First up from the God Machine this week is a look at the "Under God: Indivisible" rally, held last week in Arlington, Texas, in conjunction with Glenn Beck's "Restoring Love" gathering. The rally, one of the largest religious right gatherings of the year, drew a reported 6,000 enthusiastic conservative attendees.
As part of the event, the crowd heard from disgraced former Republican lobbyist Ralph Reed, who called the 2012 election the most important since the Civil War, and said God will have "mercy" on Americans on Election Day, but only if we beg God to forgive us "for what we have allowed to happen to this country."
Attendees also heard from anti-gay Bishop Harry Jackson who said gay people "want to recruit your kids"; Family Research Council president Tony Perkins who said hate-crime laws are a sign of "chaos"; and Glenn Beck himself who praised the religious right for being willing to "wield the sword of righteousness" that will make "the leaders of the world ... pee their pants."
Not surprisingly, one of the central messages of the gathering was the 2012 presidential election, and the right-wing organizers' intention to defeat President Obama. The event also helped solidify Beck, the former Fox News personality, as an increasingly-relevant voice within the religious right movement.
Also from the God Machine this week:
* The Leadership Conference of Women Religious, representing nearly all of America's Roman Catholic nuns, will hold its national assembly in St. Louis next week, and will decide how best to respond to attacks from the Vatican that the nuns aren't politically conservative enough.
* Wheaton College, an evangelical liberal arts school in Illinois, wanted desperately to fight against President Obama's policy on contraception access, when it noticed a small problem -- Wheaton's health plan already covered emergency contraception. The school had to quickly change its policy, so it could pretend to be outraged that Obama is forcing Wheaton to do what it was largely already doing voluntarily.
* On a related note, the University of Notre Dame is suing the federal government over contraception access, but a growing group of ND students are organizing on campus against the lawsuit.
* Another megachurch sex scandal erupted this week, with Jack Schaap, a former pastor at the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana, being investigated for possibly having sexual relations with a teenage girl from his congregation (thanks to reader R.P. for the tip).
* And Richard Land, the controversial head of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, announced this week he will retire in October, 25 years after assuming his current post. He'll leave behind an unfortunate, scandal-plagued legacy.
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Ralph Reed and Glenn Beck are nothing but snake oil salesmen. After reading this story, I momentarily had impure thoughts about the two of them and a broomstick. Now I suppose God will punish me. Oh, wait, I’m an atheist. PHEW!
Liar Liar Pants on Fire, another Maddow FAIL
Rachel Maddow Pushes Discredited Romney Tax Return Conspiracy Theory…From 2002
On last night’s Rachel Maddow show, the famously geeky Maddow made a tantalizing tease.
“We have found some tape in the archives that may take this fight in a whole new direction as of tomorrow,” Maddow said coyly. “We have got that tape that I think nobody has seen in at least a decade, and we’ve got that story as our lead tomorrow night. We’ve got that incredible tape for you tomorrow night.”
Intriguing stuff, and it certainly intrigued us enough to tune into Maddow’s show right at 9 PM tonight to see just what she had gotten. And like any good pundit, Maddow teased her material in fine form, even going so far as to condemn Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for his intemperate remarks about Romney “not paying taxes for 10 years.” This speculation, Maddow said, was unbecoming, before going for a segue into her evidence against Romney.
The results were deeply disappointing. Specifically, Maddow went after Romney using two different sets of video evidence (as well as an article) from Romney’s 2002 Gubernatorial campaign in Massachusetts. Maddow’s argument, similarly, was two-fold – firstly, that Romney had done exactly what Reid is doing now back when Romney ran in 2002, by questioning the decision by then-Democratic gubernatorial candidate Shannon O‘Brien not to release her husband’s tax returns. Maddow has since posted this snippet of the article in question on her blog:
Now, Maddow’s point – that what’s good for the goose is good for the gander – would be well-taken, but for one crucial distinction. That is that unlike Harry Reid, Romney’s attack, as detailed above, was not based on wild speculation. O‘Brien’s husband, Mr. Hayes, was a well-known lobbyist for a company that was under investigation for one of the worst financial scandals in recent history. Thus, given that there was evidence of his proximity to a crime – a crime that was alleged to have occurred not just by one unidentified source, but by the United States Government – the question about his returns might be considered slightly more valid than demanding Romney’s returns based on nothing but hearsay from a former unnamed colleague. Moreover, asking the question of what this someone’s tax returns might be hiding is a very different concept than pulling unproven hypotheses out of thin air about that peron filing them at all. So Maddow’s comparison is, put charitably, one of apples-to-oranges.
But moreover, the brief clip that Maddow played of Romney pointing out that O‘Brien’s husband hadn’t released his returns in a September 24, 2002 GOP debate was, as she herself later inadvertently showed, out of context. Romney did not, in fact, call on O‘Brien’s husband to release his tax returns out of the blue, but instead to make a point about the value of privacy in response to a question about his (Romney’s) own tax returns. So really, Romney was agreeing with Maddow’s framing, that what was good for the goose was good for the gander, and that if he should be free from suspicion, a known lobbyist for Enron should be free from suspicion. Listening comprehension appears to have hit a new low at MSNBC.
But Maddow wasn’t finished. In fact, she hadn’t even really gotten started. She had a bigger item to push, you see, and wanted to make sure we all heard it. Specifically, Maddow charged Romney with lying about his residency in Massachusetts in 2002, and waiting right up until days before the election to admit that the “lie” in question was a “lie” and re-file his tax returns, retroactively making him a citizen of Massachusetts.
Quite a revelation. And if Romney really did wait until days before the election reveal this apparent “lie,” then it should be cause for concern. In fact, you’d expect the issue of his residency to come up in the gubernatorial debates of the time, wouldn’t you? Yet mysteriously, it doesn’t.
Why? Because Romney’s residency did not, in fact, take until right before the election to resolve. Rather, it was resolved in June of 2002. From a Boston Globe article dated June 7, 2002:
And as it turns out, that high stakes game was played. The Democrats did, in fact, challenge Romney’s residency, claiming that he’d intentionally lied about living in Massachusetts, when his primary place of living had really been in Utah. Like Reid, Obama and Maddow today, they banked on it either knocking Romney out of contention or damaging him irrecoverably.
…It didn’t:
This is the big, scary lie that Maddow claims Romney committed regarding his tax returns? If so, he should “lie” like this more often – it apparently gets him voter sympathy and makes official government institutions exonerate him unanimously.
Which brings us to the point Maddow was trying to make with this story: That Romney’s behavior now is exactly like his behavior then, and since he “lied” then, we should believe he’s “lying” now.
This doesn’t follow logically, but for the sake of irony, let’s take her at her word. If 2002 parallels 2012 the way Maddow believes, then it would seem that since Romney was the target of an unfair inquisition surrounding his taxes in 2002, only to be totally exonerated of any wrongdoing and get voter sympathy, it would follow logically that he is also the target of an unfair inquisition surrounding his taxes now, and that he will be totally exonerated of any wrongdoing and get voter sympathy as a result of that inquisition now, as well.
Congratulations, Ms. Maddow, you have just made a very strong argument for the Democratic party to drop this subject.
UPDATE: Mediaite flags a third part of Maddow’s attack on Romney, pointing out that Romney vacillated on the issue of releasing his tax returns in 2002, saying he’d be willing to do it if Ted Kennedy, at the time his last serious political opponent, was willing to release his:
Watch Maddow’s segment here:
This segment appeared pointless to respond to at the time, simply because Maddow highlighting a rather odd 10-year-old request seems entirely too petty to even comment on, and besides, it is highly unlikely that Romney holds a grudge against the now dead Senator Kennedy 18 years after that past race. However, to quickly use Maddow’s legalistic style of thinking, even if the offer were “still open,” it would be only for the tax returns prior to 2002 (when the offer was made), and what exactly would the Democrats expect to learn from tax returns that originate from years when Romney was drawing a salary at Bain Capital, which would be taxed, regardless of offshore accounts or other investments?
Either way, it hardly matters. In all likelihood, the “deal” is off the table, a fact about which Maddow et al should not attempt to complain. After all, it’s not as though other Presidential candidates have abandoned promises they made in past campaigns or anything.
Wow, IrishPat, being wrong right out of the gate on this thread really got you going, didn't it. An "I-stand-corrected" after your first embarrassing mistake, instead of that long-winded trek through the desert, would have been sufficient. Same here. The question remains, why won't Romney release the past years of his tax returns? Why did he release them to the McCain campaign for the position of VP, but won't release them now that he's running for POTUS? No amount of distraction obscures that.
Maddox's audience is fairly small and insignificant. It will only grow if she ups her game and becomes less of a partisan hack and more of a news analyst.
Rusty, your fear is showing.
Nah- I tried watching her. To no avail. She may be the best of MSNBC, but to gain viewers- the whole of MSNBC will have to be re-vamped and become more centrist. As for fear- I hope she doesn't. I am more comfortable with her grabbing a few dedicated liberals and holdig sway.
The more you talk, Rusty, the more you prove the point.
Well- then I assume you have no fear- and as such- should be accepting of all other concepts.
In terms of C. Eastwood, perhaps his thoughts are along the line of Rachel's blog post of Jenna Jameson where Jameson states: "I'm very looking forward to a Republican being back in office. When you're rich, you want a Republican in office." Argh!
Hummmmmmm, more or less credible. Jameson or Micheal Moore?
Micheal Moore may have bigger man- boob attributes but Jameson's look better on her! hahahahahahaha
Jameson is much more credible than Moore. More people see her movies too! hahahahahahaha
Apparently I need to get out more - when did Beck renounce his Mormon faith and re-convert to Christianity?
Must have been that time god personally talked to him.
Phenner - was reading one of your old posts
#18 - Wed Aug 1, 2012 4:29 PM EDT
If you are not familiar with it, you might want to check out Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America (1830). You can find it on line - page numbers vary - check Causes Tending to Maintain a Democratic Republic - within that look for The Main Causes That Make Religion Powerful in America. Good stuff about how religion thrived in the 1800's because of the "complete separation of church and state". This is not the message you get today's theocratic right.
Back to topic - yeah - I'm sure he heard a voice speaking to him.
Thanks. I will look for it.
Beck is talking about love? It can't be the acid-tongued talk show host, can it? It must be some other Beck you're talking about, right?
Reed calls this the most important election since the Civil War? Are we thinking of repealing revisiting all of that again, Republican Party, especially the out of control tea party faction?
Cedar Rapids here , I was thinking the same thing , conservative want their ass kicked again apparently , and of course anyone but reed would be doing the fighting
What is this...the Irish Pat wasteland? Space consuming drivle. Stop pontificating at such great length. For your 65,000 indoctrinated fanatics there are 65,000,000 who think you are all sick closed minded bigots who have forgotten the main principle of American Democracy...TOLERANCE. When an insane anger mad hater egomaniacal goober like Glenn Beck is the leader or ring master of any gathering then it reeks of madness attracting ilk and the worst of humanity...the type of people this nation was created to rebel against. They have no solutions just like you. They just want to condemn all that disagree with their insanity. They are the destroyers of decent societies and have no place in our democracy. Best you go back and have another beer while calculating who to hate and blame rather than vomit at this site.
Go to the "flag" on one of IrishPat's posts and click on the ignore button! Works wonders. IrishPat was warned several times about his copying whole articles of drivel here instead of just summarizing them and using links, but he won't learn.
If you can't see them, they don't bother you!
It saves so much space, too!
Oh MAN, isn't that the truth!!!
Ralph Reed, who called the 2012 election the most important since the Civil War
It certainly is, since if Reed's side wins, the Confederate Traitors will have finally destroyed the United States as originally created.
After they kick the Northeast out of the Union, do you think they will go back to the Confederate flag?
oncearepublican ... They can't afford to kick either the Northeast states or those on the West Coast out. How would they replece all of the federal welfare those states receive at the expense of those in more progressive areas?
One can only wish that the South (and a few other states) would desire to secede from the Union again. This time, instead of going to war to keep them in, many of us will be waving goodbye and holding up signs that say, "Don't let the door hit you on the way out."
Given the redistribution of tax monies, this would mean a great deal more revenue for the remaining states--especially the blue states. After all, it's those in the blue states that pay in a big percentage of the taxes collected by the federal government.
Don't forget we would also have to take out all of the stuff marked PROPERTY OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.
ditto dat ,,,,,,, i have no idea where this post is going to end up....
Wow (the video), delusion much?! Liberty to point fingers but today you're not pointing? And how about all those people you and your "god" point at when you re-implement your "values"? What will become of us then? Shall we await your judgement? By all means, get on your face and prey..
If we beg for god's forgiveness ...................... then we are probably schizophrenic.
For once the thief is right. He is absolutely right. The only thing is, where he see's Romney as being the benighted one, the facts are that if his prayers come true, our President will get a second term to straighten out their madness.
thank you with the help with ignore - it does make a more pleasant read of this comment section - can't remember who - but again, thank you!
your religion is invalid if;
It considers women to be man's inferior,
Doesn't know how many days are in a year,
It can't explain itself in less than 2 thousand words,
Doesn't consider rape a death penalty,
Doesn't know the sun is a star,,
Doesn't advocate education,
Doesn't advocate health,
Advocate for Your Grandchild's legacy,
Substantiate itself, Preferably thru healing stats..
Doesn't contradict itself, lie,,,,
Promote vigilante movies,
If it can't explain the universal paranormal experience of dreaming,
Advocate clean waters, gardening,,,,
Soooo,,, Ralph Reed and Jeremiah Wright are saying the same things? That's creeepy...
All the hate speech and bigoted posts aimed against Glenn Beck here and yet it's his site The Blaze which perfectly dismantles TRMS and Maddow herself. Taking her story piece by piece and proving her a PHONEY. Just as I said, she starts with a false premise and then builds a false conclusion through lies and misrepresentations.
Heck, hit the flag over my name to collapse the elongated post for fear that the truth will get out. But it doesn't matter, Beck is RIGHT. Maddow is a phoney.
Folks, IrishPat, if not a performance artist, gives us true insight into the concept of "What's the Matter with Kansas?" How a person takes a lightweight like Beck, who hasn't a shred of credibility, and makes them into a hero... it's truly disturbing.
June
Am I correct , Glenn Beck just signed a new $100 million dollar deal for his radio program..........Now that's the kinda "lightweight" I or anyone would like to be!
How close is Maddow to that 100 million dollar contract? Credibility rating: infinite numeric minus lightweight.
Beck, true Hero. Go Kansas!
Let's get Rachel a Debate Gig
http://www.change.org/petitions/commission-on-presidential-debates-name-msnbc-rachel-maddow-to-host-a-2012-presidential debate.
Hurry, 13 petition spaces have already been signed for! That's half her nightly audience.
Oh goodness, she'd be an ideal debate moderator, Maddow. She's been campaigning against Romney and directly for Obama since the beginning of the year. That's a modest estimation. Not to mention the numerous White House guest list visits planning stategy with the WH on how to get Obama re-elected. Talk about a "fair" moderator.
1st question: "Mr Romney, I know you are going to lie because you are a lying bast@rd but can you tell us why you lied about you taxes when you failed to file taxes as Harry Reid has pointed out and lied about living in Mass as your lying Dressage horse ran wild in Utah. In those lying 10 years that you lied about your taxes and didn't file taxes because you stole money lying while at Bain (venture) Capitalist Capital and lied about the billions and billions of good hard working honest people you lied to when you "liked firing" them all and lied to your off shore accounts that hid billions of dollars in the Caymen lying Islands. Is there any truth in your lying soul, if you have one Mr Romney, one iota of the finest hint of truth. I didn't think so you lying bast@rd. Now before I finish with this unbiased question, have you anything to say to the millions of Americans about your lying bast@rd ways, that not being the follow up question however. Did the dog "have" to ride in a cart above the car, you dirty lying cruel bast@rd. " "Wait before you answer that single question, Mr President, did I ask that question the way your office prepared for me to ask it most beautiful sir?"
Yup. 13 signitures and the available spaces and time are passing quickly. Hurry, nominate Maddow to get the debate gig.
And you people call Glenn Beck's listeners, or Rush Limbaugh's listeners looney tunes??????
C'mon Pattie (Paddie? Patty? Paddy?)!!! Make wingnut troll history: ADMIT YOU'RE AN A$$!
Ok ok, if you insist.
I admit YOU'RE an A$$!!!
There, Happy? Ni Mo'ra'n thu'
Nope - still nuthin... ignore
IrishPat what is wrong with you? You have a right to your opinion and to voice your opinion - buy why so nasty? I still find it amazing that people who hate Rachel Maddow, Ed Schultz, Chris Matthews and Lawrence O'Donnell watch their shows and read their blogs. I do not watch people I do not respect or trust and therefore I do not watch FoxNews and I do not go on their blogs or websites. Why are you here IrishPat getting so riled up?
Lorr,
Almost certainly, these two reasons:
1. People like that enjoy being malicious.
2. They know they can get away with nearly anything on "liberal" blogs and similar sites.
And they love all those nickels.
They want any kind of attention , because no one else will give the sociopaths any
I'd say it is not so much a desire for attention as it is a narcissistic form of malice.
Something is definitely going on with God, Jesus and the light, but it sure isn’t to what these Republicans, rich people, and extremists of hatred want it to be. Since they are the very ones who have been called out as power craving, hypocrites, arrogant, corrupt, greedy, and deceivers. These people can talk all the rhetoric they want, but they still haven’t changed yet to what it is to be a better person of their religious belief. If anything it has been directly pointed to that these are very people who are the problem in the world and have been causing way too much of the misery, despair and death in the world. America is not the only country with these problems, since these same types of people exist everywhere, regardless of what religious faith, political belief, and/or amount of wealth they have. If we get down to taking a look at what our basic human natures can be and history has been, then we do realize what these people have been doing. People who crave power reach a point of wanting control of everything even to the point of being Political Psychopaths who will kill and murder anyone who gets in their way. These people feel the need to control the world and will cause wars in any attempt to succeed. Certain religious leaders get lost in what religion is about and in the end lead people astray. These religious leaders become consumed in a falsehood that they made up or what they think is their ideal world of what is really hatred. Rich people get consumed in wanting more wealth and in the end worship money. But really regardless, these people are craving power to ultimately control people to do their bidding. Hypocrites because they have consumed themselves in these man-made illusions that are fed to people to keep their power. Arrogant because they have been able to get away with these falsehoods and believing they are better than anybody else is. Corrupt because they will do anything just to maintain the control over everyone, even if it takes putting people into misery, despair and death. Whatever they say is rooted in deceiving and lies just so some man-made illusion can continue and they maintain ultimate control over people and keep their immense wealth. And too many times consumed in greed, where once they have it they must have more and in the end they worship the money and not God. It really doesn’t take much to figure out these people, but it is better, when all of us to say enough is enough, let’s get down to the real truth, and finally change this world to something better than what it has been for too long. So if God were speaking anything, this definitely would be what God would be saying.
Though I question the existence of "...God, Jesus and the light...", thanks for the post. False prophets swathed in the cloth of religion and patriotism purposed in greed, power and hate.
@Deb Re: #46
I totally agree with you!
The combination of greed for more wealth and political power is bad enough. Adding the use of religion to exert more power and gain more wealth is toxic.
Years ago I heard someone ask "Would Jesus wear a Rolex on His television show?"
The simple answer is, of course, "No" because watches and TV hadn't been invented yet.
Jesus used the "mass market" techniques of the time - preaching to large crowds and encouraging His followers to spread the message.
So, maybe if Jesus were here now, he would have a TV show. But the message would be the same. He wouldn't be asking for donations and then living a wealthy lifestyle. The message would be Love and especially "Love your enemies".
Any "Christian" who preaches hatred or intolerance is not a Christian. Simple as that.
There will always be greedy, powerful rich people. These people will try to get more wealth and power. To maintain our democracy, we have to set rules and limits. For instance, no individual should have more political power just because they are wealthy. No individual should be able to amass wealth by stealing or deceiving customers. We celebrate the success of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates - and wish we had come up with a great idea, too, so we put our imaginations to work and try.
There will always be people who are passionate and committed to their personal religious convictions. This country was founded on the notion that people are free to hold religious beliefs (or none) that don't conform to a government supported set. There are limits however - some religions in the past believed in human sacrifice.
The argument that some Christians are making is that because this country was founded by people who were Christian, we are a Christian country - and our laws are fundamentally based on Christian teachings.
Here is my suggestion:
If you propose a law or policy that can only be defended based on YOUR holy book or what YOU think the deity YOU worship tells YOU is right, then that law or policy belongs in YOUR private life and YOUR religious community - NOT IN MINE.
If you propose a law or policy based on personal convictions that you can demonstrate benefits the society as a whole or solves a problem that affects all of us, then we can consider it. [For example - this is why we do not allow human sacrifice.]
Deceived by people "handing tickets out for God", as Elton John (or was it Bernie Taupin that wrote it) sang in Levon.
We would be wise to step back and ask ourselves why we should believe those that prophesied that the end of the world was on a certain date. And/or why should we live looking toward enacting God's judgement and ignore the people living around us that are in need of basics now.
Is it because we would rather point out flaws in others than contemplate our own flaws? I think so and I think people have been told not to care about THAT, because THIS is way more important and it happens to coincide with what a political party says we should care about most. Um, Jesus said we should not pay taxes, stop the gays and women from equality and drill baby drill, huh?
Sandy,
I gave a quick look in Google, and the only page that specifically atributed the lyrics to Taupin alone was the Wikipedia article about the song. I looked at the "Talk" page for the article and didn't notice that anybody had disputed that attribution. Other pages I saw just gave both Elton John's and Bernie Taupin's names as writers of the song. The allmusic.com review of the song just says "Composed by: Bernie Taupin / Elton John" without specifically saying that Taupin alone wrote the lyrics.
http://www.allmusic.com/song/levon-mt0006448323
Without exception that I've heard, Taupin wrote the lyrics and John wrote the music on all songs they did "together", hence both names. Interestingly enough, they tended to write apart from each other.
That's what I thought. I should have gone to the allmusic bio of Elton John, where it is clear that the breakdown of writing duties is always EJ music, BT lyrics.
In a second Google search I did, a site came up in the hits that actually contains the following assertion:
"What many people don't realize is that Elton John's music is saturated with witchcraft language."
I'm not going to the site, but if someone really wants to, the URL is
www.jesus-is-savior.com/.../Rock-n-Roll/elton_john-witchcraft.htm
I guess the main domain name pretty much explains all you need to know about the site.
Actually, the line "handing tickets out for God" is from "Tiny Dancer".
"Levon", on the other hand, wears his war wound like a crown, and calls his child Jesus. Because he likes the name.
Oh, you are correct 2Manchu!!! Oopsie! But we had a little reprieve didn't we?
Yes we did. I always enjoy any discussion about EJ's music.
very interesting, thank you.
greats for this post.
So, the author here of The Week in God is not biased. No, not at all. Not against Catholicism, nor other Christian religions which may be directed to a "more conservative' viewpoint, nor against the Catholic Church as it partakes in social issues.
(TRMS Blog author) edited: is a contributing writer to the Washington Monthly, joining the magazine in August 2008 as "blogger in chief" of the Monthly's
blog, Political Animal. His background includes publishing The Carpetbagger Report, and writing for a variety of publications, including Talking Points Memo, The American Prospect, the Huffington Post, Salon, and The Guardian. He has also appeared on NPR's "Talk of the Nation," MSNBC's "Rachel Maddow Show," Air America Radio's "Sam Seder Show," and XM Radio's "POTUS '08."
Only THE most prejudiced slanted biased opinionated journals and progressive spots on media available.
(TRMS blog author)"edited": got his Master's at the George Washington University while interning at the Office of Speechwriting in Bill Clinton's White House. He has written direct mail for a major Democratic consulting firm, worked as a communications director for a congressional campaign, and for six years, was part of the communications department at Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
Let's see, Americans United for Seperation of Church and State. That's Barry Lynn's group, isn't it? Why yes, no wnder the TRMS author writes in such biased and hateful terms against both republicans and Christian Conservatives and the Catholic Church.
Like I said, artful, decietful, manipulative, dishonest, prejudiced, .........no need to continue. I had the guy spot on. Takes a discerning eye.
Political Hack with a hatred against the Catholic Church and conservative faith based institutions and proponents. No wonder the guy steered attentions away from Beck's Restoring America (65,000) attendees and related the more meger number (6,000) attendees at a convention which only part and partial of an on-going "Indivible" crusade hosted by James Robison. That was continued BTW Aug 2, 2012 and continues across the country. Now I get it. I was absolutely correct!
Organization
Americans United is officially non-sectarian and non-partisan. Its national headquarters are in Washington, D.C.. It has both religious and non-religious members, as well as members from various political parties. Many members of the clergy have been involved in the work of Americans United.Its current executive director, Barry W. Lynn, is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ[3], as well as an attorney long active on behalf of civil liberties.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State was founded in 1947 as Protestants and Other Americans United for Separation of Church and State (POAU) by a broad coalition of religious, educational and civic leaders in response to proposals pending in the U.S. Congress to extend government aid to private religious schools.[4] They believed that government support for religious education would violate church-state separation. The decision was made to form a national organization to promote this point of view and defend the separation principle.
The organization aimed to influence political leaders, and it began publishing Church & State magazine and other materials in support of church-state separation to educate the general public. These activities continue today and form the core of Americans United’s operations.
In its first years a main focus of AU's activity was opposition to the political agenda of the Roman Catholic Church and it was seen by critics as an anti-Catholic organization. [5] In 1960 AU Executive Director Glenn L. Archer entered into a dialog with presidential candidate John F. Kennedy to assess his views on church-state relations.
In 1962 and 1963 the U.S. Supreme Court handed down landmark rulings striking down government-sponsored prayer and Bible reading in public schools. Calls soon began emanating from Congress to amend the Constitution to protect the "right to pray in school." But Americans United defended the rulings, pointing out that no branch of government has the right to compel children to take part in religious worship and that truly voluntary student prayer remained legal.
In the late 1970s and the 1980s the "Religious Right", especially Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority, attacked church-state separation, tried to introduce fundamentalist theology into the public schools and demanded tax subsidies for religious education. Americans United helped secure a string of court victories that turned back these attempts.
In the 1990s Religious Right forces regrouped under Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition of America. This organization demanded an end to public education and called for the “Christianization” of politics. Americans United publicized and opposed this agenda.
In recent years AU has continued to oppose religion in public schools, school voucher initiatives in the states, and “faith-based” initiatives in the federal government and in the states. AU participated in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, which concerned the teaching of intelligent design in public school science classes.
Americans United has tried to ensure that houses of worship do not endorse or oppose candidates for public office, which would violate their religious tax exemption. AU has submitted reports of possible violations to the IRS. The organization encourages its members to monitor sermons and activities in local houses of worship for illegal politicking.
Bluesmokeandmirrors: Though I question the existence of "...God, Jesus and the light...". Everyone has their right to question whatever they want to question and it is good people question things as I like to question plenty. And one of my favorite topics to question and talk about is religion. But it is interesting that people do like to try to describe God, but really we cannot, since no one really knows what entity God really is and cannot even be called a he or she. Jesus we know existed and looked to teach about better things and really did make some remarkable true connections about our human nature. Jesus knew people very well and how people interacted in the world and actually gave some very good guidance over some very human issues. Now the light that is the interesting subject, since so few people really understand it. People see the light when they pass on, but there is another factor to the light and that is the connection in Psychic and paranormal experiences. There is people in this world that really do have the light connection and if you get down to it that is, especially in the Naghamadi Gospels, what these people are talking about in many cases. And this is many times the ultimate proof that something much more does exist beyond what we call our reality. The light is an ultimate true power and does very much interact in this world. People don’t usually hear much about the light as they should and too many times it is just held in silence without anybody speaking about it. For me, I think people should be let known about it and that it is an obtainable thing.