One nation under evangelical christians

"God is pro-war"
-- Rev. Jerry Falwell

Who needs the Constitution, why don't we just scrap it and replace it with The Holy Bible as interpreted by Evangelical Christians. Soon we will adopt their perverted form of christianity as our framework for government.

I just don't understand these people. Is it that they think they are right and everyone else is wrong? They claim that their God commands these things and you can't argue with God. They not only want to dictate how their own people live but how the rest of us live. If I don't accept Jesus as my personal savior I am going to burn in hell.

This is nothing new, I guess. It has been going on from the time that the Puritans, fleeing religious persecution in "Old Europe", landed here nearly four centuries ago. It just comes in waves. From witchhunts to abolition to McCarthyism. We don't really learn about these things in school from the football coach that is supposed to be teaching history.

Although I am not a practicing christian, most of my family members are church-goers and I was raised as a christian. More specifically in a Congregationalist church. There were about fifty members of this little autonomous country church which was established in the late eighteenth century. Each Sunday it was pretty much the same: a few readings from the Bible, a few hymns, the Apostle's Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and a sermon from the minister. Forty-five minutes a week of "religion", the rest of the week was spent on community things like bloodmobiles, bake sales, dinners, food drives, etc.

While I enjoyed the community aspects of the church I do not believe in God. I could not stand there every Sunday and say "I believe in God, the Father Almighty," because I don't; I never have. So I stopped attending church as soon as I was able to make that choice.

Now I live among Old Order Mennonites and Nebraska Amish. Their horse-drawn buggies share the roads with the evengelicals' SUVs and pick-up trucks. The clip-clop of their horses is part of the daily background noise. They, however, do not proselytize. They believe what they believe and they live their lives according to those beliefs and let the rest of live as we want.

They are not very popular among some of the mainstream protestants in the area. Interestingly the Mennonites ended up here after some Old Order Mennonites were incarcerated here during World War II for being pacifists. They noticed the land surrounding the prison and after they were released they told their families about the land and they bought some farms here.

I have been religion free for many years now. However, it is getting harder to escape other people's religions. I cannot listen to several public radio stations that used to come in clearly because there are now evangelical christian radio stations with national programs that block out the community radio stations. Even the local AM radio station carries James Dobson's daily message of hate. There are billboards lining the country roads with messages like "Have you personally accepted Jesus Christ as your savior?" Every meeting or dinner that I attend seems to start with a christian prayer.

Maybe I am just noticing it more these days. I don't know.

I am pretty sure though that the God I learned about in my church-going days was not pro-war.

From: BBC

Religion and politics in America
By Richard Allen Greene
BBC News Online in Colorado Springs and Boulder, Colorado

The first bumper sticker I saw when I arrived in the United States said "Got Jesus?" So did the second one. And the third.

Americans are divided about the role of religion in politics
The stickers - a religious take on a milk advertising campaign - were plastered on a Ford van in Detroit.

The next day I ran across a lawn sign asking "Need prayer?" There was a free phone number on the sign: 1-800-541-PRAY.

Americans are a deeply religious people - and one - as the stickers prove - comfortable with public displays of faith.

In fact, although the United States has a constitutional barrier separating church and state, the vast majority of Americans want their leaders to be religious.
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