Pastordan discusses John McCain's denial that he is pandering to the religious right. Following reports of McCain's private meeting with religious broadcasters in Orlando, Pastordan writes:  

They certainly seem to think he was there to court and pander to them

Right Wing Watch

Ezra reports:  that the relgious right is trying to coopt the forthcoming movie about antislavery activist William Wilberforce:  

Today marks the theatrical release of "Amazing Grace," a film about leading British abolitionist William Wilberforce, whose efforts in Parliament led to Britain's ban on slavery and the slave trade 200 years ago. The company that produced the movie has launched a campaign, called "The Amazing Change" to raise awareness of modern-day slavery and human trafficking and to promote groups that fight against them, and religious groups from the National Association of Evangelicals to Sojourners have endorsed the movie and its anti-slavery message. The concern over human trafficking extends to many groups and activists normally focused on right-wing wedge issues, like Concerned Women for America, [and] the Heritage Foundation. Others, however - like Sam Brownback - seek to latch their own agenda to the coat-tails of the movie.

Brownback, struggling for recognition as a viable presidential candidate, has tried to link his candidacy to Wilberforce by linking the historical figure not just to Brownback's work on trafficking and Darfur, but also to abortion and gay marriage, issues more politically marketable to the religious-right base he hopes to motivate: "If William Wilberforce were alive today, I believe he would be passionately fighting for the dignity of every human life everywhere, without regard to race, wealth, or status. He would also feel compelled to take up the vital cause of renewing the family and the culture," the senator said in his announcement.

Wall of Separation

Jeremy Leaming refutes efforts to dragoon George Washington into the ranks of the religious right.  While he was not a church-state visionary like Thomas Jefferson or James Madison," Leaming notes, "he was no theocrat." In answer to the historical revisionists of the religious write he quotes from Washington's famous letter to Touro Snyagogue which gave us the famous phrase:  "to bigotry no sanction, to persectution no assistance."

In 1790, Washington responded to a letter from a Rhode Island congregation, Touro Synagogue, that had expressed gratitude for the nation's commitment to religious freedom.

Washington's answer contained a resounding affirmation of that principle.

"The Citizens of the United States of America," he said, "have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship.

Washington continued, "It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent national gifts. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support."

The Daily Kos

Kimberly discusses Mitt Romney, Thomas Paine, and her Mormon aunt:  

Quoting from Thomas Paine's, The Age or Reason:

"I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church.
All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.

I do not mean by this declaration to condemn those who believe otherwise; they have the same right to their belief as I have to mine. But it is necessary to the happiness of man, that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe."

Source: The Age of Reason, by Thomas Paine

I don't pretend to understand the Lord, or his fondest admirers for that matter. But I do understand how Thomas Paine's brand of Reason contributed to the framework of the Constitution of the United States of America. I comprehend how it protects both my aunt and myself, even if she doesn't.

Kagro X reports that John McCain's South Carolina campaign co-chair, Dr. Henry Jordan  wants to display the Ten Commandements in the public schools. Anticipating the inevitable objections he said at a state board of education meeting:

"Screw the Buddhists and kill the Muslims... And put that in the minutes," he added.

The remarks... were expunged from the written minutes, but were recorded on tape. The (Columbia) State obtained the tape under the Freedom of Information Act.

Frameshop

Jeffrey Feldman discusses the religious right and the GOP's current strategy of attacking anyone and everyone and especially Democratic presidential candidates as being anti-religion or antiChristian in a post titled: "God Gap" Getting Grisly

Republicans are undergoing a massive revival of faith--not faith in God, but in the advice of overpaid Republican consultants who are again telling their clients to attack Democrats as "anti-religious."

The reason is likely more than the old canard about church attendance as an "indicator" of voter affiliation (e.g., the more you attend church, the more you vote Republican). Instead, a new statistic has emerged from the 2006 election data that seems to be guiding the smear tactics of the Republicans: a majority of Americans with strong religious beliefs now view themselves as the victims of discrimination.

So, even as Democrats made some gains amongst religious voters in the last round of elections, authoritarian conservatives continue to gain ground by convincing huge Americans that religion is under attack. ... A full reframing of the "anti-religion" issue requires that Democrats take proactive steps to speak out collectively whenever the right-wing smear machine lashes out at Democrats with false charges of bigotry against people of faith.

Progress, liberal and conservative Democrats alike must all see that a true majority party recognizes that every attempt to brand an individual candidate as "anti-religious" is an attack against the political system itself. And so we must all work in unison to respond.