Where In The Constitution Does It Say
America is a "Christian Nation"?
By Timothy V. Gatto
11 February, 2009
Countercurrents.org
To me, faith is something personal. People of faith, whatever faith they may ascribe to, have my gratitude when they pool their resources for the afflicted and the needy. In my mind, faith without good works is a hollow thing to behold. However, faith, coupled with assistance from the government along with proselytizing to gain converts, is unconstitutional besides being just plain wrong.
I could care less whether it’s Christians, Jews, Muslims or any other religion that does it. Once, when I had cancer and was destitute, the local county food bank was out of food so they sent me to a Christian outreach pantry. Once there, my wife and I had to knell, put our heads down, hold hands with the preacher, and accept Jesus as our personal savior before we could receive any provisions. Of course we did it; an empty belly can make people do just about anything. I didn’t like it, I kind of subscribe to the teachings of Buddha than I do the bible, but the Buddhists weren’t giving out any food that day.
Now we are in the 21st Century in the year of our Lord. That’s enough to make some religious people do a double take. We’re used to the phrase and it hardly raises an eyebrow. Here in the good ‘ol USA, we start almost every function with a benediction or some kind of sermon, as if we are all Christian. There are some people in this country that insist we are a “Christian Nation” and that we are bringing God’s message to the world. That’s pretty heady stuff.
Let me tell you how I see it. The people that are more than likely to screw you out of a dollar are “born-again” Christians. Seems like every time I get involved with them it hits me in my pocketbook, I don’t know why, maybe it’s because they save all they’re piety and kind-heartedness for Sunday. The rest of the week they switch God for money, still, that’s not what irks me the most.
What really gets my gall is when they assume that we’re all reading off the same page of the bible. I have yet to see a page in the bible that means the same thing to everyone. Its almost like reading Nostradamus, you can’t understand a word of it, and the people that claim that they do are deluded. Scholars don’t know if he was writing about his time or the future. That is a fact. So why is there all this faith in a book that was written hundreds of years after the death of Jesus?
This brings me to the heart of what I want to talk about. Why is one religion better than another? Almost every religion on the face of this planet has been involved in mass executions. I don’t need to single them out; we all know what they are. Still, after knowing what we know, we still allow religious values to influence our society and our governments. They pay no taxes and they help decide the direction of government. A case in point is the Reverend Billy Graham, almost every President relied on him for spiritual guidance. We all know Ronald Reagan and Nancy also relied on astrologers too. Think about that one.
I think it is time to get rid of the hocus-pocus of religion, especially in government. I’d rather see a lawmaker swear his oath on a copy of the constitution than the bible. We have Christians in this country that are just praying for a world war in the middle east so that they can experience the rapture after Jesus Christ reappears. These aren’t just wingnuts, I’m talking about seemingly intelligent people.
Let religion do what it was intended for and that is to minister to peoples spiritual needs, whatever they happen to be. Let the government divorce itself from anything that hints of religious dogma. If Obama doesn’t attend church on Sunday…so what. That goes for all the rest of the government officials. It really is none of our business what they believe when it comes to religion, most of them are lying through their teeth anyway.
