Nekowolf
7th Apr 2011, 09:31 PM
There was an interview with Mike Huckabee on The Daily Show. Links following.
Exclusive - Mike Huckabee Extended Interview Pt. 1 (http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-april-6-2011/exclusive---mike-huckabee-extended-interview-pt--1)
Exclusive - Mike Huckabee Extended Interview Pt. 2 (http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-april-6-2011/exclusive---mike-huckabee-extended-interview-pt--2)
Exclusive - Mike Huckabee Extended Interview Pt. 3 (http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-april-6-2011/exclusive---mike-huckabee-extended-interview-pt--3)
One of the biggest things that got me involved the First Amendment and the Tenth and separation of church and state.
Firstly, yes. America IS supposed to be secular. The Founding Fathers were not. They may have had faith in something, but came to an agreement for a secular federal government. He brings up the Declaration of Independence. But what about the Treaty of Tripoli? "As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion." I mean, yes, technically, the First Amendment does state specifically the federal government. But that does not mean that separation of church and state is a bad idea, no, it's a great idea.
What would happen if a state suddenly decide, hey, we don't like Muslims. Throw them out! Islam is banned in our state! Well what the hell? I thought we were a nation of equality! But let's bring out something that I mention later. The New Apostolic Reformation. They're gaining political power among the Right. They're not just against non-Christians; they're also against... Catholics! So this group gets people in an office in a deep red state. And they decided to ban Catholicism. Or maybe other denominations of Christianity because they're too liberal. Yeah, leaving power of religion to the States, great idea.
And God creates boundaries? I'm sorry, but what kind of context do you need? It sounds pretty clear to me. I mean, let's face it. A person like David Barton is not some deep philosophical thinker. He's not Plato, Socrates, or Aristotle. He's a nutbar (I just really wanted to say nutbar). It's like, uh, what was his name... Pat Robertson. It's like listening to Pat Robertson saying God sent down Katrina because of gays and abortions, and then responding "Well, I don't know the context of what he means."
Or minimum wage. Minimum wage is there so that people are paid at least something rather than a few cents for a day's work. Minimum wage is there so people can at least have enough money to survive without having to starve themselves to bones, so that they don't have to force their children to work just to get by (I'm sure a certain someone will disagree with that, though).
And he says that if you force someone into a faith, it loses its power as a faith (basically, paraphrasing. It's somewhere around the 3 minute mark of part 3). Well what do you think trying to get this revisionist Christian history is? What do you think Texas is trying to do? Or when people say slavery wasn't one of the causes of the Civil War? And teaching that stuff in public schools? That is forcing people, particularly children, to go along with that bullshit. And what about the parents? It's forcing not your children, but their children, into your ideology. And you can't sit there and say "home-school them, then," because what if both their parents work full-time jobs? There's no time to teach their children then. And that's what this stuff is. Complete bullshit.
And Christianity in conservative politics. Exaggeration? Back in the debates for President, you had a wide panel of possible nominees and they were asked "Who believes in evolution?" Very few, if any, made any claim that they do. You could say they just didn't want to say it, and that's fine. But then, why not? Why? Probably because the majority of their base don't believe in evolution, and they want to appeal to that base. Huckabee is -clearly- influenced by Christianity. Or what about Sarah Palin? Her church is part of the New Apostolic Reformation, which is about crazy-ass Evangelicals, Charismatics, Pentecostals, etc fighting spiritual war against the vile non-Christians and preparing for the Second Coming, and Palin herself, there's a video of her in a blessing by this African douchebag who claims to be a real-life witch hunter. Or Mary Glazier, her spiritual mentor who prides herself on using prayer to give a Wiccan woman cancer. It's the conservatives who are calling Obama a Muslim, like that's a bad thing. It's the conservatives who are making scary panics about sharia law in the United States, which is not a threat, never has been, and never will be. Even in places like freaking Deerborn, Michigan, which has the highest concentration of Muslims in the US.
And I have every damn right to be fearful of some of these Christians when they talk about my faith as quite literally the destructive force of the world, that I and my brethren should be executed, should face genocide, because we're agents of Satan. When you have people like David Barton, who says pagans are not protected under the Free Exercise Clause. If there is a "growing antagonism" (and I personally doubt there is), it's because of people like Fred Phelps and Terry Jones. I think especially Terry Jones, actually. Anti-homosexuality has been around for a long time, people are used to it. But Republicans are pouring gas on the fire of what is anti-Islamism, with talks of how they're not a real religion, of sharia law, of how Obama is Muslim (like that's a bad thing, again).
Anyone who wants secular government or is a minority religion (or atheist) should be worried about this stuff. A fundamentalist and sometimes fanatic religious influence is gaining on the Right, and they are embracing it. How long will it be before they really are pushing to make Christianity the official religion, state by state? How long before the anti-Islam ideology expands into other faiths (and atheism) on such a mass scale?
As for the Tenth Amendment and its interpretation, I'm not going to go into that one here right now. Already been there just recently.
And lastly, some other links:
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/huckabee-americans-should-be-forced-gunpoint-learn-david-barton
(of course, it would be beneath me to say he was serious about the forcing at gunpoint part)
http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/11/the-troubling-rise-of-david-barton.html
Exclusive - Mike Huckabee Extended Interview Pt. 1 (http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-april-6-2011/exclusive---mike-huckabee-extended-interview-pt--1)
Exclusive - Mike Huckabee Extended Interview Pt. 2 (http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-april-6-2011/exclusive---mike-huckabee-extended-interview-pt--2)
Exclusive - Mike Huckabee Extended Interview Pt. 3 (http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-april-6-2011/exclusive---mike-huckabee-extended-interview-pt--3)
One of the biggest things that got me involved the First Amendment and the Tenth and separation of church and state.
Firstly, yes. America IS supposed to be secular. The Founding Fathers were not. They may have had faith in something, but came to an agreement for a secular federal government. He brings up the Declaration of Independence. But what about the Treaty of Tripoli? "As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion." I mean, yes, technically, the First Amendment does state specifically the federal government. But that does not mean that separation of church and state is a bad idea, no, it's a great idea.
What would happen if a state suddenly decide, hey, we don't like Muslims. Throw them out! Islam is banned in our state! Well what the hell? I thought we were a nation of equality! But let's bring out something that I mention later. The New Apostolic Reformation. They're gaining political power among the Right. They're not just against non-Christians; they're also against... Catholics! So this group gets people in an office in a deep red state. And they decided to ban Catholicism. Or maybe other denominations of Christianity because they're too liberal. Yeah, leaving power of religion to the States, great idea.
And God creates boundaries? I'm sorry, but what kind of context do you need? It sounds pretty clear to me. I mean, let's face it. A person like David Barton is not some deep philosophical thinker. He's not Plato, Socrates, or Aristotle. He's a nutbar (I just really wanted to say nutbar). It's like, uh, what was his name... Pat Robertson. It's like listening to Pat Robertson saying God sent down Katrina because of gays and abortions, and then responding "Well, I don't know the context of what he means."
Or minimum wage. Minimum wage is there so that people are paid at least something rather than a few cents for a day's work. Minimum wage is there so people can at least have enough money to survive without having to starve themselves to bones, so that they don't have to force their children to work just to get by (I'm sure a certain someone will disagree with that, though).
And he says that if you force someone into a faith, it loses its power as a faith (basically, paraphrasing. It's somewhere around the 3 minute mark of part 3). Well what do you think trying to get this revisionist Christian history is? What do you think Texas is trying to do? Or when people say slavery wasn't one of the causes of the Civil War? And teaching that stuff in public schools? That is forcing people, particularly children, to go along with that bullshit. And what about the parents? It's forcing not your children, but their children, into your ideology. And you can't sit there and say "home-school them, then," because what if both their parents work full-time jobs? There's no time to teach their children then. And that's what this stuff is. Complete bullshit.
And Christianity in conservative politics. Exaggeration? Back in the debates for President, you had a wide panel of possible nominees and they were asked "Who believes in evolution?" Very few, if any, made any claim that they do. You could say they just didn't want to say it, and that's fine. But then, why not? Why? Probably because the majority of their base don't believe in evolution, and they want to appeal to that base. Huckabee is -clearly- influenced by Christianity. Or what about Sarah Palin? Her church is part of the New Apostolic Reformation, which is about crazy-ass Evangelicals, Charismatics, Pentecostals, etc fighting spiritual war against the vile non-Christians and preparing for the Second Coming, and Palin herself, there's a video of her in a blessing by this African douchebag who claims to be a real-life witch hunter. Or Mary Glazier, her spiritual mentor who prides herself on using prayer to give a Wiccan woman cancer. It's the conservatives who are calling Obama a Muslim, like that's a bad thing. It's the conservatives who are making scary panics about sharia law in the United States, which is not a threat, never has been, and never will be. Even in places like freaking Deerborn, Michigan, which has the highest concentration of Muslims in the US.
And I have every damn right to be fearful of some of these Christians when they talk about my faith as quite literally the destructive force of the world, that I and my brethren should be executed, should face genocide, because we're agents of Satan. When you have people like David Barton, who says pagans are not protected under the Free Exercise Clause. If there is a "growing antagonism" (and I personally doubt there is), it's because of people like Fred Phelps and Terry Jones. I think especially Terry Jones, actually. Anti-homosexuality has been around for a long time, people are used to it. But Republicans are pouring gas on the fire of what is anti-Islamism, with talks of how they're not a real religion, of sharia law, of how Obama is Muslim (like that's a bad thing, again).
Anyone who wants secular government or is a minority religion (or atheist) should be worried about this stuff. A fundamentalist and sometimes fanatic religious influence is gaining on the Right, and they are embracing it. How long will it be before they really are pushing to make Christianity the official religion, state by state? How long before the anti-Islam ideology expands into other faiths (and atheism) on such a mass scale?
As for the Tenth Amendment and its interpretation, I'm not going to go into that one here right now. Already been there just recently.
And lastly, some other links:
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/huckabee-americans-should-be-forced-gunpoint-learn-david-barton
(of course, it would be beneath me to say he was serious about the forcing at gunpoint part)
http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/11/the-troubling-rise-of-david-barton.html