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This is Why Radical Christians are One of the Greatest Threats to the US Constitution

Santorum_Separation_Church_and_State

Rick Santorum on “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos

For the past several years Loonwatch writers have repeatedly made the very “significant” (and obvious) point that radical Christian Islamophobes seek to undermine the constitution of the USA by entangling church and state; i.e. undermining the separation of Church and State.

We have also pointed out that the fervent fear-mongering about “Islamization,” a fairytale concept, is nothing more than projection on the part of these radicals. (Propaganda about the “Islamization” of the USA is even more ridiculous when one considers history; the fact that America was forcibly “Christianized” by colonial settlers and their offspring.)

Many Radical Christians today believe America has changed too much and that the superior place of Christianity needs to be reasserted, i.e. re-Christianization. Not only does this thought permeate the GOP, it has infact captured the GOP. This much is clear from the ongoing reality TV circus known as the Republican primary debates.

Take Rick Santorum, it was recently revealed that he “felt like throwing up” when he first read JFK’s famous speech on the separation of church and state. He was questioned about this by George Stephanopoulos, Santorum replied that he felt like vomiting after reading the first substantive line of the speech in which JFK said, “Apparently it is important for me to state again, not what kind of church I believe in, for that should be important only to me, but what kind of America I believe in. I believe in an America in which the separation between church and state is absolute. Santorum went on to say,

I don’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute. The idea that the church can have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical to the objectives and vision of our country.

This is a leading Republican candidate for the presidency saying this, it’s not something that should be simply ignored. Can one imagine if Rep.Keith Ellison, a Muslim Congressman had said the above? For a surety the Islamophobesphere would be flailing wildly about “Islamization” and the impending Sharia take over in Ellison’s home state of Minnesota.

One must also ask where is the condemnation from loons such as Robert Spencer, a fellow Catholic? We can answer our own question, Spencer is not interested in condemning this threat because he likely agrees with Santorum. Spencer in the past has spoken in forums where he has agreed with other speakers attacking the Enlightenment. His attacks weren’t of the philosophical post-modernist variety either but couched in defense of the faith rhetoric. As I wrote at the time,

Spencer agrees with Professor Kreeft regarding the Enlightenment being a threat to Catholicism though he didn’t explicitly say that Islam was less of a threat. I can see how Ultra-Conservative Catholics may rail against the Enlightenment, it was the era which saw a secularist revolt in the name of reason against the Catholic Church and which led to formulas for the Separation of Church and State, it also witnessed the decline of the power of the Catholic Church in the temporal realm.

Coming back to the main topic, I don’t believe Santorum misspoke. I don’t believe Santorum misunderstood what JFK meant or the impetus behind why he gave that famous 1960 speech. I don’t believe Santorum was making a point about how voices of faith need to be heard in the public square, etc.

Santorum believes America is a Christian country, he believes the “founding fathers” meant for it to stay that way and in fact supported such a notion. I am not sure whether Santorum follows the Dominionist ideology, (an ideology that seems to plague Protestants mostly), but he clearly believes the Church has a part to play in the operation of government.

This incident reveals the deep hypocrisy and faux loyalty to the Constitution amongst many of the Islamophobes and the populist politicians who are riding the Islam/Muslim-bashing wave. Islam and Muslims are being used as a distraction that serves to 1.) make us lose sight of the real issues, and 2.) covers a darker intent of reconquista, rechristianization by any means necessary.

Lastly, I want to clarify that this post is obviously not an attack on Christianity and should not be understood that way. The great majority of Christians are as repulsed as any other citizen when they hear such inanities spewing forth from the mouths of politicians speaking in the name of their faith. They are also on the front lines actively fighting this scourge.

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A very good video from the Young Turks on Rick Santorum’s attack on the Separation of Church and State:

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    • Hassan Nasrallah

      As an ex-Muslim, I have stopped supporting any country, government, religion, culture etc. in the world. I just consider myself a human being, I don’t belong to any “club”. For me there are only 2 categories of people; those who do and support evil, and those who do and support good deeds and peace.

    • Hassan Nasrallah

      Humans can easily see the radicalism of others, but they are unable to detect the radicalism in themselves. This goes for Muslims, Christians, Jews and others. Their group-thinking mentality, ego and pride prevents them from thinking objectively.

    • Kirook

      Are you writing this while high?

    • Kirook

      Yeah… I’m a Catholic, and even I think medieval/Enlightenment Catholics were a**holes.

    • Brie

      The Catholic church has a history of not only getting involved in government, but running the government, which is one of the reasons our founders harbored anti-catholic sentiments sadly and the separation of church and state was so important, to the point that catholics were not allowed to vote or even hold office in many states during Americas early years. The Catholic church’s atrocities and violation of rights in controlling the state are a lesson in history as to why separation of church and state is vital to a free society. As to the enlightenment, let us not forget history as to why people left the catholic church in droves. It started with Martin Luther, a man who the Catholic church tried to kill, and who had to be hidden away for years due to the catholic run state’s threat to his life because he held differing views of the Bible. Now during his isolation he translated the New Testament into German, a language people could read. The Catholic church would not translate the bible into a language of the people therefore effectively preventing them from reading the Bible themselves and therefore not able to challenge false doctrines. The enlightenment was due to the use of printing presses and people reading the Bible for themselves and therefore leaving the catholic church for Protestant denominations, people did not become less religious, just less Catholic. It is a shame to look at Catholic dominion before the enlightenment as something to be praised, it was nothing more than withholding the word of God from the common man, something Martin Luther put an end to, and without the reformation which led to the enlightenment even Catholics wouldn’t have a copy of the bible today.

    • Franczeska

      @”Truth man” Please let us all know the results of that upcoming drug-test you appear to have been cramming so hard for.

    • Truth man

      this article/garibaldi FACT-FREE article is such a sham/buffoon..HE FIRST SAYS THAT “separation of Church and state” ARE AT RISK IF THE “evil””right wing” christians win the elections, but he fails to admit that it is only in christian countries that secularism exists in its purest form, most honest and effective form, THANKS to the teachings of the christian churches-“Give to God what belongs to God, and to ceasar what belongs to ceasar!”-JESUS CHRIST.he then carries on with his manipulative warped logic waring that considering “america2 as a “christain nation” is somehow “offensive,false, evil and dangerous”?!??!!WTF..?!?? buit when muslim imans, sheiks consider christianity (along with christians anmd all non-muslims)”evil”,”shirk2″impure2″sinful2 and destined to be destroyed by muslims, alonmg with everything that came out from christianity that includesdemocracy, human rights, freedom of expression..secularism, that IS NOT a threat to the constitution, neither is the sharia that totally contradicts all american values and rights to the core!Garibaldi..leftys, pleeease..wake up and smell the smoke.what are you doing to mankind, to maerica and to yourselves? you are in bed with satan-islam!!yopu contrdict yourselves in the worst way possible.ther is nothing rightful, progressive, liberal, humansit about deffendinf barbarism, violence, never-ending jihad/wars, opression of wimen and non-muslims, destroying mankind!

    • Lo

      Why are radical Muslims called ‘Islamists’ when radical Christians are not ‘Christianist’? Even radical Jews are not called ‘Jewist’ (they are more likely referred to as ‘Kahanists’). I’d like to point out the bitter fact that even Loonwatch has a tag of ‘Islamist’. How would Americans like it if organisations like SIOA and idiots like George Bush are called Americanists?

    • Saladin

      @Solid Snake

      “WOW! That pretty much covers all the bases! Please tell me he’s black! A black gay Muslim defending santorum! THERE’S NO WAY HE COULD BE A BIGOT! LOOK WHOS DEFENDING HIM Lmao!!”

      It gets better than that I think he is also mixed with Latino and Black I mean how can a person with a Latino/Black/Gay/Muslim friend ever be a bigot I think LoonWatch should reconsider their stance on him LOL

    • Black Infidel

      If your against the separation of church and state, US Constitution, Bill of Rights etc. etc. you are a Dominionist and a threat to the American way. No ifs, ands nor buts about it.

    • Black Infidel

      Not many people are aware of Christian Reconstruction, Dominionism and Dominion Theology. Those 3 are the real threat to the US. I’ve just watch the video called “The Rise of Dominionism” it mention Rick Santorum. Rick Santorum is indeed a Dominionist.

  • mindy1

    @Believingatheist that is good to see

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