Religion & Politics...

Ironically, I am one of the last people you would see posting an article from a Christian magazine, but I have to say, this is one article I was not only surprised to read but also can say I agree with - at least definitely with the first 3 paragraphs.

I am quite annoyed with the current RELIGION ride this country is on regarding the upcoming presidential election. There are prAeachers across the country calling for all Christians not to vote for Romney - not because his issues are not agreeable, not because he is not experienced enough - no, but because he is a Mormon, and Mormons are "not real Christians". So, there is a huge call from the Bible belt to vote for Huckabee.....why? Again, he is riding the religion train.

Here is a section of conversation I had with an individual on here:

....Here is a quote from The Dallas Morning News from October 18 I found:

"A prominent Dallas minister told his congregation that if they wanted to elect a Christian to the White House, Republican Mitt Romney wasn't qualified.

Dr. Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, said Mormonism is a false religion and that Mr. Romney was not a Christian.

"Mitt Romney is a Mormon, and don't let anybody tell you otherwise, " Dr. Jeffress said in a sermon on Sept. 30. "Even though he talks about Jesus as his Lord and savior, he is not a Christian. Mormonism is not Christianity. Mormonism is a cult."

The Bible Belt is going to go for Huckabee, just as Iowa did.

What's up with that???

I don't think anyone has the right to say that Mormon's aren't Christians. Mormonism is like any other branch of Christianity, one doesn't agree with the other. Frankly, if people are going to vote for a President due to their religious preference, then I am truly ashamed to be a part of this nation. It's sad that we care more about who one prays to at night then the state of this country. We have a financially debilitating war in which our soldiers are dying for some truly unknown reason, we have children who are dying due to neglect, our schools are in shambles, our police forces are under staffed, our streets are over ridden with crime, drugs and poverty - but the real issue, folks, the real issue is if Mitt Romney's status as a Mormon is "Christian enough" for Dr. Robert Jeffress and his (forgive me for my bluntness) sheep. I say that because if people are listening to him due to his opinion on another's religious views and not the actual issues that are pertinent to the job of being the leader of our land, well then....BAAA!!!!!!!!!



That goes for Romney or any candidate. How sad is it that people found a way to lead the people into oblivion in regards to politics. Run on the religion ticket, folks.

I am moving to Europe.

It truly does bother me. Think of it this way - if you were to go get a job in this country, and they wanted to know your religious preference, and you were denied that job due to your preference, even though you were highly qualified, wouldn't you cry discrimination? Why is it that we then can turn and do that for the largest and most important job of this country? We are ignoring the abilities of certain candidates based on if they are "Christian" enough or not! I have seen articles in respected publications as TIME and Newsweek regarding how many times Obama has been to church in the past year. I mean, really people! Does someone's religious preference reflect their ability to do their job? Does anyone's religious preference affect the ability to do their job? Is it written somewhere that Baptist doctors are better surgeons than Protestant doctors? Or how about the vegetables a Pagan farmer grows are far more nutritious and a better value than those Mormon grown veggies.

How freakin ridiculous is that? I personally just think it's over-the-top to place such importance on religious preference, because you know what.........99.9% of the show that is being put on now, by ALL of the candidates, will surely change once one is sworn into office....we all know that to be true. So lets forget about the popularity contest and concentrate on the actual issues at hand.

ANYWAY - I have rambled and probably no one is reading this anymore - LOL. Here is the article I spoke of soooo long ago at the begining of this Blog....


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On Guard for Religious Liberty

The Reverend John Leland was not a man to mince words when it comes to religion and politics. Candidates who advertise their personal faith, he insisted, should be avoided by the voters.

"Guard against those men who make a great noise about religion in choosing representatives," observed Leland. "It is electioneering intrigue. If they knew the nature and worth of religion, they would not debauch it to such shameful purposes.

"If pure religion is the criterion to denominate candidates," he continued, "those who make a noise about it must be rejected; for their wrangle about it proves that they are void of it. Let honesty, talents and quick dispatch characterize the men of your choice."

As America comes out of another round of elections, in which the line between faith and electioneering is being aggressively blurred, Leland's words seem extraordinarily current. In fact, however, his comments come from an Independence Day oration he gave in Cheshire, Massachusetts, more than two centuries ago.

On July 5, 1802, Leland, a Baptist preacher and staunch religious liberty advocate, held forth on the importance of choosing public officials who will defend the Constitution and its separation of church and state. "Be always jealous of your liberty, your rights," he thundered. "Nip the first bud of intrusion on your Constitution.… Never promote men who seek after a state-established religion; it is spiritual tyranny—the worst of despotism."

"It is turnpiking the way to heaven by human law in order to establish ministerial gates to collect toll," he continued. "It converts religion into a principle of state policy, and the gospel into merchandise. Heaven forbids the bans of marriage between churches and state; their embraces, therefore, must be unlawful."

Today, when some prominent Baptist preachers denounce such church-state separation and urge evangelicals to "vote Christian," Leland's words may sound strange. But Baptists in Revolutionary-era America were in no position to try to take over the government. Persecuted minorities in many states, they fought against official preference in matters of religion.

Leland, like many of his coreligionists, believed government interference in matters of faith violated the will of God and individual freedom of conscience. According to scholar Edwin Gaustad, Leland declared that persecution, inquisition, and martyrdom all derived from one single "rotten nest-egg, which is always hatching vipers: I mean the principle of intruding the laws of men into the Kingdom of Christ." Leland is little known to most Americans today. But he and other evangelical Christians played a critical role in establishing religious liberty and its constitutional corollary, church-state separation.

Born in Grafton, Massachusetts, on May 14, 1754, Leland said he spent his teenage years in "frolicking and foolish wickedness." But at 18 he converted to Christianity and became an itinerant Baptist preacher. After visiting Virginia in 1775, he and his wife, Sally, moved to that state, and he soon became a prominent figure in both religious and political life.

Leland served as a member of the Baptists' "General Committee," a group formed in 1784 to agitate for religious liberty. He and other dissenting clergy fought alongside James Madison and Thomas Jefferson in the battle to overturn Virginia's state-established Anglican (Episcopal) Church and ensure equal rights for all.

The Baptist preacher insisted that religion is hurt more by government favor than by government oppression. Experience has informed us, he wrote, that "the fondness of magistrates to foster Christianity has done it more harm than persecutions ever did."



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