A recent PPP poll of Republicans included the question "Would you support or oppose establishing Christianity as the national religion?" 57% of Republicans answered "support"; only 30% answered "oppose".
Think about that. Fifty-seven percent of Republicans support overthrowing a bedrock part of the very identity of this country, a principle so important to the Founders that it was the first thing they mentioned in the First Amendment to the Bill of Rights. Fifty-seven percent. And only 30% could bring themselves to say they opposed this.
It's the final confirmation of something I've long observed: the right-vs.-left divide in the United States is no longer defined by attitudes about economic policy, race, or any other such issues. It's now fundamentally a divide of theocratic vs. secular.
And this is why I can never, ever vote Republican, no matter what "reforming" or "outreach" they do on side issues. They want to make me a second-class citizen in my own country, assuming I was even able to go on seeing it as my own country at all after it had defined itself as excluding me. In the face of that, all other considerations vanish.
The story is here (original poll here -- see Q17). Found via Shaw Kenawe, who has more to say on it -- see also my comment there.
Stand with Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan -- with democracy and civilization against tyranny and barbarism
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01 March 2015
7 comments:
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It never ceases to startle me that so many Americans are (1) ill-informed about history, (2) short-sighted about the problems that would erupt in a theocracy, and (3) oblivious to how unfair a "Christian nation" would be to non-Christians. Nothing good can come out of bulldozing the Constitution or giving one religion special treatment.
ReplyDeleteOh, and when fundamentalists talk about building a "Christian nation", forget trying to explain to to them that there are many interpretation of Christianity, and not all of them agree! Fundamentalists want to enshrine THEIR version of Christianity as the state religion, and have little patience for things like ecumenicalism.
At the same time Conservative *ahem* "Thinkers" at CPAC want christanity turned into a protected class.
ReplyDeleteThe interesting thing is that the Republicans started using Christianity for political ends, and now Christianity is using the Republicans for its ends.
ReplyDeleteIt's the last desperate gasp of religiosity. As I said on my blog, fewer and fewer young people care about belonging to a religion. That must be difficult for believers.
ReplyDeleteAlmost 60% of Republicans want the U.S. to be declared a Christian nation?
That will never happen. But it's still a disturbing idea.
Ahab: Indeed, they're not only ignorant of history, but, more bizarrely, ignorant of their own religion and its history.
ReplyDeleteGrung: Yes, American Christians are being persecuted because they can't beat up on gays like they used to. The Middle Eastern Christians who are being enslaved and beheaded by ISIS must feel so sorry for them.
Andrew: Yep, the party made an alliance with the fundies back in the 1970s and it served the party well for many years, but now the fundies have pretty much taken over -- and are turning the party into something nobody other than fundies would want to associate with, thus creating a vicious circle.
Shaw: It's the flip side of the vicious circle. As the fundies get more agitated and double down on the extremism, even more young people will be turned off, and so on.
Infidel,
ReplyDeleteI think it is a good point you make about it not being economics anymore for a lot of "conservatives" in the US. The term is a bit different in the UK. Quite a bit. Gay marriage, contraception, dogs living with cats, whatever will all bring forth the Zombie Apocalypse so who cares about the tax rate? Etc. Or anything much really.
Nick: The word is used differently in the two countries to reflect the cultural differences. Political conservatism in the UK doesn't seem to have much of a religious component. In the US it's now largely defined by its religious component.
ReplyDelete