It’s nice to see the state where I spent my formative years offering up some right-wing stupidity. Ed Martin, a Republican candidate for Congress in Missouri is saying that President Obama and Martin’s opponent, Russ Carnahan, want to take away your ability to frolic with baby Jesus.
Ed Martin, a Republican candidate for Congress in Missouri, said in a radio interview with a conservative talk show host that President Obama and Rep. Russ Carnahan are trying to interfere with America’s freedom to worship. Martin also has taken a swipe at Carnahan’s sister Robin Carnahan, suggesting she is doing the “devil’s work” as Secretary of State.
Martin said today the growth of government endangers religious freedom and the “ultimate freedom … to get your salvation.” “And I think that’s one of the things that we have to be very, very aware of that the Obama Administration and Congressman Carnahan are doing to us,” Martin said during an interview on the “Dr. Gina show.”
That this is ridiculous is self-evident. America remains among the most religious of industrialized nations, and to the extent that the government has any involvement in religion, it is almost entirely in the context of invalidating laws that go too far against the idea of a separate church and state. In that scenario, the government isn’t preventing anyone from finding salvation; they are upholding one of the basic tenets of the Bill of Rights.
The hypocrisy of a Tea Partier complaining that the government might allow me to be free from Christianity notwithstanding — and this is the bigger point — I defy Martin (or anyone who would spew similar inanity) to explain how the President or the government in general can prevent one from achieving salvation if “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” After all, neither the President nor the government (regardless of its size) can prevent you from believing in Jesus or anything else for that matter.
On the other hand, if it takes being able to impose your religion on others through government-supported or government-mandated displays, demonstrations, programs, etc., then your problem is not that the government is preventing y0u from reaching salvation. It’s that you are the type who thinks that everyone has to believe in the same God that you believe in, and you want to be able to drag them to that God kicking and screaming, with government assistance if need be. That’s not salvation, pal.