Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr
At a meeting of the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition, Herman Cain (the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza) revealed a Christine O’Donnell-esque misunderstanding of the 1st and 14th Amendments to the Constitution. He said that the 1st Amendment “… says the government can’t establish a religion”. This part is true, but his comprehension of that is in question. He went on to add “It doesn’t say that people can’t have religion in government. If you elect who share the founding spirituality of this country, you will be able to depend on them to make the right decisions.”
Let’s examine what’s flawed about that statement, shall we? Firstly, Mr. Cain misses the meaning of the word “establish” here. It does, in this context, not mean to setup or create. The first sentence is “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…”. This means that the government cannot put laws into place that favor one religion over another. This forbids having a religion-lead government in the United States and instead requires that our government, while it can be comprised of people who hold personal faith or religion, is and must remain secular in nature.
This was put into place for a very specific and sound reason. The Founding Fathers recognized the dangers of having a government so closely tied to a specific religion as the British monarchy was to the Roman Catholic Church had been. Theocracy erodes the potential for equality and freedom and the drafters of the Constitution included this language in the document to protect against that happening with the new government they were creating.
Secondly, Mr. Cain isn’t actually referring to any religion in his statement. He is referring specifically to Christianity. People who believe as he does do see the freedom of religion in the Constitution as the Puritans did, not as the Founding Fathers did. They feel it is a freedom ensured only to them and no others, not a freedom that is protected equally regardless of your choice of religion even if that choice is no religion.
Lastly, Mr. Cain says of the Founding Fathers “spirituality”. His mistake is in presuming that (or attempting to trick the populace) into believing that having religion and being spiritual are one and the same. That being spiritual meant all of the Founding Fathers were Christians. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. Some of them were, no doubt, Christians. However, many were Deists. This means not that they believed in the Christian God, but that they believed in an other-worldly or god-like force created the universe and everything in it but that humanity cannot comprehend this force and that it does not play a direct role in our everyday lives.
If Mr. Cain so fundamentally misunderstands the most important Amendment to the Constitution, what chance is there that he comprehends correctly the remainder of the document? Do we, as Americans who value our freedoms want this man anywhere near a state legislature, let alone Congress or the Presidency?
– “Left of Center”
Truth Not Fear 