"OUR NATION WAS FOUNDED ON JUDEO CHRISTIAN VALUES AND PRINCIPLES." John McCain, Saddleback Church, 7/16/2008.

Really? This has bothered me a lot since Saturday night.

I thought the idea was to escape the tyranny of the Church of England. The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment contains an accommodationist clause that prohibits Congress from preferring one religion over another. In short: it protects us against theocracy.

I actually did not watch much of the forum tonight.  I have no TV, and at first my computer screen froze so I had to let it cool off.  I saw the last 20 minutes of Obama, and couldn't deal with McCain for more than a few minutes.  What I noticed:  the part of Obama's interview that I heard was not specifically about religion, though he justified having no discrimination in programs with government funding; and McCain said his worst personal failing was the failure of his first marriage.

I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing but the Religious Right's spirituality hack is beginning to surface, and I think it's wise to be aware of what you may have to deal with.

One of the main issues of this election is the First Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The issue point here is about those who play games with the definition of the term 'religion', attempting to 'hack', as it were, into government by use of the term 'spirituality'.

Recently in Texas, the State Legislature decided to allow for elective Bible classes in Texas public schools.  But, they  decided to leave the creation of the guidelines up to the Texas Education Agency.  But they really didn't want to do it so the TEA decided to adopt the vaguest guidelines possible.  The Texas Attorney General gave a non-opinion/opinion when asked about whether the class would violate the Constitution. No one at the state wide level had the courage to actually do their job.  

Barbara Ann's op-ed: Laziness Breeds Litigation

Barbara Ann Radnofsky, 2006 Dem. U.S. Senate nominee in Texas, wrote an op-ed for today's Austin American Statesman that addresses the failure of our state wide leaders and the impact that it will have on all of the citizens of Texas.  Barbara Ann is a Houston attorney who has been listed in "Best Lawyers in America" for each of the past 15 years. (I worked for Barbara Ann's Senate campaign and continue to work with her today).

It's lunch time and I'm not hungry, so I was navigating around the tubes and found this.

In a nutshell:

Unless a federal court intervenes, South Carolina drivers may soon be able to profess their Christian faith with a state-issued license plate.

Now I see the little fish symbols, and the dove symbols, and even a cross here and there, all the time.

Yeah I know Obama sold us out on FISA, the Fourth Amendment and the opportunity to hold Bush and the telecoms accountable for the most criminal abuse of the Constitution in American history, and that he appears ready to sign on to a bill giving presidents vast new powers to spy on citizens without any court oversight, but that’s just one issue.

I am a person of faith.  That repels some, it warms the hearts of others.  So your natural response would be, this is going to be a diary praising Obama's expansion of Bush's Faith based office.  This diary will not do that.  I am a Christian, but I also profoundly believe in the separation of church and state.  I believe it's important to respect the rights of Jews, Muslims Hindus, Buddhists, atheists and agnostics.  The right to believe or not believe in a particular religion is an impotrant freedom, and I think Barack Obama by expanding on Bush's Faith Based initiative, further blurs the line between the separation of church and state.

The "Bible boot camp" and "kiddie gulag" industry have been frequent subjects of writing here in this diary--from reports of abuses in "Bible boot camps" to an expose series on the Assemblies-run "Teen Challenge" chain.

One thing I've been big on is efforts to shut down the "kiddie gulag" industry by requiring federal standards for facilities of this type (many of these facilities are entirely unregulated due to operating as "faith-based" dominionist "parallel economy" alternatives to legit social work and mental health services.  And it turns out that just such a model law--originally entered this Congressional session as HR 5876 (with a new bill number, HR 6358)--has passed its first big hurdle in that the House version is approved.

Is anyone else feeling dispirited?  Am I only the one who's getting tired of being "Sister Souljah"-ed every time there's a presidential election?  

The issue is not whether I'm going to vote for Barack Obama in November, because of course I will.  The issue is why it is that EVERY SINGLE TIME, our Democratic nominees are never able to articulate any kind of progressive vision in an effective manner, instead choosing to run on "We won't make any Scary Changes; we're as traditional and conservative as they are, only we aren't completely, utterly bats**t crazy."

Is this really the best we can do?  Is this the best our candidates can do?

[more on the flip]

There is a disturbing entry on Alternet that describes actions taken by former Governor Jeb Bush and his cronies to get government funds used for religious schools.  According to the entry, this current scheme “has provoked a church-state showdown with national ramifications.”   The worst possible consequence of the actions being undertaken is the possibility of removing  separation of church and state from the Florida Constitution.

I think he can.

James Dobson, head of Focus on the Family, says the Barack Obama distorts the Bible and has a "fruitcake interpretation of the Constitution."

This according to the Associated Press, which was provided a copy of Dobson's pretaped remarks that will air on Tuesday on his nationally syndicated radio program.

Dobson's colorful attack on Senator Obama, who taught constitutional law for twelve years at the University of Chicago, invites examination of Mr. Dobson's views on the Constitution -- something I have written about from time-to-time.

The floods in the Midwest have continued and I include some information where I can in the Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin sections. Best of luck to all readers in the hard hit areas.

This week I return to an issue I discussed before: Republican cronies litterally killing our troops with no government oversight. This week Democratic Sentor Bob Casey is demanding an investigation of the electrocutions due to bad wiring that have been plaguing our military bases managed by a Hallibruton subsidiary. More below.

There will be an outcry from the religious right this week.  There will be gnashing of teeth and the tearing of cloth and wailing in the street at how religion is being attacked.  I'm sure we'll hear O'Reilly and Limbaugh comment on this in the upcoming days on how Christianity is once again under attack.  This should be fun to watch.

The Religious Right is fighting tooth and nail against restoration of torts law and civil rights.

On Wednesday, with just two weeks left in the legislative session, the Louisiana House of Representatives approved SB 733, a bill intended to facilitate the teaching of creationism in public schools.

The Rev. Barry W. Lynn promptly responded, calling the proposed law an "embarrassment" and guaranteeing legal action if the measure is used "to promote religion in Louisiana public schools."

Americans United for Separation of Church and State, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Center for Science Education, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Institute of Biological Sciences, the National Association of Biology Teachers and the new grassroots Louisiana Coalition for Science, decry the legislation as a poorly disguised attempt to bring creationism and its latest variant "intelligent design" (ID), into the classroom under the guise of academic freedom.

Source: http://blog.au.org/...

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Americans United for the Separation of Church is sounding the alarm on the Republican "faith based" initiatives. This initiative completely violates the Constitution, particularly since to date ONLY Christian organizations have been given money.

There is no ambiguity in the line our Founding Fathers drew separating Church and State. Our Founding Fathers were very outspoken in their ideas. For example, Ben Franklin very specifically gave his opinion of government funding of religious institutions:

I am updating and reprising this post because the issue of John McCain's professed Christian nationalism is a real question that goes to his core beliefs as well as his ongoing relationship with the religious right.

In an interview with BeliefNet, last year, John McCain came out as a Christian nationalist. This is a disturbing development from a man who has been profoundly critical of the religious right in the past, but has courted movement leaders, and received the endorsement of some (and was forced to renounce some too) while seeking the GOP nomination for president over the past year.

In this interview, he comes out more strongly as a Christian nationalist and critic of separation of church and state than any nominee for either party in modern American history.

The notion that America once was, and should be once again, a Christian Nation, is one of the  definitive characteristics of the ideology of the religious right.

Friends, this is what our war has brought:

Scalia declares that the Constitution should not be read to "banish the Almighty from the public forum" in a speech delivered June 1, 2008 at a banquet for Orthodox Jews held at the Midtown Hilton, the annual dinner of the Agudath Israel of America.

http://www.nysun.com/...