Rediscovering God in America

[michaelskis]

What are your thoughts on Newt Gingrich

[monsoon]

I am not aware the Supreme Ct. did this (maybe you can cite some cases) and the nation was not founded on the basis of religion. Furthermore, Gingrich is a bit of a gasbag whose "Republican Revolution" and "Contract with America" tured out to be nothing more than giveaways to the corporations while pandering to the religious zeliots. I have not read his book but it is intersting that now that Gingrich is considering running for President, that he has backed off some of his more hardcore stands from the past.

[Charlotte_native]

What are your thoughts on Newt Gingrich

[Gusterfell]

Indeed. I have never met an "anti-religion liberal." I find that the most fervently anti-religious people are actually those who are extremely devout... they want to deny all other religions equal rights in society. One of the central tenets of American liberalism, on the other hand, is inclusion. All religions are welcome, but none shall be allowed to dominate the others or to control the government. Liberals will leave the Christian right alone when they stop trying to create a theocracy.

The government is more Christian today than it ever has been, and Gingrich is a fearmonger whose heyday was up fifteen years ago.

[Captain Worley]

Newt Gringrich had best stick with fiction, like his alternative WWII novel.

[JDC]

Liberals will leave the Christian right alone when they stop trying to create a theocracy.

[Captain Worley]

^^ My guess is the appearance of the person proclaiming that they exist. Preachers are generally well dressed and well groomed. The same cannot be said, unfortunately, for the people who claim to be abducted or whatever.

Just a guess...

[Charlotteman]

In the 1980s Jerry Fallwell said "Our country has freedom OF religion. Not freedom FROM religion." To me this says it all. The religious extremists are convinced they are correct, and everyone else is wrong.

Nothing will convince them otherwise, even if UFOs land and extraterrestials proclaim they put us here. In fact I asked a fundie once what she would think if that very thing happened--UFOs land etc. Her answer "They would be demons."

How can you possibly reason with this kind of mentality?

My feeling is that religious fundamentalism in America is scarier than Osama bin Laden and Kim Il Jung put together. Thinking Americans must be on a constant vigil to keep an eye on this movement. It must be taken seriously, no matter how ludicrous it sounds. If Fallwell had his way the States would be a christian version of Iran.

So is god being rediscovered in America? If that's what people want to believe, I don't care. Just keep it in church, out of the political areana, and out of my face! I am happy without rediscovering god.

[Snowguy716]

The thing that separates the fundamentalists from the other Christians is their insistence that the Bible is the infallible word of God in its modern translated form.

Never mind that simple things like Adam and Eve (Adam coming from the Hebrew A'dam which means human, with man being ish and woman being isha) are often misread and misinterpreted by fundamentalists.

They are trying to apply a 3000 year old text to modern times.. these are the type of people that get frustrated with a puzzle and just start jamming pieces together whether its in the right place or not.

The Supreme court is not bound in any way to the Bible as clearly stated in the Constitution. If they want to make laws that ensure the separation of church and state, they are only seeking to clarify what our constitution already says. You have religious freedom. If you want to homeschool your children or send them to Christian schools and pray in public, you have every right to do so. There is nothing stopping you from living a Godly lifestyle. If you feel you need to have laws so that everyone lives like you, then you are treading upon my rights, and I would question your position as a Christian living Christ's lifestyle.

Newt Gingrich is a smart man, but I could stand to live without his Bible-thumping, so I won't be reading his book.

[Charlotteman]

???? and I had always thought Newt was a secular conservative???

[Pillsbury]

???? and I had always thought Newt was a secular conservative???

[Charlotte_native]

I honestly don't understand why so many people feel it necessary that their faith be reinforced by society. Is that all they have?

[Charlotteman]

gusterfell I guess I could be called an anti religion liberal.

I'm as liberal as anyone could be, and I despize religion and will never accept all the misery it creates. When I lived in the South it was like spitting in the ocean. But I refused to give up ground, and if a religious extremist insulted or questioned me, or got in my face, I didn't back down one inch:) lol

[Gusterfell]

gusterfell I guess I could be called an anti religion liberal.

I'm as liberal as anyone could be, and I despize religion and will never accept all the misery it creates. When I lived in the South it was like spitting in the ocean. But I refused to give up ground, and if a religious extremist insulted or questioned me, or got in my face, I didn't back down one inch:) lol

[Charlotteman]

Oh gosh no:) heehe

I don't care if people want to believe in the Tooth Fairy, and have a church to worship him etc. I don't care if people worship god, or jesus, or allah, or mohammed, or their own checkbook. Matters nothing to me.

My ONLY problem is when religion seeks to highjack the culture (i.e. Iran in 1979) Or when religion tries to become the biggest player in government (i.e.the States in the 1980s) If religion would stay out of politics I wouldn't ever ever ever say anything against it.

[monsoon]

Let's keep in mind that Gingrich divorced not one but two wives and had affairs on both of them. He was so heartless that he informed his first wife that he was going to leave her for another woman (his 2nd wife) while the poor woman was still in the hospital getting over cancer surgury. On top of that, he led the US House of Representative's witch hunt against Clinton and impeached Clinton for lying about his affair. So I would add hyporcracy to the list.

This hardly seems like someone qualified to be telling others about God.

[Snowguy716]

Newt is a conservative without a conscience, plain and simple.

[krazeeboi]

I can't speak for Gingrich's book as I have not read it, but I've read a pretty good speech given by Sen. Barack Obama that speaks along the same lines. Pertinent excerpts:

But what I am suggesting is this - secularists are wrong when they ask believers to leave their religion at the door before entering into the public square. Frederick Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, Williams Jennings Bryant, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King - indeed, the majority of great reformers in American history - were not only motivated by faith, but repeatedly used religious language to argue for their cause. So to say that men and women should not inject their "personal morality" into public policy debates is a practical absurdity. Our law is by definition a codification of morality, much of it grounded in the Judeo-Christian tradition...

[Conservative leaders] need to understand the critical role that the separation of church and state has played in preserving not only our democracy, but the robustness of our religious practice. Folks tend to forget that during our founding, it wasn't the atheists or the civil libertarians who were the most effective champions of the First Amendment. It was the persecuted minorities, it was Baptists like John Leland who didn't want the established churches to impose their views on folks who were getting happy out in the fields and teaching the scripture to slaves. It was the forbearers of the evangelicals who were the most adamant about not mingling government with religious, because they did not want state-sponsored religion hindering their ability to practice their faith as they understood it.