Religion and politics don't mix. Even so, many candidates try to do just that, to curry favor with religious leaders as they seek the votes of church members.
Watch for ultra-conservative evangelists to call for a specific set of spiritual beliefs to be made official in America.
"Religion in America isn't receding. It's just the opposite. Faith is gaining new life across America every day." -- VP Mike Pence, May 12, at Hillsdale College in Michigan.
America's problem, according to Texas Gov. Greg Abbot, "is not with guns but with people whose hearts are not with God."
And while it may be that many or even most Americans will say they follow Christian principles and/or they attend a church regularly or occasionally, it does not follow that this means that there is or should be an official set of beliefs to be held by all citizens.
Not far removed from this insistence on conformity is President Donald Trump's comment that those who do not stand while the national anthem is played "should leave the country."
Moreover, some evangelists would like Christianity to be established as the officially recognized religion in America.
It's not, and cannot be.
Why not? Because the Constitution specifically prohibits any attempt to have a state religion, and the document does so in two places.
Article VI of the Constitution stipulates that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the Under States."
Secondly, the First Amendment begins, "Congress shall make no law regarding the establishment of religion, or restricting the free exercise thereof."
Nevertheless, during the presidential campaign, Trump called for "a total and complete shutdown of all Muslims entering the country ..."
But what of those who are already here, born here, whose families have been here for several generations? Are they to be ousted, like football players who kneel as a protest against discrimination of minority people?
"In unity there is strength" is a fine motto, but not if it requires that all citizens think alike, look alike, act alike and worship alike. To insist that be so in the cause of national unity is to ignore the natural diversity of the human race.
That way madness lies.
When Al Smith was a candidate for president in the 1930s, there was great anxiety that he would impose Roman Catholic teachings on the government and the public.
When John F. Kennedy was a candidate in 1960, he had to make a formal statement on national television that he would not allow any interference or influence from the Pope on the White House.
Many protested vehemently of the danger of papal intervention on Americans. They feared that Smith or Kennedy would try to impose Roman Catholicism on all citizens.
It now seems that this was and is a one-way fear. Conservative evangelists feared the imposition of Catholic beliefs and policies on the general public. Yet they have no problem in trying to impose their WASP-ish beliefs on the rest of America, keeping out all others.
But why stop there? Why not keep out or deport Hindus, or Buddhists, or Muslims, or agnostics, or atheists or members of any other group whose beliefs conflict with the self-appointed guardians of the public morals?
Perhaps it's time they remembered that morality and religion are two separate and distinct things: Morality deals with how one relates to other people, and religion deals with how one approaches a deity.
Unless one is an atheist, and then morality -- established by group consent and law -- is the only one that matters.
As for a state religion, even if restricted to Christian Protestants, which of the many denominations should be selected as official?
Oh, wait. Never mind. The Constitution says "none of the above."
Unless two amendments come to pass. One to cancel the First Amendment, and another to delete Article VI. That way Congress could establish a state religion, and require everyone to pass a religious test.
As for those who fail the test ...
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