<html><head></head><body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><div>Yes, and Anne Hutchinson is my particular favorite from that early period; charged with apostasy, tried, convicted, and banished from Mass Bay Colony. She died without ever being able to return to her home. <br>Sent from my iPad Sue Hovey</div><div><br>On Sep 19, 2012, at 5:09 PM, Art Deco <<a href="mailto:art.deco.studios@gmail.com">art.deco.studios@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><div></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div class="float_left">
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When Politics Get Trumped by Religion
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<span class="arial_11 color_696969">Posted: 09/18/2012 12:40 pm</span>
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<span class="block align_left airal_11 bold color_222222 uppercase">David Macaray</span><br><br><br>
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<p>Although we regularly hear people (commentators, politicians,
citizens) refer with pride to our Founding Fathers, it's unclear whether
they're familiar with the relevant dates. Because if they had done the
arithmetic, they surely would've noticed that every one of these
illustrious "founders" had been born more than a century after this
country was already formed. </p>
<p>Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America, was
established in 1607, and Plymouth, the second settlement, was
established in 1620. By contrast, George Washington was born in 1732,
John Adams in 1735, Thomas Jefferson in 1743, and James Madison in 1751.
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<p>Technically, these men didn't "found" us. What they did was engineer
our independence from England and invent our federal government, two
magnificent achievements that set us on the successful course we've
followed ever since. But let's be clear: this country's ethos -- its
customs, social rituals, religious beliefs, rural economy, national
character -- had been in place for 150 years (that's six generations)
before Jefferson, Madison, et al, ever hung out their shingles.</p>
<p>We were taught in school that the pilgrims came to America in order
to practice "religious freedom." While that statement is more or less
accurate, what they fail to mention is that the Puritans were 17th
century England's version of the Taliban. These religious zealots wanted
to "purify" Christianity (hence "Puritans") in much the same way that
the Taliban wants to purify Islam. </p>
<p>Indeed, if we wished to be brutally honest, we could say that America
was founded by a bunch of religious fanatics, and that it was the
framers of the Constitution (educated products of the Enlightenment)
who, bless their hearts, saved us from them.</p>
<p>How fanatical were they? Fanatical enough, in 1660, to execute the
first female in the colonies. Her name was Mary Dyer. She, along with
three male associates, were hanged by Massachusetts Bay Colony
authorities for the crime of being Quakers. Dyer and the men had
repeatedly ignored warnings not to set foot in Massachusetts, where
Quakerism was outlawed, and when the warnings went unheeded, the Colony
hanged them. </p>
<p>One can think of many religious people who deserve to be hanged, but
Quakers aren't among them. In fact, Quakerism, with its pacifism and
equality for women, seems like one of the more enlightened, dignified
religions. But in 1660, the good citizens of Massachusetts chose to kill
a group of settlers whose only crime was belonging to another faith.
And they killed them in the name of Jesus Christ.</p>
<p>As far as theology goes, our neighbors to the north are, by all
accounts, nowhere near as demonstrably religious as we are. A few years
ago, I saw Kim Campbell (former Prime Minister of Canada) on Bill
Maher's HBO television show. The panel was discussing the comparative
role that religion played in the politics of Canada and America. </p>
<p>Reminded of the fact that George W. Bush had declared, prior to
announcing his candidacy, that he believed God wanted him to run for
president, Campbell observed that if a Canadian politician had said the
same thing, people would think he was "mentally ill." </p>
<p>Our history is filled with paradoxes. We embrace founders who didn't
actually "found" us, we applaud the pilgrims for seeking religious
freedom when, in fact, they were vehemently intolerant, and we assume we
were established as a reverently Christian, God-fearing nation even
though the framers took careful steps to ensure that we would never
become a theocracy.</p>
<p>In this post-New Deal, post-industrial milieu we find ourselves, we
have both kinds of voters: the kind who vote for candidates on the
basis of their positions on specific issues (health care, tax reform,
trade policy, etc.), and the kind who ignore the boring nuts-and-bolts
stuff and simply vote for the candidate they regard as the "most
religious."</p>
<p>And when the Tea Party says that they "want their country back," and
evangelicals say that we will never again be the nation we once were
until "we put Jesus Christ back into our lives," we're reminded of not
only how polarized we are, but of how the ghost of Mary Dyer -- the
first woman in Colonial America to be executed -- still haunts us. </p>
<p><em>David Macaray, a Los Angeles playwright and author ("It's Never
Been Easy: Essays on Modern Labor"), was a former labor union rep. He
can be reached at <a href="mailto:dmacaray@earthlink.net">dmacaray@earthlink.net</a></em></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)<br><a href="mailto:art.deco.studios@gmail.com" target="_blank">art.deco.studios@gmail.com</a><br>
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