- 04 Mar 2012 20:06
#13910808
Rick Santorum said he nearly vomited upon reading JFK's speech of the necessity of the separation of church and state. Santorum insists that a society's religious values are inseparable from their moral outlook, and therefore intertwined with their policy-making decisions.
Rick Santorum isn't the first or last political figure to view this separation as harmful and unnecessary; in fact, many social conservatives and evangelical Christians want to enshrine religious doctrine into US law.
This question is geared towards social conservatives who want to get rid of this separation, and how they'd implement it without running afoul of the Constitution. Since many advocates for the removal are evangelical Christians, I'll frame these questions in the context of Christianity being the ideal.
1. How would you alter the First Amendment to provide religious orders more control within the government? If you have no desire to alter the Constitution, then how will you legally achieve your goal?
2. Should America be a Christian Nation? If so, then should Christianity in general be upheld as the moral standard, or a certain Christian denomination?
3. What about religious minorities? If religious orders were free to exercise political control over the government, and the government was free to exercise political control over religious institutions, then many religious minorities (including Christian minorities such as Catholics) would suffer stigmatization and persecution. Should there be laws protecting non-Christians and Christian minorities from government coercion? Should Protestant Christians get exclusive benefits and privileges that religious minorities do not get? If you answer "no" to the former, then how should the law deal with Indian Reservations that have significant non-Christian populations?
4. Should getting rid of the separation between church and state be a nation-wide decision, or left up to each individual state?
Rick Santorum isn't the first or last political figure to view this separation as harmful and unnecessary; in fact, many social conservatives and evangelical Christians want to enshrine religious doctrine into US law.
This question is geared towards social conservatives who want to get rid of this separation, and how they'd implement it without running afoul of the Constitution. Since many advocates for the removal are evangelical Christians, I'll frame these questions in the context of Christianity being the ideal.
First Amendment wrote:Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
1. How would you alter the First Amendment to provide religious orders more control within the government? If you have no desire to alter the Constitution, then how will you legally achieve your goal?
2. Should America be a Christian Nation? If so, then should Christianity in general be upheld as the moral standard, or a certain Christian denomination?
3. What about religious minorities? If religious orders were free to exercise political control over the government, and the government was free to exercise political control over religious institutions, then many religious minorities (including Christian minorities such as Catholics) would suffer stigmatization and persecution. Should there be laws protecting non-Christians and Christian minorities from government coercion? Should Protestant Christians get exclusive benefits and privileges that religious minorities do not get? If you answer "no" to the former, then how should the law deal with Indian Reservations that have significant non-Christian populations?
4. Should getting rid of the separation between church and state be a nation-wide decision, or left up to each individual state?
Last edited by EastCoastAmerican on 04 Mar 2012 21:56, edited 1 time in total.
"I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."
~Barack HUSSEIN Obama
~Barack HUSSEIN Obama