I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a Christian, but you don’t need to be in the pew every Sunday to know there’s something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school. As President, I’ll end Obama’s war on religion. And I’ll fight against liberal attacks on our religious heritage. Faith made America strong. It can make her strong again.
Sad, isn’t it? In America, the beacon of freedom and opportunity, Christians (and those who think like them) aren’t allowed to repress those who happen to think, believe, live, and love differently than they do. Yet there are those who think like Perry and believe that their Christianity gives them the absolute right to destroy those who happen not to share their “enlightenment.” I could spend a few paragraphs ridiculing Rick Perry and his self-serving self-righteousness, but why bother? It’s been done- quite often in this space- and haters like Perry aren’t going to care what I think, anyway.
I do find it sad that uber-Jesus-y zealots like Perry seem more concerned with taking away rights and oppressing those whose lifestyles they despise than with dealing with the very real problems plaguing this country- war, unemployment, health care, income inequality, corruption. It’s not as if there aren’t numerous opportunities for political minds like Perry to theorize about what they can do to make things better for ALL Americans. Instead, they’re trying to figure out how they can demonize, marginalize, and ultimately destroy a class of people they despise.
Granted, I’m not a Christian, but I was raised Lutheran and my parents forced me to go to Sunday School long enough for a few lessons to actually penetrate my thick skull. I find myself wondering how concepts like “love”, “charity”, and “tolerance” factor into the theology of those who, like Perry, seem to focus far more on what and whom they hate than on living by the teachings of the Savior they profess to revere. I don’t expect them to openly embrace lifestyle choices they can’t bring themselves to accept…but is it too much to expect a self-professed Christian to understand that not everyone thinks, believes, lives, and/or loves as they do? Is it too much to expect that they not be so arrogant as to assume that their lifestyle and belief system is their own and not the ONE, TRUE, AND ONLY worldview? It’s not a stretch to accept the notion that this is the mindset responsible for the Crusades. Worse, it’s the very aspect of radical Islam that Christians like Perry despise. So, to recap: radical Islam BAD; radical Christianity GOOD.
Rick Perry, and those who think like him, are living, breathing arguments for the importance of the separation of Church and State. If not for that, the phrase “American Taliban” would be more than simply a pejorative directed at those who would force their narrow, fear-based theology upon all Americans. I don’t begrudge the American Taliban their right to believe as they choose; that right is guaranteed by the Constitution. Perry and his fellow haters would do well to remember that freedom of religion does not apply solely to radical Social Conservative Christians.
WE DESERVE BETTER.
