I'm an incorrigible link-follower, because every 'rabbit hole' I follow seems to lead to some place of great- and often surprising and gratifying interest and insight. For a long time, I thought that Baptists were monolithic in their staunch fundamentalism. I've been re-educated in this matter since I've deepened my research of the myriad of Protestant and Christian sects, and have found that not all Baptists are as intent on steamrolling the Constitution and Bill of Rights as I originally thought. Take, for instance, the Baptists of the Baptist Joint Committee. They appear to be composed of what Bill Moyers called 'primitive' Baptists- those whose ancestors were instrumental in keeping church and state far apart. Here's what Moyers says about the BJC Baptists:
James Dunn and Bill Leonard are Baptists. What kind of Baptist matters. [Emphasis mine] At last count there were more than two dozen varieties of Baptists in America. Bill Clinton is a Baptist. So is Pat Robertson. Jesse Jackson is a Baptist. So is Jesse Helms. Al Gore is a Baptist. So is Jerry Falwell. [And let's not forget Jimmy Carter! - ed] No wonder Baptists have been compared to jalapeno peppers: one or two make for a tasty dish, but a whole bunch together will bring tears to your eyes. Wow. So, if you find these Old School Baptists, and ask them what they think about all this Faith-Based funding of religious entities, you're going to get a negative response from them. They don't like this at all. The folks at the BJC make their distaste and alarm at this trend very clear:
Our concerns focus on threats to religious liberty and to the integrity of religious institutions. Information about the actual distribution of funding is hard to come by. What we know is that the administration is aggressively promoting the initiative through revised regulations and public relations efforts. When crucial questions are raised, they cast critics as extreme secularists. Meanwhile, a legislative impasse on Capitol Hill reveals just how far off-course the initiative has veered. Think about what they're saying, and what they're seeing: With the government moving in on religious organizations and funding them, that means that the government has a say in what the ROs are doing. And this corrodes the integrity of those religious organizations, making them beholden to the whims of the government, and even, in time, steering them 'off mission'. But the BJC and their allies aren't just watching and worrying. They're doing something about this- standing up and resisting the collision of church and state that their brave (and wise) ancestors fought so hard to prevent:
Is America A Christian Nation? Source (This is a PDF file- you'll need Adobe to read it.) There are many other allies in this opposition to the "Faith Based Initiative" and similar violations of the Establishment Clause. Democracy in Action has an open letter to the President in which all clergy are invited to sign that details their concern:
An Open Letter to President Bush and Members of Congress from America's Clergy
There is more to this letter, but the salient points are made, and very clearly, in the opening paragraphs. They see religious discrimination as a huge threat and integral to the corrosion of the Establishment Clause. Our allies in this battle are the key to turning around the ship of state, and sending it back towards a balanced means of governance. Corroding the secular government's abilities to care for our needs in favor of religious entities is not the way to govern. It invites the introduction of a stealth theocracy, which is what our Founders strived against creating when they wrote the Constitution and Bill of Rights. We must preserve what they have done, or risk losing our country.
Allies in the Battle over the "Faith-Based Initiative" | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 hidden)
Allies in the Battle over the "Faith-Based Initiative" | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 hidden)
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