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[Art Deco]

Zimdars: In America, Constitution should trump sacred texts By Richard
Zimdars <http://onlineathens.com/authors/richard-zimdars>published Tuesday,
September 11, 2012  (*Athens Banner-Herald*)


  Playing the religious card in American politics is nothing new. In the
early 1950s, Sen. Joe McCarthy, R-Wis., labeled his opponents as godless
communists. After McCarthy’s fall, the card remained fairly inconspicuous
in the deck until the 1980 campaign, resulting in President Reagan’s
election.

The triumvirate of collegiate Young Republicans officers back then —
lobbyists Jack Abramoff and Ralph Reed, and anti-tax fanatic Grover
Norquist — worked for Reagan. Reed, a University of Georgia graduate, went
on to found the Christian Coalition, and no one has doubted Reed’s
effectiveness at mobilizing conservative Christian voters against Democrats
by emphasizing social wedge issues.

Attacks on Democrats by conservative Christians continue to this day.
Witness the July news release from the Christian group Operation Save
America: “The Democratic National (DNC) Committee is tolerant of all
religions except one – Christianity! Why? The DNC hates the God of the
Bible ... Hatred toward the God of the Bible (Jesus) is the great unifier
of abortion, homosexuality, and Islam. Hatred toward God and the nation He
made great — America — is the platform of the DNC.”

At the recent Under God Indivisible conference, televangelist Kenneth
Copeland claimed (but did not prove) the devil is destroying America with
socialism and that Christians must “rise up and overcome” the devil.
Minister James Robison stated (but did not prove) that Hollywood and the TV
show “Glee” are tools of “the enemy” used to bring America down. And Rabbi
Aryeh Spero alleged (but did not prove) that the fight against President
Obama parallels the Prophet Elijah’s battle against King Ahab’s “leftist
paganism.”

Ralph Reed, who believes Obama is anti-religion, was there, too,
prophesying that if Christians repent for the mess they have made of the
United States, God will have mercy in November. Reed’s new lobbying
organization, Faith and Freedom, collaborates with United in Purpose, run
by Bill Dallas, previously locked up for embezzlement. Dallas formerly ran
the Church Communication Network.

Association with convicted criminals is fairly consistent in Reed’s career.
Enron hired him as a lobbyist to provide advice on electricity
deregulation, for which he had no expertise. In 1997, Reed’s Atlanta-based
Century Strategies received $200,000 from the corrupt energy corporation.
In 2000, $75,000 came in, and by 2001, it was $30,000 monthly, plus
expenses. Enron’s visionary corporate practices included inflating its
stock values and robbing employee retirement plans.

Seeking other consulting work, Reed turned to Abramoff, whose connections
led to the famous lobbying scandal involving millions of dollars related to
Indian gambling casinos. For this and other activities, Abramoff ended up
in prison.

In March 2012, Reed reunited with Tom DeLay, former Republican House
majority leader, at a meeting of Reed’s Faith and Freedom outfit. DeLay,
convicted in the Abramoff scandal, was out on bail.

The deeds of public disservice of Ralph Reed and other religious lobbyists
are a matter of record. They successfully foment divisions along religious
lines that result in Democrats being called foot soldiers of the devil. No
wonder Michael Reagan, son of the former president, recently wrote a
desperate commentary asking fellow Republicans to shut up about the social
issues that provide the main reasons for the majority of its base to be
Republicans (Column, “Republicans should stay away from social issues,”
Sept. 3).

Knowledge of European religious persecution and war led our Founding
Fathers to form a constitutional framework designed to avoid religious
conflict. Religion was viewed as a private thing, an area where the
government had no business. You are free to believe your sacred text and to
decide it is the basis for your belief system.

The most valuable text for Americans is the Constitution, because it allows
us to believe our own sacred text in the context of our private life. But
whatever it may be, your sacred text’s power stops where it tries to
overrule your fellow citizens’ rights under the Constitution. You may not
limit the civic elbow room of fellow citizens who don’t hold your text as
their sacred text.

• Richard Zimdars is a professor of music at the University of Georgia and
a regular contributor to the Athens Banner-Herald’s editorial page.


http://onlineathens.com/opinion/2012-09-11/zimdars-america-constitution-should-trump-sacred-texts

-- 
Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
art.deco.studios at gmail.com
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