Obama
Blows It With
"Kingdom On Earth" Comment
By Mary Shaw
15 October, 2007
Countercurrents.org
I was
really liking Sen. Barack Obama. I was thinking that a Gore-Obama ticket
in 2008 would be just what this country needs. (I know, I know, Gore
says he has fallen out of love with politics and doesn't want to run.
But a girl can dream.)
But then, on October 7, Obama
disappointed me, big time. I know he's a religious man, but he overdid
it this time. In my opinion, he crossed the line re: separation of church
and state when he told the congregation at an evangelical church in
South Carolina: "I am confident we can create a Kingdom right here
on Earth."
Clearly he was trying to
demonstrate that the Republicans don't have a monopoly on religiosity.
But I saw it as pandering to the conservative Christian base that the
Republicans have traditionally claimed as their own, and ignoring the
Constitution in order to do so. That may win him some points among that
crowd, but it cost him some serious points with me (for what it's worth).
A Kingdom right here on Earth,
huh?
Two things:
First, if you want to run
this country, sir, you should accept that it was established as a representative
republic, not a kingdom.
But of course you were talking
about a Kingdom of God. That's almost as bad, sir. You see, as the First
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution explicitly states, "Congress
shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." And,
by extension, I think it's safe to assume that the founding fathers
didn't think that a presidential candidate should try to establish a
religious Kingdom on Earth either.
The First Amendment goes
on to say that there shall be no law "prohibiting the free exercise
thereof" - meaning of religion. In other words, here in the U.S.,
we must remain free to practice any religion we choose - or none - and
not be coerced into the kind of state-mandated religion that our founders
had fled from in England. In other words, non-Christian Americans shouldn't
have to live in a Kingdom on Earth for Obama's selected deity (or anyone
else's).
So, while I am bothered by
the fact that the Republicans (who are not nearly as holy in deed as
they might seem in word) have in recent decades cornered the market
on religious votes in this country, it bothers me even more to see Democrats
recklessly using religion to demonstrate that they can be holy too.
And it bothers me because
religion, per the First Amendment, has no place in U.S. politics. Yet,
in real 21st-century life, it has such a huge place in U.S. politics.
Religion is supposed to be a private thing.
I suspect that Thomas Jefferson
is spinning in his grave.
Mary Shaw is a Philadelphia-based writer and activist.
She is a former Philadelphia Area Coordinator for the Nobel-Prize-winning
human rights group Amnesty International, and her views on politics,
human rights, and social justice issues have appeared in numerous online
forums and in newspapers and magazines worldwide. Note that the views
expressed here are the author's own, and do not necessarily reflect
the opinions of Amnesty International or any other organization with
which she may be associated. E-mail: [email protected]
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