Lawmakers introduce bill to assert church over state By Curt Andersen News-Chronicle I’ve always been a big fan of comic strips and political cartoons. Over the years, I had a fondness for Vip, Jimmy Hatlo, Gahan Wilson, Oliphant, and Lyle Lahey, and many others. Because of my long interest in those cartoons, I had ample time to notice a fair share of them showing an old, bearded man with a sign saying, “The End Is Near.” Invariably, the old man was being mocked for his mental state. When I was about ten years old, a neighbor kid told me the world was going to end “on Friday.” I wondered why I had not gotten the memo on this, and so was concerned until Saturday morning. I asked the friend what happened. His reply, “They did the math wrong.” Over the next year that kid gave another three or four warnings that the world would end, but each time “the math was wrong.” I finally got smart and asked the kid to give me all his toys and money. He wouldn’t so I questioned his lack of faith. I said, “If the world ends, you sure won’t need them.” No deal. Now we have a president who claims a belief in the “End Time,” referring to the prophesied end of the world. (I’m just being helpful when I let the faithful know that the fabled city of Armageddon, where the Big Final Battle is supposed to occur, has been the site of many battles, and was built, destroyed, and rebuilt many, many times, over the last four thousand years. The Hebrew word "Armageddon" means "hill of Megiddo." It’s in northern Israel near Mount Carmel.) Believers in Dominionism are firmly ensconced in the Bush Administration, and in fact, George W. Bush is an active believer in Dominionism. A bill called the Constitution Restoration Act of 2004 is being pushed through Congress by these Dominionists. For example, Sec. 1260 of the bill states the following: "Matters not reviewable "Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the Supreme Court shall not have jurisdiction to review, by appeal, writ of certiorari, or otherwise, any matter to the extent that relief is sought against an element of Federal, State, or local government, or against an officer of Federal, State, or local government (whether or not acting in official personal capacity), by reason of that element's or officer's acknowledgement of God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, or government." If enacted, the bill will effectively transform the United States into a theocracy; a scary thought considering the trouble our Founding Fathers went through to keep that from happening. They knew the history of the bloodshed at the hands of various religious groups and wanted to keep that from happening here. They were insightful. The bill, sponsored in the Senate by Senator Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and in the House by Representative Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., came in the aftermath of Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore being cast out of the Alabama state Supreme Court for his refusal to obey a U.S. District Judge’s ruling to remove the Ten Commandments from the rotunda of the state's Judicial Building. (Alabama is not known for its high test scores.) According to Dominionist literature, biblical rule means, among other things, incarceration and enslavement of those not deemed “Christian enough”, and execution, by stoning, of homosexuals, non-church-goers, and other sinners and revelers in licentiousness. According to Miriam-Webster’s Dictionary, licentiousness means, “lacking legal or moral restraints; especially disregarding sexual restraints; marked by disregard for rules.” I will have to assume that the stonings would include Reverend Jimmy Swaggart and those homosexuals in the Log Cabin Republicans. (From what I have seen of Congressional actions over the last 20 years, we’ll need a pretty big pile of rocks to handle the miscreants. And yet who amongst us is without sin?) The act will allow massive tax cuts for the rich because this group believes that wealth is a mark of God's grace, in spite of numerous statements to the contrary, by Jesus, Himself, such as: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:24); "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses." (Luke 12:15); “But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil; which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pieced themselves through with many sorrows.” (Timothy 9-10). "Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where not thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Luke 12:33,34). The act will force the elimination of government programs that alleviate poverty and sickness because such programs depend on the “confiscation of wealth.” Jesus’ statements referring to caring for the poor will be ignored. The act will result in the enslavement of debtors. For those of you involved in some form of commerce, you may initially smile at the thought of enslaved dead-beat customers, but you must also recognize that the fear of enslavement will scare off many potential customers who would have paid their bill. This insane act will skewer our economy like a giant kebab. In this act, the arbitrary dictates of a "higher power" can override current law and would acknowledge God as the sovereign source of law, liberty and government in the United States. It would also forbid all legal challenges to government officials who use the power of the state to enforce their own view of “God's sovereign authority.” Key words: “their own view.” For a quick glimpse of the problems inherent in a theocracy, take a look at the wars between various sects of Muslims in the Middle East, each with “their own view.” Look back on the bloody religious wars between the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches, all with “their own view.” Look back at the Spanish Inquisition, where tens of thousands of converted Jews and Muslims were murdered because their new Christian faith was not “sincere enough” (a subjective judgment based on someone else’s view). This brought to mind an eye-opening story told to me by an acquaintance. The man said that because of the horrible economic conditions in Germany after World War I, his family had immigrated to America in the early 1920’s. The Roaring Twenties, as they were later known, were a magic time for families to find work in America, much like we experienced in the late 1990s. The man said his family thrived, and even managed to do okay during the early years of the Great Depression, but that his parents watched with envy as Germany began its comeback. They wondered if they had made a grave miscalculation by moving to America. The man told me how envious his parents were when two of his cousins got to sit in the same box with Adolf Hitler at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. After the WWII ended, the man’s family was informed that the two cousins had been hanged by the Gestapo, following a 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler. The family was never able to determine if the cousins were in on the plot or if they were just caught up in the dragnet of 5,000 suspects that were executed in retaliation. The two cousins who had the singular “honor” to sit in the Olympic Box with Hitler had not been loyal enough to survive the war. It‘s the same problem we have in today’s America. Like much of Germany then, the two German cousins were mesmerized by the Fuhrer. Hitler’s rhetoric overrode all logical and moral arguments they might have had, perhaps until relatives were dying in the bombing raids, perhaps until Hitler attacked Russia, squeezing the resources of Germany in a multi-front war, perhaps until they found out about the death camps all over Germany and conquered territories. Perhaps they were not involved in the plot at all…perhaps they had just spoken innocently to other suspects. In any event, they just weren’t loyal enough. Mainline churchgoers like Congregationalists, Catholics, Lutherans, Mormons, Presbyterians, et al, should be aware that they would not be among the faithful. They will not be faithful enough, loyal enough, or Christian enough. This is the fate we can expect with a second Bush term and a Dominionist theocracy. Who determines who is loyal, and who determines who is loyal enough, and who determines who is Christian enough? As was said in the past, “Kill them all. God will sort them out.” Curt Andersen is a Green Bay native. He is a 4-year Navy veteran (Communications Technician, CTO2), (who, unlike some people, served his entire hitch), owns a small business, is vice president of Clean Water Action Council, and is an adjunct instructor at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College. You may contact Mr. Andersen at [email protected]