A follow up to my This Guy Doesn’t Like Christianity.
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On religious issues there can be little or no compromise. There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being. But like any powerful weapon, the use of God’s name on one’s behalf should be used sparingly. The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both.
I’m frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in “A,” “B,” “C” and “D.” Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me?
And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of “conservatism.”
Speech in the US Senate (16 September 1981)
Want to know who? I’ll post it in the comments if no one else beats me to it.
From the comments at America becoming less Christian, says study. Will that hurt the Republican Party?.
Comments
7 responses to “This Guy Is Not Too Fond of Christians Either”
The Bible-bashers were attached to the Republican party like unholy Siamese twins by Ronald Reagan because he needed the votes. Notice Ronzo talked Christian values a lot, but didn’t pursue much of that as policy. ( and, which president who had a weekly photo op toting his pet Bible into a suitably picturesque, preferably black, church? Wasn’t Reagan, did he even ever go to church? Some Christian…)
So now we’re stuck with blithering idiots like Mike Huckleberry. The only encouraging thought was how Pat (the Christian) Robertson got 1% of the vote in Republican primaries. I understand that candidates need to pay at least lip service to the majority religion, but that’s a very different thing from basing policy on it.
Barry Goldwater?
Man Mountain got there first – but my guess is the same. He was way too libertarian for most Republicans, and that’s a shame (for them).
Yes. Barry Goldwater.
Point about Reagan, I have a collection of articles from Reason covering their first 25 years (as in, when they were a libertarian magazine, not Mother Jones jr)
Virginia Postrel interviewed Reagan, I think while he was still governor. He talked about Ayn Rand and Frederick Hayek, among other libertarian themes. He was articulate, knew the subject and said much I’m in agreement with. What do we have now for repugnican candidates that could begin to compare.
Trouble is they (Goldwater, Reagan) were paternalistic when it comes to Prohibition (Rand was against it back then – not to mention Milton Friedman).
And he HAD to know about this:
“Look, we understood we couldn’t make it illegal to be young or poor or black in the United States, but we could criminalize their common pleasure. We understood that drugs were not the health problem we were making them out to be, but it was such a perfect issue…that we couldn’t resist it.” – John Ehrlichman, White House counsel to President Nixon on the rationale of the War on Drugs.
Not to mention the secret police and informers. Both features of Communism.
Reagan was far from perfect, but compared to anything since…
Wasn’t Warren Drugz and DARE Nancy’s big issue?
I think, for that case, I much prefer Ladybird Johnson’s “Beautify America” program.
I see the Ehrlichman quote, but wasn’t the impetus more about shutting down all them LSD-smoking, marjiwanna injecting hippie commie freaks? I mean, read “Woodstock Nation” or anything similar and it’s all about teh drugs. And get me another tequila shooter while you’re up.
I think I still have a copy of “Heads and Feds” around somewhere.