Stop Faith Card Abuse

These faith frauds are so out of control, I can barely stand it. However, their attempts to hijack the government and dissolve the lines between church and state are becoming an outright and very real threat to the very nature of both democracy and faith. No one person, group or denomination owns the legacy of Jesus Christ. There are millions of people of faith who don't need to shout how religious they are from every rooftop. Nor do they feel the need to impose their particular beliefs on anyone else. Now, however, voices of faith, reason and justice need to make themselves heard before the extremists in the Senate try to rewrite laws and history in order to gain judicial advantage.

"Now the Religious Right is saying that supporting the president's judicial nominations is a test of orthodoxy. This is a dramatic new and serious breach in the relationship between faith and politics.

James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, Prison Fellowship's Chuck Colson, and Southern Baptist leader Albert Mohler are hosting 'Justice Sunday,' a telecast this weekend from a mega-church in Louisville, Kentucky. Their message is that those who don't support President Bush's judicial nominees are hostile to 'people of faith.'

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist plans to join them by video to get political support for his effort to end the Senate practice known as the filibuster, which is designed to delay a vote on controversial issues in order to protect strong minorities from being overrun by majorities. The Republican leader's appearance at this event endorses the Religious Right's claim that the Democratic filibuster of a small number of very conservative judges is 'a filibuster against people of faith.'

Despite the fact that Democrats oppose these judges for their views on a variety of subjects, conservative leaders have singled out abortion and gay marriage as their chief concerns and only want judges who support their agenda. Despite the fact that many Democrats who oppose some of President Bush's nominees are themselves people of faith, Republicans and their religious supporters are questioning the faith and religious integrity of their opponents.

That is an escalation of the religious/political war. And the two together sound like assertions of a Republican theocracy. Behind these activities lies a fundamental assumption by Republican operatives and their conservative religious allies that they own religion in America. They demand that religious people vote only their way. They claim that 'values voters' in America belong to them, and they disrespect the faith of those who disagree with their agenda. There are better words for this than just 'politically divisive' or 'morally irresponsible.' For these are not merely political offenses, they are religious ones. And for offenses such as these, theological terms are better - terms such as idolatry and blasphemy."

These are scare times folks. As Americans, you'd think we'd be in the streets fighting for fairness and open democracy like the people of the Ukraine and the people of Lebanon. But, sadly, many people aren't even aware that their freedom is slowing being whittled away. But, it's not too late yet. One small thing you can do is make your voice heard. Take action and tell Bill Frist to stop playing the faith card!