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Author Mansfield Envisions a "Better Society...Less Open to Non-Christian Religions"
In the interview, Mansfield bemoaned the slow pace of judicial branch successes in weakening the separation of church and state, and touted legislative strategies instead (he championed the ill-advised Public Expression of Religion Act in his USAToday piece) to get the job done : Congress is going to be the fast track, no question about it. Congress has the right to restrict the kinds of cases the judiciary can hear, according to the Exceptions Clause of the Constitution, so these bills are our best hope. Now, with recent reverses in the number of conservatives in Congress, that will slow things down. But we can make more progress in Congress than we can by waiting for the judiciary to be transformed. And how would he describe the utopia that follows if Congress gets the job done of bypassing Supreme Court precedent? It's a much, much better society. It's less open to the cults. It's less open to non-Christian religions; they'd certainly have a presence but the country would be less open to them. You'd have greater ethics invested in the hearts and the lives of children, as the Ten Commandments are held central and as some kind of a prayer is prayed daily in the schools. Nice of him to allow non-Christians to stay in the country - while promising to discriminate against them ("less open"??) - isn't it? Can't you just feel the love? That sweet smell of liberty that says all Americans are free to practice their religions, but non-Christians are, how shall we say, less free? That is a chilling statement - confession really - of unabashed hostility toward other religions. I don't know what to call a "country (that) would be less open to" non-Christians, but I wouldn't call it America. And of course the boundaries of religious discrimination never stop moving - and wouldn't stop at "Christian." How long until - in Mansfield's America - the country is "less open" to some Christians than others? I would only argue - to any Christian who feels sympathetic to his call - how do you know you will always make the cut? That danger starts with the initial willingness to be "less open" to some religions than others. As Baptist Joint Committee Director Brent Walker said in his response to the USAToday piece, and says often, "if any one of us has our religious freedom denied, the freedom of all is endangered."
Mansfield also makes claims in the interview about George Washington, especially that he "preached to more churches than any President in American history" - claims which are disputed by Philander Chase, University of Virginia historian and editor of The Papers of George Washington, at AU's blog here. "We do not know of any instance," Chase says, "of Washington preaching to a church congregation while he was president or at any other time of his life. As president he did attend a variety of church services, apparently to underscore the importance of religious tolerance as part of national unity. [Cross-posted in part from the Baptist Joint Committee blog]
Author Mansfield Envisions a "Better Society...Less Open to Non-Christian Religions" | 15 comments (15 topical, 0 hidden)
Author Mansfield Envisions a "Better Society...Less Open to Non-Christian Religions" | 15 comments (15 topical, 0 hidden)
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