A couple of things to keep in mind: She thinks our country and government is based on a book written by men who didn’t know where the sun went at at night. Additionally, the God she believes created the entire universe, from nothing, has a penis…. “Do Government Officials Have Authority to Impose Their Morals on Others?” Lindevaldsen’s answer was a resounding “yes,” provided that the morals being imposed are Christian ones. But if the morals being imposed are not Christian ones, then the answer is obviously “no.”…. As she explained, “civil government only has the authority that God has established” and so “civil government, if it’s acting rightfully within its authority, should be acting consistent with Scripture.”… When religious fascists claim that their personal opinions of gods or deities trump everyone’s religious freedom, they should be asked, repeatedly and assertively, to prove that their imaginary friend actually exists. And if they can not prove it, they should STFU.
If you’ve hung around my dark, dank corner of Da Interwebz for any length of time, you understand that one of my pet peeves is the conviction of some Evangelical Christians that this is a Christian nation and should by rights be governed by “Biblical principles.” Yeah, about that….
Rena Lindevaldsen, Liberty University Law School’s interim dean, recently spoke to students on the topic “Do Government Officials Have Authority to Impose Their Morals on Others?” Given Liberty’s religious/ideological profile- if they skewed any further to the right, they’d fall off the spectrum altogether- her answer should hardly be surprising:
Lindevaldsen’s answer was a resounding “yes,” provided that the morals being imposed are Christian ones. But if the morals being imposed are not Christian ones, then the answer is obviously “no.”
Right…because the Founding Fathers, in their infinite wisdom, intended for America to be the property and personal playground of Christians; people of all other faiths should willingly and without question accept second-class status and acquiesce to having few, if any, rights to equal treatment under the law. Except that Ms. Lindevaldsen, who, being the dean of a law school, I’d have to assume is a highly intelligent woman, is exceedingly selective in her views. To believe that this is a Christian nation, rather a nation with secular governance and a majority-Christian population, is to willfully ignore the 1st Amendment’s Establishment Clause…something the American Taliban is, unsurprisingly, renowned for.
“Government’s only just authority [is] derived from God and it’s purpose is to protect those inalienable rights that we have been given, not to infringe them as we’re seeing take place a lot in society today,” Lindevaldsen said.
Whether or not you believe in the separation of Church and State, you cannot deny that the Establishment Clause prevents government from promoting the interests and/or agenda of one religion- in this case, Christianity- above others. Beyond that, there’s the historical reality that this country was founded by people fleeing religious oppression in England. Now there are those who, like Lindvaldsen, would advocate with all seriousness that this country should be run on Biblical principles…thus coming full circle and imposing their own form of religious oppression.
“Government’s only just authority [is] derived from God and it’s purpose is to protect those inalienable rights that we have been given, not to infringe them as we’re seeing take place a lot in society today,” Lindevaldsen said. “Whether it’s zoning or taxes or marriage or abortion, in those issues, government doesn’t have authority to say that these things are appropriate because they’re contrary to Scripture.” - See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/liberty-law-school-dean-government-doesnt-have-authority-impose-unbiblical-laws#sthash.puLtM87x.dpuf
There’s a very good reason why the Founding Fathers intended American governance to be secular. They knew the admixture of Church and State to be a recipe for tyranny. Today, all one need do is look at countries like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Iran to understand that allowing God and government to become one and the same only dooms a country to conflict, strife, and an economy that can never perform up to its potential.
For reasons known only to themselves, the American Taliban are convinced that their faith is the One, True, and Only faith; anything else is inferior and worthy only of destruction. Unfortunately, people like Lindevaldsen- who really should know better- are clamoring to institute a regime highlighted by bigotry, intolerance, and the inability to recognize the validity of any viewpoint or belief system other than their own.
Sorry, y’all…but your God doesn’t get to be my government!
