Dobson nevertheless “has never known Thompson to be a committed Christian—someone who talks openly about his faith.”
Christian, Republican blogger Andrew Sullivan reacts: A religious test for public office – clearly stated by the GOP’s most powerful base figure. James Dobson keeps proving that Christianism truly is a sectarian movement that has transformed the GOP into a religious rather than a political party… Catholics aren’t real Christians either, according to Dobson. Now maybe people will take the threat to secular politics seriously. Here’s the acid test: see if any of the other Republican candidates or a leading figure in the Bush administration attacks Dobson’s position. This is getting interesting.
Crooked Timber: A recent Pew Research Center study of US voters shows more Americans “abandoning the Bush Administration and the Republican Party… Republican support is contracting to a base of about 25 per cent of the population whose views are getting more extreme, not merely because moderate conservatives are peeling off to become Independents, but also because of the party’s success in constructing a parallel universe of news sources, thinktanks, blogs, pseudo-scientists and so on, which has led to the core becoming more tightly committed to an extremist ideology.”
In a post-Bush world, how can a Republican presidential candidate survive the religion test in the primaries with any hope of appealing to a wider, general election audience? (h/t C&L)
It’s a shame that Mr. Dobson has decided it’s a good idea to IGNORE the U.S. Constitution’s provision that “there shall be no religious test for candidacy for the office of the President.”
I was suprised to see Sullivan use the term “Christianism,” but I’m not a regular reader of his.
Where will Dobson turn to find a christian worthy of his support if Thompson receives the nomination…Newt, Rudy, McCain, Romney?
He will be the last to realize just how insignificant he and the fringe right have become. Good riddance.
Who do you think Sadie backs? Do you think God would want Sadie not to deal with her daughter over being a lesbian?
Sadie Fields, state chair of the Christian Coalition of Georgia, shepherded a constitutional ban on gay marriage through the General Assembly earlier this year — despite having a lesbian daughter.
Fields is estranged from her daughter, Tess Fields, 35, who now lives in Portland, Ore., with her partner and child, according to a report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Political Insider column on Sept. 20.
“I want to confirm my existence,” Tess Fields told the newspaper, noting that she did not want to engage in a public battle with her mother.
Contacted by Southern Voice, Tess Fields had only one statement.
“I hope that Georgians don’t let hate and bigotry divide their state the same way they have divided my family,” she said.
Sadie Fields did not respond to interview requests by press time, but told the AJC the proposed amendment “is about doing what’s right, regardless of the pain.”
since when does being the child of someone in a position of moral authority make their sinful conduct acceptable? Why is it implied that Tess’s lesbianism should cause Sadie to soften her position against homosexuality. Said has gone the extra step to ensure that homosexual behavior is not advocated by the Georgia government. Sadie can’t live her child’s life for her but she can make it illegal to advocate sinful behavior.
You should be ashamed. You wouldn’t have half the courage to take a stand on a point of religion based morality. Sadie has done all she can and more to reach her daughter in a meaningful way. Tess has chosen to dishonor her mother and her entire family.
James
Would you stop talking to your child?
I’ll simply quote Mark 9:47
47And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell
Sadie has never stopped communicating with her daughter. Tess stopped listening long before Sadie even knew about her daughter’s behavioral problems. It would be better to disown your children than let them get between you and God. Tess made her decision. Tess is the divider in that family, not Sadie.
The Constitution says the eligibility criteria for the Office of President of the United States are (1) born in the US; (2) US citizen; (3) 35 years of age; and (4) no loss of civil rights due to criminal conviction.
Mr Dobson doesn’t seem to think much of the Constitutional requirements, so he adds some of his own: (5) Christian; (6) no, make that EVANGELICAL Christian; and (7) one who talks openly about his (no women?) faith.
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James,
Since when is loving someone and raising a child together constitute sinful conduct?
Why do you seem to consider it a virtue if a parent disowns his or her child, and grandchild?
What part of the separation of church and state don’t you understand?
WWJD?
Since when is loving someone and raising a child together constitute sinful conduct?
I think you’re intentionally missing the point.
Why do you seem to consider it a virtue if a parent disowns his or her child, and grandchild?
Why do you think tolerating damning behavior from your offspring is admirable or desirable?
James would you disown your child if he divorced his wife and remarried?
James,
I agree with just about everything you have said on this blog at this point. Most or all families have “issues” and they can be devastating. Sadie, who I have very mixed feelings about, deserves credit for standing on principle!
James, stick by your principles. This blog attracts many who have opinions way out of the norm. But with that said, the populace, in general, has slipped greatly. And James, I often think you have no clue, but I support you with what you’ve said above.
Regarding James Dobson,
He’s a guy I really want to like. He makes great sense much of the time if one is considering morals, right v wrong, etc. But politically he’s wrong, and in fact, dangerous in my opinion. I’m a main stream (now Methodist, formerly Lutheran) Christian. The evangelical Christians are good folks but they have been co-opted away from the true Christian faith. Many of their leaders publically proclaim greater allegiance to Israel than the United States! Something is truly rotten, and it’s not in Denmark! It’s all part of the tremendous tentacles and control the “Lobby” has over us.
Quite right James. You’re exactly on point with your reference from the bible.
My favorite scripture from the bible is Leviticus 25:44
“However, you may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who live among you. You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat your slaves like this, but the people of Israel, your relatives, must never be treated this way.”
What if Tess had a female slave that she simply sexually abused? Would that be OK? Has anyone told her about this option? I think we may be able to heal this family…
James would you disown your child if he divorced his wife and remarried?
Divorce is not on a one to one parity with homosexual behavior and the inferred premise of your quesion is leading and flawed.
Actually James he asked a legitimate hypothetical question without referencing homosexuality in any way, which you chose to dismiss by suggesting his question is flawed. So it’d not you, it’s him? Did you ever think that perhaps you “inferred” incorrectly, applying a subtext to a simple question, that was never intended or implied?
it’s**
*yawn*