Church-state separation actually ensures our vibrant religious landscape and in no way strips the public square of talk about religion and matters of faith. Church-state separation simply requires that official government action have a secular purpose and have the primary effect that neither advances nor inhibits religion.
Governor Romney should also understand that “secular” is not a bad word. While our culture need not be secular, our government must be – not in the sense of being hostile to religion, but being religiously neutral. Government must not be allowed to meddle in religion, for or against, or take sides in religious disputes, favoring one religion over another. As soon as it does, it denies someone’s religious liberty.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Brent Walker Critiques Romney's Speech
Brent Walker, Executive Director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, has posted an essay contending "Romney Too Quick to Debunk Church-State Separation." Here's a quote:
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2 comments:
Walker is too kind to Romney on his speech.
The talk was an exercise in poetic speech, with lots of fuzzy, vague language, with a few Religious Right code words thrown in for flavor.
Although Romney stressed "moral convictions" and "moral principles," he never spelled out any of them. Instead he threw out a few phrases that evoked topics sometimes discussed as if they were moral issues. He never spelled out any clear cut "convictions" or "principles" or a moral sort; nor did he show how to apply any of them to Presidential decisions.
Romney radically misstated what the religious test cited in the Constitution is about. He typically confused political and religious freedom/liberty. He mislocated the threat of theocratic tyranny confronting Americans.
The speech might go over well with the sort of person who does not know that Romney is a Mormon--except they will likely never hear or read the speech.
Those who know that he is a Mormon and have been exercized about it are not at all likely to be reassured by his essentially bypassing any distinctives of his Mormon faith.
Asinus,
Methinks you've hit the nail on the head.
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