President Ronald Reagan: Keep Religion out of Government (America, churches, Baptist)
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Location: In a little house on the prairie - literally
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DewDropInn
Meanwhile.... Reagan had a very chummy, political relationship with Jerry Falwell and the so-called Moral Majority.
Reagan was also a politician. My perspective is that he did associate with those that would or could support him, but his political base did not end up in any legislation that increased that religious base impact on citizens.
Reagan was also a politician. My perspective is that he did associate with those that would or could support him, but his political base did not end up in any legislation that increased that religious base impact on citizens.
First, the Executive Branch (Reagan) does not write legislation.
Second, people like Falwell can exert great influence outside of and beyond the legislative process.
My perspective is that Falwell, who railed against the LGBT community every chance he got, had Reagan's ear and his influence is one of the reasons Reagan did not say the word "AIDS" in public until 1985*. By that time over 5,000 Americans had died of the disease.
*That was in response to a reporters question. He didn't say the word AIDS in a speech for another five months. Five years after that, with over 18,000 Americans dead, he apologized for "neglecting" the epidemic.
Last edited by DewDropInn; 06-28-2016 at 02:51 PM..
I like to think of myself as a faithful Christian.
At the same time, I am a strict church-state separationist. After all, Christ himself advised us to render under Caesar, etc. etc.
Here's the thing the people who bang the drum about this being a Christian country don't get: The Founding Fathers were either Christian or Deists, but they were very suspicious about the predations of organized faith when it has the power of government behind it. After all the phrase, "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" in the Declaration of Independence was actually the motto for the American Enlightenment. And the terms "Creator" and "Nature's God" were also part of the Enlightenment's working vocabulary. And those terms were deliberately coined by the thinkers of the Enlightenment to separate themselves from the Christian theology of their day.
Just as importantly, in the Federalist Papers, you will not see one use of the word 'God' in the Judeo-Christian sense of the word. Nor will you find Christ or Christian. You will find the word Christianity mentioned once, in a short history of the political development of the Germanic tribes. But not in the sense of governance.
Why? Because the Founding Fathers had seen Europe convulsed by the religious wars of the Reformation, from the Thirty Years War to the English Civil Wars. And in this country's short history up to that point, we'd already seen people such as the Puritans flee to Massachusetts to escape religious persecution in England, only to quickly become the persecutors of others with differing belief. After all, Roger Williams fled the Massachusetts Bay Colony to save his skin, only to found the Baptist church in Providence, Rhode Island. One of the interesting ironies is how Williams preached religious tolerance and the absolute separation of faith and government, yet the domination he founded seems to advocate the precise opposite.
Here's the thing. There are official state religions in Europe. The Church of England, naturally. Sweden and Germany collect tithes for the Lutheran Church. Italy and Spain does it for Catholicism. And that's just scratching the surface. Yet the churches of Europe stand largely empty. Meanwhile, the United States remains a strongly faithful country, an interesting exception in Western civilization.
That's because of a simple explanation: Christianity is a subversive faith. It grew under the thumb of the Roman Emperors, despite persecution, despite execution, despite the contempt of the society that surrounded it. Even today, in a materialistic world, Christianity stands as a counterpoint to many of our prevailing impulses. In theory, anyway.
So when Christianity becomes an establishment faith, Christianity suffers. Not only is its spirit compromised, but people confuse the workings of government with that of the faith. And the faith is forever marred by the association.
Reagon is my hero, 1st term.
He was sick in the second.
Same here.
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