By Jeff Orvis
As we are thankfully entering the home
stretch in the presidential caucus race lunacy, have you noticed the
latest weapon in the arsenal of several candidates? God.
Some of the folks who want to be our
next president have recognized that many of us who live in this state
are proud, God-fearing folks. I'm sure they would love to have a
verbal endorsement from the Big Guy, but short of that, their
campaign commercials assure us that they are true believers. Of
course then in their next commercial they claim they are the best bet
for keeping us safe by pledging to bomb our foes into oblivion. Then
they say the other candidates are no good for us and we are certain
to face disaster if the other guy is nominated and elected.
At least so far they have stopped
short of claiming that they are more religious than their opponents,
but stay tuned, there's still time for that.
Then there are the people who are
campaigning to let God in our schools and in our city halls and court
houses. I've probably written about this before, but as a reminder,
wasn't this country founded, at least in part, by people who were
attempting to escape the government-mandated religion of England?
I understand where some of my
well-meaning friends are coming from. Many of us are taught from an
early age that belief in God is the only way to live and to eternal
life. We are also instructed to share our belief with everyone we
meet. But I have never heard, at least from the New Testament, any
decree that we must cram our beliefs down the throats of our
neighbors, my way or the highway.
What makes this country great is the
fact that we are a wonderful melting pot of folks with all sorts of
beliefs. One of our basic beliefs is that we should not infringe on
the rights of others to believe what they want, as long as they do it
in a peaceful manner.
Several years ago, my mom was facing
emergency surgery. She was a life-long Christian who took every
opportunity to profess her belief. As she was meeting with her
surgical team, she told them that she believed that there would be
someone else in that operating room guiding their every move. She
told them God would be there. Then her anesthesiologist had a perfect
two-word comment, “And Buddha.” Those words assured her that
while he was not necessarily a Christian, he believed in a superior
being that guided his every move as well.
And that's why I object to having one
organized religion as a part of our public school curriculum, why I
don't think a monument of the Ten Commandments has any place on
public property and why we should question any candidate for any
office that seems to indicate that a vote for him or her is
necessarily a vote for God.
The day we elect a president with only
a Christian-based agenda is the day we relegate our Jewish, Buddhist,
Muslim and other neighbors to second-class citizenship. I don't have
any problem with a candidate professing his or her faith and saying
he or she lives by the principles they believe in. But the inference
that if you aren't Christian, you should look for somewhere else to
live is just plain wrong. What do we say to that Buddhist
anesthesiologist or that Jewish lawyer or merchant or that Islamic
professor of ancient history?
There would be great value in a public
school unit on the world's comparative religions. It could lead to
greater understanding an tolerance. But only if it was taught with
the help of representatives of other religions as well as
Christianity.
Late on Christmas Eve, I watched a
tremendous special, “May Peace Prevail on Earth.” It was
presented by a group called the United Religions Initiative.
According to the group's web site, “URI
is a global grassroots interfaith network that cultivates peace and
justice by engaging people to bridge religious and cultural
differences and work together for the good of their communities and
the world.”
While
it was billed as a “Christmas special,” it did not attempt to
promote one religion over another, but to recognize that billions of
people around the world viewed Christmas Eve as the ultimate holy
night and to celebrate those beliefs.
In
an era where we are increasingly suspicious of some small factions of
certain “religions” for their professed violent beliefs, isn't
this the best time to check out what the URI is attempting to put
forth? Isn't tolerance and understanding and not only what this
country was founded on but a gift from God?
Something
to think about.
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