what? isn't it time to seperate church and state?

Question

McCain Courting Christian Conservatives
Wednesday, February 14, 2007 8:00 AM EST
The Associated Press
By JENNIFER TALHELM

WASHINGTON (AP) — To forgive is divine. To forget may be asking too much of religious conservatives when it comes to Sen. John McCain.

The Republican presidential hopeful is working hard to repair relations with conservative Christian activists, whose support could be critical to winning the GOP nomination. But they remain skeptical that he sincerely shares their values.

Answer 1

While I respect McCain 's war record, he is out of touch, he has a bad history wtih NDN people when he chaired the committee for NDN affairs, he is attempting to lure the right wing nuts back into line, and hopfully their power will be gone as they have no place in governemtn as one can not legislate morality, and freedom means do not impose your ways on me

Answer 2

The seperation of church and state means that there is no one religion sponsered by the state. Unlike the countries our founders left in Europe where one needed to be a member of a certain religion in order to conduct commerce or enjoy any justice it was concluded that in the new American republic there would be no religious test either for basic human rights or the right to seekand hold political office. This hasn't changed. The statement seperation ofchurch and state is found no where in the constitution, it is however a tool of the left used in an attempt to deligitamitise those they disagree with. I would be interested to see any one provide a list of laws or even one law that favors one particular religion over another or that prevents those that practice a specific religion from equal rights and treatment under the law. Just because a person has a specific set of belifes does not mean they should be barred from the body politic

Answer 3

As a Christian myself, I was highly disgusted with the behavior of these "Christian" conservatives towards John McCain in the 2000 primaries and that was the main factor in me switching to the Democratic party.

I respected McCain and would have voted for him in 2000. But now I don't know, with him trying to suck up to the right, even after all that has happened.

I do agree with the seperation of church and state as the mixture hurts both institutions.

Answer 4

Religious conservatives are a block that most serious Republican candidates need to cater to.

The good news is that with the present administration's ineptness, religious Conservatives power has waned a bit. This administration basically spurned the middle and ignored every other group and with the help of this one demographic won two elections.

They went so far as to broadcast political rhetoric during Church services on Sunday networked in so that all of these people had the correct and up-to-date talking points for the republican party.

Most people don't realize how intertwined this movement has become with religion. This is exactly what our founding fathers warned us against.

Like I said, hopefully this movement is waning....

Answer 5

Church and State were seperated over 200 years ago. Sadly, some people simply haven't caught up and still believe this is the 1200s.

Edit: No, seperation of church and state doesn't mean that people can't be religious, but it does indicate that the government can't pass laws with a religious bias... which is clearly the intent of many of the Christian Conservatives that are looking to be courted.

And no, religion isn't the source of morality.

Answer 6

All the phrase "seperation of Church and State" was ever supposed to mean is that no government in the United States was going to set a "State religion," and that we citizens would have freedom to worship whatever religion we chose, provided this did not infringe on anyone's rights. That ant politician is religious is a good thing, because religion provides a set of morals.

There is a lot of confusion today about what the term "seperation of Church and State" was meant to signify, but one look into the Constitution's Framers' mind set gives a clear enough picture.

Answer 7

No. It is like saying getting morals out of our politics. The wall of Seperation of Church and state was not to keep religion out of politics. But the Federal government picking one sect of Christianity over another. When that was written many of the States had a state church.and did not want to give it up. But many people believed that we should not have a state church, but be morally connected to the Christian faith. It is not until recently this seperation of Church and State was believed to mean no religion at all in State. If you read most writings on the subject, It talks about no state interventions in the Churches. Not the other way around. We used to have our voting booths and schools inside the Church buildings?

Answer 8

Whether you or I like it or not, "legislating morality" has been going on since 1789. And religious people are allowed to speak their mind, run for office, and lobby. They don't need McCain. Those people have a greater impact at the local community level. I have seen the effects of it.
True seperation of church and state-as opposed to the ACLU version-would require draconian measures, and I doubt you would want to be collateral damge in that considering that you are a libertarian.

Answer 9

there has and always should be. our founding fathers when forming this goverment, wanted to ensure freedom of and from religion. not to give churches a tax free base. they had a great fear of the power of the church and wanted to ensure it did not do so here. while america does honor and respect christian values, we never have been nor should we be a christian nation. we have only to look at the middle east, and its troubles to see what can and does happen when any country is controled by its religious leaders.

Answer 10

No. Don't separate church and state. I think it would get very ugly, very fast if we did.