Posted by
gnome1special on Monday, December 11, 2006 1:50:47 PM
I believe in 'the Great Experiment' as set forth by our founders. They were great visionaries!
I believe in Jesus for He has saved me from my sins. From what I have read, many of our founders also believed ... many just respected the Bible for what it stood for. But this much I know: the Bible and Christianity so pervaded the colonial society that it was the reference by which men communicated and argued about laws which should govern our society. But most everyone knew how wrong it would be to make the fledgling new nation into either a kingdom, or a theocracy.
I love my fellow believers for their zeal and their desire to hold our nation true to its religious roots. Swearing on the Bible is something which seems culturally sound and represents a level of sobriety and sincerity that should hold the swearer to a higher than human standard. Yet Jesus chided us not to do such a thing shortly after the famous beattitudes in his sermon on the mount.
I am seeing some very sad discourse in relation to tolerance and the role that Christianity should play in politics. How can we continue to be a shining beacon to the nations when we cannot show someone the respect that we would want them to show to us were the situation reversed? How can we say that we honor our Lord by holding sacred a national tradition that He has said for us not to even do?
I believe it comes down to fear ... yet even there (especially there), the scripture is not silent. The world has changed so much since the protestants revolted from the Catholic church ... and were persecuted. Western world has morphed greatly since the King was the 'defender of the faith' ... whichever faith he was most fond of. Have we learned so little from our history and our scripture that we cannot avoid being biggots ourselves?
Have we forgotten the grace given to us that we cannot lend a little grace now and then to others? Kieth Ellison may yet show himself to be a danger to his nation ... to us. But to more than 50% of his state, he showed himself to be a statesman worthy to be given the chance to be a law maker. Now he has a role to play ... and we do to. We now get to watch the man and see how he can be trusted in the matter of making laws that the nation has to live with. If his actions prove wanting ... then we get to influence our friends and realitives in that state to boot him out of office. That's the issue we should be focusing on.
Not his religion ... not his oath ... not by what he chooses to swear. Let us focus on what matters ... how he lives his religion ... carries out his oath ... shows himself accountable to what he swears. That is how all men (by which I mean human-kind) should be judged. That is, I beleive, what our founding fathers meant when they said, 'All men are created equal'. Now is the time to put 'the Great Experiment' to the test ... both within ourselves ... and in our elected officials.
12/11/06 Update
My basic premise here has not changed, but my understanding of Dennis Prager's statement has changed. As such I now agree with Mr. Prager and his last statement of his followup post. Kieth Ellison should simultaneously acknowledge US tradition since he is vowing to serve those who have elected him, as well as honor his own religion by bringing both the Bible and the Koran to the swearing in.