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| quote: | Originally posted by butterfly
i agree with all this... though i dont think they will ever allow it to be called theocracy. i am hoping it is a phase that the country gets out of soon. |
Just a warning - there's a long winded rant coming up, so feel free to turn off if this kind of thing annoys you. 
Don't get me wrong, it's far from a theocracy at the moment, but it's moving towards it, that much is for certain.
The founding fathers evidently recognised the need for church state separation, and as such penned the establishment clause and the first amendment (I believe that these are two separate things, no?). Thomas Paine in particular was an inspiration, 'The Age Of Reason' is an amazingly insightful piece of work.
The sad thing is, a lot of the founding fathers would be considered too liberal or immoral, and probably would be unable to be elected today. Paine and a few others were actually deists. At present, if you aren't Christian, or at least Jewish, then you can kiss goodbye any political aspirations - you simply wont get in, the religious right is simply too powerful. The RR is dictating it's particular brand of conservative and highly suspect morality to the majority. If they don't like pre-marital sex, then everyone else should hate it too! Thus, they push for exclusive teaching of abstinence in schools, which invariably ends up increasing the amount of unwanted pregnancies. Great logic eh? 
Then there's the pledge of allegiance - changed to fight so-called 'godless communism' in the 50s. Add to that the constant 'god bless America', 'we should all pray' and so forth constantly uttered by the republicans, the 'in god we trust' on the money etc. etc., and you've got a recipe for disaster. From conversing with atheists, deists and agnostics who live in the south - it can be absolute hell for them. I've heard of cases of people being kicked out of home because they aren't a fire and brimstone southern baptist anymore. Non-Christians often feel ostracised and un-patriotic, just because they don't follow Christianity. It's a sad state of affairs - and to be honest, the founding fathers would be turning in their graves if they saw what the Bush and the religious right were doing to the constitution right now. It all ties back into the censorship issue – it's the religious conservatives imposing their theological views on everyone else.
Rant over.
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Truly, I genuinely feel sorry for the more liberal and non-religious yanks, it must be hell with all those fundies in your face 24/7. 
I admire your resilience. 
