Catholicism

Religion And The Presidency

Ronald 1 Comment

The right wing in America tries to tell us we are a Christian nation, rather than a nation of a majority of the Christian faith.

The fact that the Constitution does not have a religious test, that we have separation of church and state, is ignored, as the right wing promotes its propaganda.

So they tell us the Founding Fathers were “good Christians”, when in fact, in many ways, they were not!

And they fail to accept that many of our Presidents have doubted organized religion entirely, or have been Deist, Unitarian or Quaker , which are seen as a few steps away from atheism by many experts.

For the record:

The following Presidents had NO specific religious affiliation:

Thomas Jefferson
Franklin Pierce
Abraham Lincoln
Andrew Johnson
Ulysses S. Grant
Rutherford B. Hayes
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Barack Obama

Deist Beliefs

George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
James Monroe
John Tyler

Unitarianism

John Adams
John Quincy Adams
Millard Fillmore
William Howard Taft

Quaker

Herbert Hoover
Richard Nixon

That makes 18 Presidents who do not fit the mold of a typical religious person.

At the same time, some Presidents have been very devout, including:

James A. Garfield
Benjamin Harrison
William McKinley
Woodrow Wilson
Jimmy Carter

The other half of our Presidents were irregular church goers, and in many cases, they were not very committed to their faiths, but would identify with a faith that was considered Christian, with John F. Kennedy the only Catholic President..

The largest number of Presidents (12) were Episcopalians; 8 were Presbyterians; 4 Methodists; 4 Baptists; 3 Disciples of Christ; 2 Congregationalists; and 2 Dutch Reformed Church.

Rick Santorum: Angry, Pessimistic, Intrusive Into Personal Lives, And No Ronald Reagan!

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Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum represents angry, pessimistic Tea Party mentality; hating government; hating educated people; hating the world outside America; wishing to dominate women’s lives;wanting to promote hard line Christian theology on Americans; trying to enforce a Puritan standard on personal behavior; rejecting privacy rights on social matters; invoking Satan as no other Presidential candidate ever has.

All of the above is said to be continuing the heritage and tradition and example of Ronald Reagan, but that is a total lie, as Ronald Reagan was optimistic; had a sunny disposition; avoided social conservatism except in rhetoric; hardly ever attended church; understood the need for government and taxation despite his rhetoric; knew how to work with the opposition, as for instance, Speaker of the House Thomas “Tip” O’Neill on Social Security reform; and worked to promote the end of nuclear weapons despite an earlier hawkish viewpoint of foreign policy.

Rick Santorum could not ever be as presidential as Ronald Reagan, with all of his faults recognized. Ronald Reagan was a comparative giant, while Rick Santorum could not stand in his shoes.

Rick Santorum has no respect for the office of the Presidency, with his sharp attacks on a revered President, John F. Kennedy, who understood the sensitivity of being Catholic, and advocated separation of church and state, instead of promoting theocracy as Rick Santorum does.

What kind of President would condemn parents who would wish their children to attend college, when the unemployment rate for educated people is half of what it is for those who have not attended college or some kind of community college or training program? Should not President Barack Obama want to promote that? What is wrong with Rick Santorum?

Any sane person would have to wonder whether Rick Santorum is having a mental breakdown, as NEVER has there been any candidate for the Presidency so negative, so destructive in his assertions, in living memory. Rick Santorum is a good argument for psychological testing of all Presidential candidates, as we can ill afford to have a mentally deranged person in the White House!

The “Bible Belt”, Religion, And The Republican Presidential Race

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After Mitt Romney won the Iowa Caucuses by EIGHT votes over Rick Santorum, some saw it as a victory.

But others pointed out that Romney actually received SIX fewer total votes than he did in 2008 in the Iowa Caucuses!

And Romney did not do well among evangelical Christians, which are a very large portion of the Republican vote in Iowa. Considering also that he received just 25 percent of the vote, the same percentage as in 2008, brought to mind that his Mormon faith MAY have an effect in the Southern primaries and other Midwest primaries where evangelical Christians still look at Mormonism as a religious cult, in areas considered the “Bible Belt”!

So Mitt Romney is not seen as overcoming the religion question as John F. Kennedy did in 1960.

But the problem is that Jon Huntsman is also a Mormon, and Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich are Catholic, the problem that existed for Kennedy. Only Rick Perry and Ron Paul are evangelical Christians or Baptists, which is predominant in the South.

The question is whether Rick Santorum, who shares the religious and family values of many Southerners, but is a Catholic, can win them over and have an impact in future primaries. He is already trying to appeal to blue collar whites who are often rural in environment and religious more than the rest of the country. Will Perry and Paul have a better shot, particularly in the South, and can Gingrich, who converted to Catholicism, overcome that fact?

The point is that religion COULD be a factor in the final decision as to who the GOP Presidential nominee will be!

The Republicans On The Road To Self Destruction Over Religion!

Ronald Leave a comment

The Republican Party, in theory, has a fantastic opportunity to win the 2012 Presidential Election, considering the bad economic situation we are in, with no likelihood of the unemployment rate going down below 9 percent over the next year.

But in the midst of this hopeful sign for the party, it is religion that looks as if it will divide the GOP, and help to cause their defeat.

It is the same issue that we had with Al Smith in 1928 and John F. Kennedy in 1960, because of their Catholicism.

It is now the issue of the Mormon Church and the candidacy of Mitt Romney, and also, Jon Huntsman, both of whom have the best opportunity to overwhelm Barack Obama in next year’s election, were either of them to become the nominee of the party.

But with evangelical Christians in the South and border states having prejudice against not only Mormons, but also Catholics. Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists, there is a real barrier to Romney or Huntsman being able to win enough support in the primaries and caucuses, many of the early states (Iowa and South Carolina as examples) dominated by the evangelicals.

And if either were to, somehow, win the nomination, there is a good chance that someone would form a third party and divide the Republican vote, helping Obama to return to office.

As if the Republican Party does not have enough trouble with its inability to attract African Americans, Hispanics and Latinos, gays, and educated women, they add the burden of using religion as a disqualifying factor that may destroy any chance of them regaining power in the White House!

Rick Santorum Joins Michele Bachmann And Sarah Palin: Ignorant And Stupid On The Constitution And American History!

Ronald 2 Comments

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum has joined the school of ignorant and stupid Presidential possibilities for the Republican Party!

Santorum criticized President John F. Kennedy for his speech in Houston during the 1960 Presidential campaign, where Kennedy declared his belief in the total separation of church and state, in order to allay fears of having a Catholic President. He made it clear that he might be a Catholic, but he would not allow the Catholic Church to dictate what he said or did in office. Indeed, he followed through on that completely!

But Santorum, himself Catholic, said Kennedy was wrong in so stating that belief, and that Kennedy was radical in promoting that view.

Santorum finished by declaring that Thomas Jefferson is “spinning in his grave” over this idea of separation of church and state.

And in so stating this, Santorum comes across as totally ignorant and stupid, and lacking in knowledge of the Founding Fathers, who definitely promoted separation of church and state, particularly Jefferson, who rejected traditional Christianity and became a Deist, which did not believe in organized religion!

More than ever, the GOP has troubles with candidates who have no clue as to our Constitution or history of the nation! This is, to say the least, a major embarrassment! First Sarah Palin, then Michele Bachmann, now Rick Santorum!