POLITICS - Christian Nation Movement

"The Christian Nation Movement and the Alabama-ban" by Bennet Kelley, Huffington Post

Christian nation advocates should leave their red state cocoon and stand on the banks of the Providence River. For this is where Roger Williams, who had been banished from Massachusetts by the Puritans for his religious views, founded the colony of Rhode Island in 1636 based on his vision that there should be a "wall of Separation between the Garden of the Church and the Wilderness of the world,'" and that religious freedom must extend to all and not just Christians. As a result of Williams' vision, Rhode Island became known as "the safest refuge of conscience" and home to the New World's first Baptist Church and synagogue.

The seed sown by Williams ultimately blossomed into the First Amendment, which in the words of Thomas Jefferson prohibits Congress from enacting any "law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state." While it is true that the actual phrase "separation of church and state" does not appear in the First Amendment, the concept was invoked by the First Amendment's author, James Madison, who explained that "[t]he purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe with blood for centuries." The Founders also addressed the Christian nation question in the Treaty of Tripoli, signed under President Washington and ratified under President Adams, which states that "the Government of the United States of Americais not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."

The the spirit of fair disclosure, I'm a true Agnostic.

Our Founding-Fathers had an overriding concern, individual human rights. It's there in our Declaration of Independence, our Constitution, and the writings of our Founding-Fathers.

They had the experience from our "Motherland" of, not only kings, but of religious persecution. "The Inquisition" ring a bell? Want to be burned at the stake for being Protestant in a "Catholic Nation" or a Muslim in a "Christian Nation?"

That is why there is a wall of separation between any church and our state. Government, at any level, shall not be in the business of promoting and single religion or religious practice. Our government is to protect the right of individual religious practice.

Religion and religious practice is an individual right, not a right of the majority to impose on others. That means the Christian-Right "Christian Nation Movement" does not have the right to impose their Christian religion and practices on anyone; not you, not me, not the neighbor next door.

Our Founding-Fathers did not want to repeat the mistakes of our Homeland. The "Christian Nation Movement" is nothing short of a direct assault on our Constitution and the Bill of Rights.