Pandering

My apologies for the absence. My intention is to start posting several times a week, but I really have been quite busy (writing encyclopedia entries, presenting at conferences, teaching, etc.)...and now I'm about to go on vacation. I will make more of an effort when I return. Because there are so many things to blog about. Such as....

Pandering

Happening to catch the Faith Politics program on CNN tonight, I was appalled. First of all, putting the Democratic candidates’ “faith to the test” is a) ridiculous, b) irrelevant, and c) frightening. I am already disgusted by the level of religious obsession and fanaticism in this country and in the world…now enough people in this country want to put religion on trial for each and every POLITICAL candidate. Does anyone else understand how twisted and wrong this is? Good God. I actually watched Soledad O’Brien ask Sen. John Edwards what his biggest sin to date is. What is the man supposed to say? “Oh, well, I killed someone. Sorry.” Are we really supposed to believe his response? Did Soledad really expect to get a truthful answer? Come on!

How many times a day does Hillary Clinton pray? Who gives a good goddamn?! A person’s faith or religion should be SEPARATE from his or her public life and policy making. Period. It is very simple. Separation of church and state. This type of program on CNN is a harbinger of dangerous times to come if this becomes the norm and we collectively accept the destruction of this saving principle – the separation of church and state.

All this “Faith Politics” is simplistic pandering to the masses of unquestioning sheep who put their faith in their religion above everything and everyone. None of these politicians who is running for president tells the truth. I don’t believe any of them. They get up on stage and talk in sound bites – clean, planned, manipulative sound bites. Both parties. In order to pander. And get good publicity. The days of decent people truly believing they can make a difference (for everyone, not just persons of a certain "faith") are long gone.

Faith should be a personal issue - not a matter of a certain group dictating how much faith needs to be "injected" into policy. Faith and morality are NOT necessarily synonymous. Faith is becoming a political tool. Am I really the only one terrified by that? And now the major news media is playing the worst pandering game of all – they are using religion ("faith") and allowing politicians to use religion as a selling point for votes.

Disgusting.