Separation of Church and Politics?
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Vol. XXVII, Issue 11 March 24, 2006 NN ee ww ss Separation of Church and Politics? By Mark Bannick “Whatever happened to the separation of church Consisting mostly of evangelicals and the orthodox, like Karl Rove, have, since the 1970s, observed the and state?” this conservative bloc could not live with the nec- successes of grassroots politicking among Christian “It’s hanging in there, but I’m afraid the constitu- essary conditions of social thought; that is, they Right. Combined with the soft-money campaign tion doesn’t say anything about the separation of could not differentiate between how one ought to donations by the wealthy business class and the get- church and politics.” act and believe in public, with how one ought to do out-the-vote drive of his political base, George W. “You saying that’s a good thing?” so in private. For them, there was no demarca- Bush had many campaign promises to fulfill in his “I’m saying that’s the way it is: always has been.” tion—the private was public. Even Jimmy Carter, slight victory (loss?) over Al Gore in 2000. “You think a voter really needs to know if I go to an evangelical himself, was renounced by these As it was more important for the President church?” groups for his support of Roe v. Wade (1973). to first achieve his tax-cuts, followed by preemp- “I don’t need to know but then I’m not going to After these beginnings, the Christian Right tively waging a war, he continued to campaign to vote for you anyway. It’s not up to us to decide made the necessary advances in the 1980s under the the Christian Right in his re-election drive. Under what the voters get to use in evaluating us.” Reagan Administration. By proclaiming, with all of the conditions of the 2004 election, a close battle its moral overtones, that the Soviet Union was an against Senator John Kerry, Bush’s advisors saw it The preceding dialogue is between a “evil empire,” Reagan received widespread support as essential that their base come out and vote in President and a Senator, Democrat and Republican, among these groups. Combined with the business droves. In order to do this, national agendas were respectively. In class’ support of Reaganomics, the Reagan adminis- correlated with state and local agendas. In Texas, this conver- tration received widespread support from the heartland of the Christian Right, the Republican sation, the many groups across America. Party declared on its platform that the state was a President, During this time, Christian State. In more than a dozen states, refer- serving in the Christian endums were placed on the ballot that would outlaw the waning Right made gay marriage. Also, the prospect of Supreme Court months of pragmatic vacancies in the immediate future gave the his second alignments Christian Right, provided they had right combina- term, is with the sup- tion of justices, the ability to challenge Roe v. candidly porters of Wade. Family values, along with security, drove discussing to Reaganomics many to the polls and George W. Bush was re- the Senator, and together elected President by 3,000,000 votes (he’s only his party’s they formed the “won” by a total of 2,500,000 votes if you combine nomination for coalition which both elections). President, about is such a pow- However, not only was Bush, an evangeli- the intricacies of erhouse of cal neo-conservative, re-elected, but conservative- religious invoca- political leaning Republicans across the country were voted tion, or non-invo- lobbying into federal, state, and local offices, all of whom cation, in today. recognize that, without fulfilling their campaign National Quelled promises to the Christian Right, they may not be re- Politics. only slight- elected. We now near the next round of federal Unfortunately, ly, during elections, and such politicians are bringing the no such degree Bush Sr.’s admin- Christian Right’s influence to bear. With new, con- of bipartisan- istration (the 2nd servative-minded justices on the Supreme Court, ship would most liberal in 25 several states are enacting laws which are aimed at ever allow this years), the Christian challenging the legality of abortion, thus bringing a conversation to Right supported new decision on the status quo of abortion. be made public in many of the In a personal anecdote, in 2004 I was the real world. Congressmen who Googling a search of Alexis de Tocqueville for a This conversa- won the mid-term seminar I was to be attending. Near the top of the tion took place elections in search came a page from “John Thune for Senator.” between 1994. In that (John Thune beat Tom Daschle in South Dakota.) President Jeb election, On the page he had excerpts from de Tocqueville’s Bartlett, played notable as Democracy in America, in which he describes the by Martin Courtesy of Kevin Smith the first time intimacy that religion has with local politics. In Sheen, and theaddition to the excerpts, there were portions of the Senator Arnold Republicans excerpts that were underlined for added emphasis. Vinick, played by Alan Alda, gained control of These underlined portions all related to the idea on the drama West Wing. If only our existing the House of Representatives in forty years, a that only Christians had the correct moral judgment politicians possessed such candor! “Contract for America” was signed by nearly all of and moral firmness to properly govern an American In American politics, few lobbying organi- the Republicans running in that election. This con- community. At the time, I had never heard of zations and political coalitions have had as much tract called for a major reduction in the size of the Thune but, seeing as how he was running for US success as that of the Christian Right. As was federal government and a reduction in the ability of Senate, I felt compelled to email him and find out if evinced in the federal elections of 2004, the grass- the Federal government to regulate intranational it was his true belief that only Christians could roots campaigning of devoted groups have had an affairs. In and of itself, it contained many of the properly govern. By the end of the day I had for- enormous impact on America’s political landscape. provisions that were on the Christian Right’s agen- gotten about the email and did not expect a reply. From where, though, has this group emerged? (No, da; however, Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich To my surprise, I did receive a long reply within a not just Kansas). The Christian Right, as it exists omitted much of the Christian Right’s core values few days from John Thune. To my dismay, the today, began in the mid-1970s as a relatively weak (anti-abortion and school prayer), as these issues emphasis on the website was no mistake and this coalition of interest groups, parishes, congrega- were only held by a minority of voters. man actually believed in his Christian superiority! tions, and individuals reacting to the progressive It was no coincidence that George W. Bush Fortunately, the voters of South Dakota would spirit that challenged tradition in the 1960s and campaigned on a values-oriented platform during never elect such a closed-minded individual. Or so early -70s. Successes such as women’s liberation, his bid for the 2000 Presidential Election. Nor was I thought. On Election Day 2004, after crying into sexual freedom, and non-discrimination were it so that he was able to outspend his primary oppo- a pint (or two), I also learned that John Thune was looked upon by the Christian Right as an affront to nent, John McCain, and become the party’s nomina- elected to the US Senate, defeating Tom Daschle. the traditional norms and mores of American life. tion for President. Republican political strategists, 2 NN ee ww ss Saddam Calls For Iraqis to Kill US Troops, Judge Closes Trial to the Media By Joe Safdia After many harsh words were exchanged A shouting match erupted during Saddam Hussein’s first testimony of his between Saddam and Abdel- trial, the presiding officer of the hearings, Chief Rahman, the latter reminding Tribunal Judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman ordered all Saddam that he was a defendant, not journalists out of the courtroom and closed the pro- a head of state, and was to answer ceedings to the public when Saddam openly urged questions regarding the charges all citizens of Iraq to unite against the US Armed brought against him. Saddam Forces. refused, saying that he was address- The former President of Iraq gave what ing the innocent civilians dying in Abdel-Rahman labeled as a “political speech” when Baghdad. he was supposed to address his alleged murder of “I am trying to extinguish 148 Shiites, all of whom he proclaimed to have put the fire with a few drops of water,” to death under suspicion of an attempted assassina- said Saddam, insisting he was doing tion attempt on July 8, 1982. He claimed that the what he could to stop the violence in recent wave of violence in Iraq, which has claimed Iraq. Saddam chillin’ over 100 innocent lives in the past week, had The conflict between the Courtesy of People who are no longer allowed in the trial “pained” him. He attributed the bombing of the defendant and the judge could not be resolved civil- Clark, the speech justified Saddam’s execution of Shiite mosque that started the escalated Sunni- ly and ended with Abdel-Rahman removing all jour- the 148 citizens of the town of Dujail as well as his Shiite violence to “criminals”, at the same time nalists from the courtroom for 90 minutes while war with Iran.