(NOTE: This timeline was originally published in shorter form in 2009, driven by the somewhat-naive thoug ht that the time that then the process of theocratic overreach in the US was probably already at or near its zenith. Now it appears that p3 must stand ready for further revisions from time to time, as the exigencies of Republican electoral politics require it. We welcome the task.)
1791 James
Madison: Congress
shall make no law respecting
an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof.
1802 Thomas
Jefferson:
The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment guarantees
Americans a
wall of separation between
church and state.
1954 Dwight
Eisenhower:
The separation of church and state surely won't
be hurt by adding "under God" to
The Pledge of Allegiance in the name of anti-Communism, will it?
1960 John
F. Kennedy:
The separation of church and state is absolute.
My church will not dictate my policy decisions.
2008 Mitt
Romney:
The separation of church and state is relative.
My church will dictate my policy decisions, but only to the extent
that I will discriminate
against the same people Christian conservatives would already be
discriminating against anyway.
2009 Bart
Stupack:
The separation of church and state is a
fairy tale.
My church will show up at the Capitol steps in a limo to dictate
policy.
2012 Rick
Santorum:
The separation of church and state is an
abomination.
"Earlier in my political career, I had the opportunity to read
the speech [by JFK to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association in
1960], and I almost threw up."
2012 Sally
Quinn:
The separation of church and state is impossible.
“This is a religious country. Part of claiming your citizenship is
claiming a belief in God, even if you are not Christian.”
Agnostics, atheists, and other nonbelievers need not apply.
2014 Rick
Santorum (again):
The very notion of the separation of church and state is "a
Communist idea that has no place in America."
2015 Fifty-seven
percent of surveyed Republicans:
The separation of church and state is sacreligious,
since the U.S. Constitution is a document inspired by Our Lord Jesus
Christ, so it
counts as Holy Scripture.
2015 Rand
Paul, libertarian-of-convenience:
The separation of church and state is a
one-way street:
"The First Amendment says keep government out of religion. It
doesn't say keep religion out of government."
2015 Jeb
Bush, "moderate"
GOP presidential candidate: The separation of church and state is
nothing more than a "game" of "political
correctness."
2015 Bobby
Jindal, 2016
vice-presidential hopeful (and staunch opponent
of executive orders, when it's Obama, who not that long ago
told fellow Republicans they had to stop being "the
party of stupid"): The separation of church and state can
be disposed of by simple executive order from
the governor, even after the GOP-controlled state legislature killed
the same anti-LGBT bill the week before.
2015
Jeb Bush (again), apparently ignoring his promise of roughly six weeks earlier (see above)
that his Catholic faith would naturally influence how he governed as
president: "I don’t get economic policy
from my bishops or my cardinals or my pope,"
adding "I think religion ought to be about making us better as
people, less about things [that] end up getting into the political
realm.”
Ooh! So close
to what JFK promised in 1960 (also above) – so close!
Except that Kennedy pledged that the church would not dictate his
policy decisions – Period. Full stop. – whereas Jeb only pledges
that the church won't dictate his economic
decisions. This means that, as both a good Cafeteria Catholic and a Republican candidate who must pander to his base to make it through the primaries alive, he feels free
to ignore anything he doesn't like that the Pope says about matters like climate change, economic inequality, privatizing Social
Security, or similar things that could make a difference to his donors' bottom line.
But, of course, he considers himself totally free to invoke his
faith in the name of being anti-choice and anti-contraception, to say
nothing of attempting to use the Florida National Guard to cruelly prolong
the life of Terri Schiavo. (You didn't forget that one, did you?)
2017 45th President and widey-noted Christianity practitioner Donald J. Trump,signing his "Religious Liberty Executive Order" coinciding with National Prayer Day: "The order, which Trump inked during a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden, directs the IRS to exercise "maximum enforcement discretion" over the Johnson amendment, which prevents churches and other tax-exempt religious organizations from endorsing or opposing political candidates. It also provides "regulatory relief" for organizations that object on religious grounds to a provision in Obamacare that mandates employers provide certain health services, including coverage for contraception."We will not allow people of faith to be targeted, bullied or silenced anymore," Trump proclaimed during his remarks.
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