Well its finally happened.
The New Constitution has been written, and God finally gets his props, He's acknowledged as the source of all law, and laws which do not please him are unconstitutional.
There should be a hell of a party tonight down in , Dominionistville tonight. Dr. Dobson and Jay Sekulow should be waltzing cheek to cheek, Phyllis Schafly should be table dancing with a fifth of Jack and Zell Miller should be preparing to Rock out with the Justice Sunday Singers. This is their fondest wet dream come true.
XXXXX is the official religion of the state, and it is a main source for legislation. No law can be passed that contradicts the fixed principles of XXXXX's rulings"
Ahhh but what a difference a single word can make. When you scratch away those X's you find the word Islam, not Jesus, underneath and that kinda spoils it for them. Instead of estatic dancing and poping non-alcoholic champagne corks, the religious right is Not Happy; no not at all.:
Here's our good friends at Dr Dobby's Family Research Council:
I have sent a letter to President Bush encouraging the Administration to redouble its efforts to ensure that the Iraq Constitution provides genuine religious freedom for all Iraqi citizens. An Iraqi Constitution that does not protect religious liberty will seriously undermine U.S. efforts in Iraq and the larger Middle East. The sons and daughters of Americans are not risking their lives to establish a theocratic government that denies its citizens the fundamental right of religious freedom."
{ "At least, over there in Iraq, I mean", He hastened to add, "Now about, Justice Roberts and the guarantee we want from him that he will overturn the Roe V. Wade decision...." }
And this newfound zeal for pluralism is in marked contast to his earlier position as articulated in November of last Year, when he said:
On the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Perkins, president of the Family Research Council,.. Prais{ed} President Ronald Reagan as the "architect" of the fall of the Soviet Union and the Berlin Wall, Perkins advised his supporters that there is an effort to build a similar wall here in the United States: "a wall between church and state."
"If this effort succeeds," he warned darkly in a Nov. 11 email alert, "the U.S. may follow the Soviet Union into the ash heap of history. We must all work to tear down this perilous wall and allow freedom to truly ring "
So to sum up Mr. Perkins views:
- Mixing of Church and state in Iraq: Dangerous, scary and a threat to religious liberty.
- Separation of Church and State in America: Dangerous, scary and a threat to religious liberty.
well, at least
One part of his message is consistent.
Nor is Tony "Mother!" Perkins alone in this apparent Rash of MPD among the relgious right concerning Iraq's theocratic agenda. As newsweek's Howard Fineman told Matt Lauer on the Today Show
{too much role for Islam in the Iraqi constitution would be} "dangerous for the president politically . . . because his core support in the Republican party are religious conservatives, Christian activists, ....some leading Christian leaders here in the United States have told the administration . . . that if the constitution ends up being one that enshrines Islamic law, and lessens the possibility of religious freedom in Iraq, that American religious conservatives are going to be very upset with this president."
And why not?
Bush's rhetoric on Iraq has been so apocalyptic you'd think ol Timmy "Left Behind" LaHaye was holy ghostwriting them. Bush has even called the GWOT a "crusade" (term which people are a might touchy about in the middle east for some reason). He's promised them that Freedom and Democracy will flourish in the middle east, and brutal strongmen and radical clerics will start acting like powdered wigged Virginians and everything will be all better.
The religious right, in recent years have so inexorably blended politics and religion that they've half-convinced themselves that our political system is divinely ordained, and our constitution is inspired holy writ, secretly dictated by god himself. They co-opt historical figures including most of the founding fathers and falsely claim their endorsement of religion, and their intention to make it dominant in civil affairs.
So it likely never occurred the them that the establishment of democracy in Iraq could lead to anything other than another mini-America. (We won't even get into the irony of what a "Judeo-Christian" Iraq would look like). However, the problem with democracy is that in theory anyway, the people get to decide what they want, and especially in the sort of democracy they espouse, the majority wins and the minority is out of luck.
The inescapable fact of Iraq is that the Majority of people ARE fundamentalist Shi'ite Moslems who want a theocratic state governed according to the precepts of their religion. In other words, W's cartoon fantasy democracy and the real thing have just interesected and to his fundamantalist allies, the results ain't pretty.
That the religious right is recoiling in such horror from this prospect is amusing to see especially considering it's the exact same thing they want for this country, only different. Suddenly they think protection of religious and cultural minorities is a good idea, not an abomination created by "out of control activist judges" Apparently strict theocracy based on majority rule is only a good idea when THEY are the ones picking which flavor of God to follow.
I'd love to believe that this can be "teaching moment" for them. They could look at it as opportunity to stop and consider how much affection they have for religious freedom, when the shoe is on the other foot. How isolating it feels when the state endorses a religion that is not theirs and they aren't the majority religion for once. Perhaps that sense of perspective will allow them to critically examine their efforts to impose their religion on all aspects of American Life and..........
Oh who am I kidding? sigh