RELIGIOUS LITMUS TESTS
  by Marsha Abelman

This summer, I made a conscious effort to listen to right wing talk radio. Many hours of this talk are broadcast daily, locally and nationally. It's difficult to determine if the shows are intended to report news, to entertain or to actually form public opinion. Certainly the invariably angry hosts do incite partisan fervor in their listeners. Callers to one host always begin with "mega dittos!" to his claim that he's been given special talent from God. Callers to another show always begin by praising the host, "You're a great American!" and he responds to the caller, "You're a great American!" The not-so-subtle message is "they" aren't such great Americans.

This latter host spent a lot of time last week discussing public reaction to Bush's Supreme Court nominee, John Roberts. He vehemently criticized people who have asked about Roberts' views on environmental issues or reproductive rights. He insisted that Roberts "won't have a set agenda" and complained that those people are using a "religious litmus test."

Very interesting objection! Who really uses "religious litmus tests" to determine if someone should be elected/appointed of public office?

In fact, it is religious people themselves who impose religious tests to judge the civic worthiness of candidates. Who said an atheist cannot be a patriot? George H.W. Bush. He said, "…I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God… I'm just not very high on atheists." And later, "Does that mean that you cannot be President if you are an Atheist? I say yea that does mean that."

The people who force religion into the public discourse every day are the fundamentalists who vote only for supporters of the radical anti-gay agenda of James Dobson and his cohorts, and the Catholics whose leaders have stated in no uncertain terms that Catholic politicians must vote according to the church's teachings. These are the people who have "thrown down the gauntlet," who continuously utilize the religious litmus test that the talk show host scorned as a liberal ploy. To them, a church member would trump an atheist for every public office, regardless of moral character or ability.

To those of us troubled by their militant religious zeal, Protestant fundamentalists and the Catholic church do appear to have "set agendas." It's no secret that they expect those agendas to be followed by the public servants that they find "religious enough" to elect. In contrast to their founder's words to treat others as they would like to be treated, they see tolerance as weakness, compromise as sin, the world as their church building and public office as their pulpit.


Talk show hosts this summer often said "they [the 49% minority] can't win an election, have no power, and are mad about it." But maybe we just want to ensure that our individual rights - life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, as WE define these rights - will be preserved. We're naturally apprehensive about politicians who view Americans not as employers to be served, but as sinners to be saved, and who view public office as a chance to write their religious doctrines into our secular law. If we aren't vigilant, one day there may be a religious litmus test for citizenship.

 

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