Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

~~~

~~~

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Ben Carson: Separation Of Church And State Is ‘Schizophrenia, A Form Of Craziness’






Ben Carson: Separation Of Church And State Is ‘Schizophrenia, A Form Of Craziness’ 


Poor Dr. Ben. Every time he opens his mouth to enlighten his followers with a gram of wisdom, he throws in a pound of ignorance:


“We have to stop listening to these people who tell us that we cannot talk about God, we cannot talk about our faith, I wonder, do they realize that our founding document, our Declaration of Independence, talks about certain inalienable rights given to us by our Creator – aka God?”



First off, no one has told anyone to stop talking about God. No churches, temples or mosques have been shut down by the government; no televangelist mega-churches have been put out of business (or taxed) by the government; no Christian radio stations or teevee cable stations have been pulled off the air by the government; no government thugs have broken into American homes where religious people are praying and hauled them off to jail; and no American who wishes to be a street preacher has had his or her soapbox confiscated by the government. 

Cable, local teevee and radio stations are rife with programs about religion, and Christianity leads the number of cable and teevee stations promoting its dogma and doctrine. As for talking about "our faith," the GOP candidates for the presidency have been abundantly clear about their devotion to their faith, and not one of them has been arrested for doing so. 

The Declaration of Independence set out the reasons for our separation from the British government, and it enumerated the wrongs committed by the monarchy against the colonists. But the DoI is not the basis for our laws, the document that is the basis for our secular laws is the United States Constitution, and that document says nothing about God establishing government and its laws; it does not claim anywhere that our laws are based on the Bible or any religion. Dr. Ben may have missed school on the day these two founding documents were studied and explained. The Declaration of Independence is not the law of the land.




Dr. Ben: “So, if it’s in our founding documents,
  
Not DOCUMENTS, but the Declaration of Independence. There is no reference to God as the giver of our laws in the U.S. Constitution, rather the Preamble to the Constitution states "We the people..." as the creators of this secular nation and its laws.



 Dr. Ben:  "...it’s in our pledge,"


The words "one nation under God" were inserted in the Pledge of Allegiance in the 1950s during the time of the Red Scare.  It was not in the original Pledge of Allegiance, which was conceived and written by a Socialist,  Francis Bellamy.



Dr. Ben:  "...it’s in our courts and it’s on our money, but we’re not supposed to talk about it..."

[The word "God"] it's in our courts] -- In a court of law, one does NOT have to swear to tell the truth on a Bible, one has the option of swearing on the US Constitution. This is also true for when a president is given the oath of office. But woe be to any politician who uses his/her freedom, guaranteed by the US Constitution, to NOT be a religious politician!  Our founding document, the US Constitution, specifically, states that no religious test is to be applied to anyone seeking the presidency or any other constitutional office. But some religious people have no problem with ignoring that part of our laws, and those same religious people would condemn any man or women who exercised his/her freedom and swore the presidential oath of office on the Constitution. ("So Help Me God," is NOT in the original presidential oath of office as set out in the Constitution.)


Dr. Ben:  "...and it's on our money..."

The insertion of "In God We Trust" on our currency happened during the Civil War, not during the founding of this nation. and it was initiated during one of the darkest times in this country's history.  "In God We Trust" was also adopted as our national motto, replacing "E Pluribus Unum," a more proper motto for a secular country.  But the majority of religious adherents were successful in overturning what our Founding Fathers established as this country's motto:  "E Pluribus Unum," and turned the motto into a religious one -- one that honors only the Abrahamic religions, so it favors one group of religions over all others in this country.  Clearly a violation of the US Constitution.



Dr. Ben:   "...what in the world is that? In medicine we call it schizophrenia, a form of craziness.”


Dr. Ben, unfamiliar with our founding documents, mottoes, pledge, and constitutional guarantees, calls separation of church and state "schizophrenia, a form of craziness."

Cleary, Dr. Ben doesn't understand the many meanings of "a form of craziness" either, otherwise, he'd keep his mouth shut about things of which he apparently knows very little.



The No Religious Test Clause of the United States Constitution is found in Article VI, paragraph 3, and states that:
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.[a]





26 comments:

Shaw Kenawe said...

The Reverend Barry Lynn of "Americans United for the Separation of Church and State while a guest on C-SPAN:

"The argument that you [a caller] are making was ironically made to me by a United States congressman named Louie Gohmert from the state of Texas when I was testifying about a year ago on the state of religious freedom in America," Lynn said. "And I started by saying there's a dizzying level of religious freedom in America. The people who have the most problem practicing it are people in minority religious groups, there are people who are non-believers, they are not Christians, born again or otherwise."

"And Congressman Gohmert, during his five minutes to question me started to ask me, 'Well, do you promote that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven?'" Lynn recalled. "And this was an interrogation... from an elected official using the taxpayers' money and taxpayers' time to interrogate me about religion. I don't think that that's appropriate."

He added: "I think Congressman Gohmert is kind of a walking, talking example of why we need the separation of church and state in this country."

At the conclusion of the segment, Lynn reminded conservative Christian politicians that hypocrisy was considered a sin in the Bible.


Anonymous said...

So why bother with a guy this dense? You can't think he has a chance, do you?

Kevin Robbins said...

Shaw, this is a little off-topic, unless the topic is crazy GOP candidates; but here's a link to story about the front-runner.

I see they're all attacking the prez for a stock market correction without pointing out that the markets have all more than doubled since he took office.

Jerry Critter said...

Just more pandering to the uninformed, meaningless sound bites.

Shaw Kenawe said...

"Anonymous Anonymous said...
So why bother with a guy this dense? You can't think he has a chance, do you?"


Dr. Ben does not have a chance to be the nominee, even though his poll numbers improved enough so that he was just behind Trump after the first debate.

Why do I bother with this guy? To point out that the TGOP fell in love with Dr. Carson, not because he's politically gifted, but because the TGOP sees a man of color who repeats their uninformed notions of how this country is attacking God and Christians, who repeats ignorant ideas about how one becomes a homosexual, who refers to human beings in terms of "packaging them up" and sending them back to where they came from, or even worse, bombing caves where they might be hiding from the border patrol. All of those ideas are nutty and his latest claim about religion and Christianity being attacked is ignorant.

The TGOP were relentless in attacking Barack Obama for his lack of political experience and slim resume for the presidency (even though he'd been a state and then a US Senator), and now they're embracing a guy with absolutely NO political experience in any area, but because he's their guy, that is overlooked.

Dr. Ben seems like a kindly older gentleman who would probably be a good mentor for young men and women looking toward the medical field as a profession.

As a presidential candidate, he's a disaster, and he makes the people who are supporting him look exceedingly foolish and reckless.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Kevin,

This was in the link you posted (and it's okay to talk about Trump when the subject of the blog post is "crazy."

"But has the persona of the grenade-throwing outsider already reached its ceiling? How does Trump broaden his base without losing the visceral support he now has?

For his part, Mr. Black, the pundit on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said Trump simply isn’t presidential material. “He’s not suited to be president, and he will not be president.”

With the media accepting that Trump is around for at least a while, the focus will shift to his record, which is fairly liberal, and his policy prescriptions, which are thin at this point. The honeymoon will fade, the thinking goes."


Also this fits in with the idea that TGOPers are easily duped by style and outrageous claims backed up by nothing. Both Carson and Trump have proved that.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Jerry,

25% of TGOP voters like being pandered to. They are fact averse, except for "false facts." They like those.

Jerry Critter said...

Yes, "false facts", the TGOP word for lies.

Call Me Hank said...

"No churches, temples or mosques have been shut down by the government;"

Not yet, but if you get someone who thinks like that cretin PamGeller, the extremists righties will take down the mosques and forbid any others build. Let a TeaParty candidate be president and then we'll see what real religious persecution is like!


BB-Idaho said...

A brain surgeon theocrat? Lordy, probably wants to implant 'Love Ya Jesus' chips in
all our noggins.

Dave Miller said...

Shaw... a great read on the God trend in our country is the book "One Nation Under God." In a vert detailed way, complete with notes, references et al, it details the lurch of our country to adopt a public "God Presence" in the 1950's under the Eisenhower Admin.

A fascinating read, one that will challenge many of the people who believe our founders were this fine group of evangelical folks. If they were to read it of course...

Shaw Kenawe said...


Wow! Donald Trump got the KKK endorsement! Trump certainly appeals to the bigots and racists in this country.


David Duke On Trump: He’s “Certainly The Best Of The Lot” Running For President

“I think he understands the real sentiment of America.”

Shaw Kenawe said...

And he's got the white supremacist/neo-Nazi vote wrapped up. The Storm Front vote is all his!


Popular Neo-Nazi White Supremacy Group Endorses Trump for President

What an honor for the Trumpet to be admired by bigots, racists, and white supremacists/neo-Nazis!

He's the darling of the TGOP!



Shaw Kenawe said...

And this explains Trump's wide support among the low-info, low-IQ voters in the TGOP:

But supporters mostly explained that they found Trump’s message — which is pitched to a third-grade level — appealing because it was easy to understand.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Thanks for the tip, Dave.

We're a nation of many, many religions and people who profess no religion. The Founding Fathers were brilliant when they made it clear that this country would not be a country that favors one particular religion. That way, it protects the freedom of all religions.

Les Carpenter said...

Woman finds exact replica of Donald Trump’s face in butter

Founf this to be hilarious uet true!

Les Carpenter said...

In the latest national Republican nomination poll conducted by Gravis Marking for One America News Network, frontrunner Donald Trump has hit the 40% mark. The survey marked the first time since any candidate–let alone the real estate mogul–has broken above the so-called 30% ceiling everyone has pegged him at.

Yikes! Apparently a good percentage of republicans HAVE REALLY
lost there minds.

Shaw Kenawe said...

RN, I saw that Trump butter face. Hilarious!

It's pretty evident that the TGOP has gone around the bend.

This is the natural conclusion to what happened in 2008, when the GOP put Sarah Palin in the #2 spot on the presidential ticket. If those people thought that woman was qualified to be the v.p., why wouldn't those same people believe a buffoon like Trump would be qualified to be preznit?

Les Carpenter said...

Watching the GOP go from viable to essentially a laughingstock in a matter of less than seven short years is remarkable. I now believe there is a great likelihood the GOP may be headed the way of the Whigs. Or, it may just morph into the American Neo Fascist Party.

Support for the national party is no longer possible for anyone really paying attention. Although at the state level I can find things to support. I like Baker and it is unfortunate at the national level there doesn't seem to be anyone of his caliber or character.

Ducky's here said...

'ol "separation of church and state is schizo" Carson is riding high in second place.

Still seems that the way to succeed with the Teabags is to be as outrageous as possible.
Nothing is beyond the pale with this crowd.

*chomp* *chomp*
more popcorn please.

Who would possibly share the ticket with La Trump?

Shaw Kenawe said...



"Who would possibly share the ticket with La Trump?"

Well, Trump has called all of the other Republican candidates "losers," and "idiots." It would be odd if he then chose one of them as a running mate. He's been outrageous in everything he's done as a candidate, I wouldn't be surprised if he chooses a ham sandwich as his running mate. That's the only thing I can think of that would match his intelligence, but not his ego.

Shaw Kenawe said...

RN: "Although at the state level I can find things to support. I like Baker and it is unfortunate at the national level there doesn't seem to be anyone of his caliber or character."

RN, right now, someone like Charlie Baker could never make it in the Republican Party on a national level. The first accusation they'd throw at him is that he's a RINO. Baker could never have been elected in Massachusetts if he had been an extremist TGOPer (like our neighbors to the north, Mainers, when they elected that clown, LePage.)

Baker represents what the Republican Party USED to be nationally. He's a decent man, and very blue Massachusetts has proved again that when it comes to elections, voters vote the man/woman, not necessarily the party. (Massachusetts has had more Republican governors than it has had Democratic Party governors.)

Howard Brazee said...

I suspect he very much wants the government to stop religions that he thinks are heretical. We don't allow religions to do human sacrifice the way some used to.

The American Religious Right (and many other Religious Rights), are about themselves, not religion. That's why it has spokesmen such as Pat Robertson who is in most every characteristic, just the opposite of Jesus Christ. They don't want religious freedom for all.

Shaw Kenawe said...


You're correct, Howard. Extremist religionists want the freedom to impose their religious doctrine on everyone.

I'm amazed at the evangelicals' support of Donald Trump who, by anyone's standards is not religious at all, except when he religiously worships Mammon.

Anonymous said...

Ann Coulter introduced him at his town hall meeting yesterday, she would make a good VP. Of course he loves Palin.

Shaw Kenawe said...

GOP team for 2016: "Trump/Coulter"

That would clinch the short-fingered-vulgarian/anti-woman vote for sure.