In this last political year, I became at odds with many "right-wing conservatives." I have many friends who describe themselves as "conservative" whom I deeply respect. We all disagree on the "important issues." There are some of my friends who place more weight on abortion and gay rights and others who lobby for the Second Amendment. While I disagree with many of their views, I do respect them. According to my political philosophy, we are an open society which is accepting of all opinions. While some opinions may be regarded as damaging or dangerous, they must be given the same courtesy as any other. This raises my concern with a modern religious movement that has become politically militant.
These people have equated their politics and their religion to the point that one cannot be separated from the other. Their goal is to supress all those who will not yield to their idea of moral conduct and force everyone to adhere to their philosophy of America. To me, this does not describe democracy, but fascism. The problem is, they believe that the government should return to the philosophy of the original framers of the Constitution. According to them, their religious values was foundational to the Charters of Freedom. There are two things wrong with this: First, religion had nothing to do with American Independence. Second, the United States is not the same as it was in 1776 or 1789! The United States government was to be separate from the religious spectrum. While it is the political preference of many politicians to invoke deity, that is their personal right and not that of the government. Essentially, the United States is a secular entity without any regard to any religion.
For more than a decade, fascist have tried to implement their form of morality based on their religious philosophy. The problem is simple: You cannot force someone to be moral. Another thing, since when did these religious militants hold the exclusive rights to morality? Given their history with scandals and abuses, they might want to take a look in their own closets before they try to clean other people's closets.
In my opinion, religion and politics have never been very good bed fellows. More often politics have corrupted religion or made religion a deadly oppressor of the weak. That is why the separation of church and state is vital to the continuing democracy in America. Religious leaders who have become involved in politics in order to acheive their "noble cause" of turning America back to their idea of morality have cheapened the very foundation of their religion and destroyed the very faith they attempt to force on others.
I am against religious fascism for two fundamental reasons: as an American, I believe it is a threat to our democracy and as a religious person, I see this fascist movement as a threat to the faith I espouse. In the near future I will be writing more specifically concerning this issue, but for now I wanted to introduce my growing concern in the nature of the modern religious movements and their attitude toward American politics. While I do not agree that they should be silenced (for no one should be silenced as long as they deliver their message in peace) they should be confronted and challenged before they corrupt another generation.
