I think Republicans should treat religion in the Trump era the same way they treat government spending when a Republican is president. Ignore it.
Republicans love to accuse Democrats of being socialist spenders and giving away free money. They blame our deficit on Democrats and cry that our children will be the ones paying it off. But the fact is, Republicans spend more money, create more debt, and lie about it. But, Republicans don’t talk about the national debt when they hold the White House. They never said anything about debt when Reagan, Bush, the other Bush, or Trump were in the White House but as soon as a Democrat enters, they’ll start howling about debt again.
So, you would think Republicans wouldn’t wanna talk about religion and act all pious when supporting the pussy-grabber-in-chief. But nope, they pretend like it’s business as usual. It’s like a Texas church preaching at you while the pastor is a pedophile.
You would also think they’d shut up about patriotism after trying to reinstall a president who lost the election. Coups and insurgencies by white nationalist terrorists are not patriotic.
Down in Louisiana, where I’m mostly from (it’s complicated), the Republican-controlled state legislature has passed a bill, which was signed into law by the Republican governor, that forces every public school in the state to post the Ten Commandments in every classroom.
These are the same zealots who proclaim themselves to be constitutionalists, but I think that only applies to guns.
The first clause in the Bill of Rights states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” It’s been interpreted ever since that the First Amendment requires the separation of church and state. I’m sure when this goes to court, Louisiana Republicans will claim it’s not Congress who did this, but a state legislature. They will claim this doesn’t violate the Constitution, but they’re wrong. They know they’re wrong. But what they also know is that we currently have a corrupt Supreme Court that often uses religious zealotry for its legal opinions. Recently, the right-wing idiots on the court used the Bible to allow Yeehaw states to ban abortions and a gun manual to bring back bump stocks which a mass shooter used to kill 60 people in Las Vegas.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said, “This bill mandates the display of the Ten Commandments in every classroom — public elementary, secondary and post-education schools — in the state of Louisiana, because if you want to respect the rule of law, you’ve got to start from the original lawgiver.”
But the thing is, there’s no universal agreement on who the “original lawgiver” is however, the state is forcing their religious opinion on every child who that “original lawgiver” is.
The Louisiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Freedom From Religion Foundation and other groups said in a joint statement Wednesday, “The First Amendment promises that we all get to decide for ourselves what religious beliefs, if any, to hold and practice, without pressure from the government. Politicians have no business imposing their preferred religious doctrine on students and families in public schools.”
If a politician can’t understand the separation of church and state, then they have no business imposing their religion on others. And these kids can’t choose to avoid it, whether they’re Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, a witch, a Satanist, Jedi, Swifites, or atheist. I at least can choose to slam the door on Jehovah’s Witnesses.
More hypocrisy comes in the fact that these Christians would never allow a document from another religion to be forced upon children in public schools.
But how can Republicans preach to children that they shouldn’t lie, steal, commit adultery, covet, etc, when they follow a person who could possibly be the anti-Christ? Aside from the grifting, the lies, the insurrection, this is a man who didn’t just cheat on all three of his wives but has bragged about cheating on his wife, bragged about “grabbing women by the pussy,” bragged about being able to crash dressing rooms for teenage girls, has been accused by 26 women of sexual assault, and has been determined by a court of law to be a rapist.
Here’s the deal, people: you can’t be a Jesus freak while being a Trump freak.
Visit Clay Jones’ website and email him at Clay@claytoonz.com.
