This Week In God: Southern Love, More Prejudice, Catholics In Trouble

[marmar]

via AlterNet's PEEK:



This Week In God: Southern Love, More Prejudice, Catholics In Trouble

Posted by Steve Benen, Washington Monthly at 10:28 AM on January 31, 2009.

A look at what the religious right has been up to this week.



Mary Jane Gallagher, Robin Summers National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association
First up from the God Machine this week is an interesting report from Gallup, measuring religiosity on a state-by-state basis.

There are a number of ways to measure the relative religiosity of population segments. For the current ranking, Gallup uses the responses to a straightforward question that asks: "Is religion an important part of your daily life?" The rankings are based on the percentage of each state's adult (18 and older) population that answers in the affirmative.

The United States is generally a religious nation, although the degree of this religiosity varies across states and regions of the country. A robust 65% of all Americans (across the entire U.S. population) reported in 2008 that religion was important in their daily lives.

Looking at the results, the top 10 most religious states are all in the South, with Mississippi the most religious (85% of state residents said religion is an important part of their daily lives). Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Arkansas were close behind. Rounding out the rest of the top 10 were Georgia, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and Texas.

On the other end of the spectrum, the least religious state in the nation is Vermont, with 42% of state residents saying religion is an important part of their daily lives. Indeed, every state in New England offered similar results, with New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts rounding out the top four for least religious states. Rhode Island and Connecticut weren't far behind, and Pacific-coast states -- Oregon, Washington, and Alaska -- were also in the mix.

Analyzing the results, Gallup noted, among other things, "differing 'state cultures' that are themselves associated with life approaches that give varying degrees of credence to religion as a guiding force."

Also from the God Machine this week:



* A California appeals court ruled this week that a private Christian high school can expel students based on nothing but sexual orientation. I wonder what would have happened if the school accepted public funds through a voucher program.

* Speaking of California, federal authorities launched an investigation this week into the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles to see whether leading church officials "tried to cover up the sexual abuse of minors by priests." The Wall Street Journal added, "The investigation is still in its early, fact-gathering stage, and it isn't known whether any criminal charges will result."

* And speaking of Roman Catholicism, Pope Benedict XVI has caused a bit of an uproar this week: "Pope Benedict XVI has lifted the excommunications of four traditionalist bishops, including that of a Holocaust denier whose rehabilitation sparked outrage among Jewish groups. The four bishops were excommunicated 20 years ago after they were consecrated by the late ultraconservative Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre without papal consent -- a move the Vatican said at the time was an act of schism."

* Yes, it is possible for Ted Haggard's sex scandal(s) to get even worse.

* President Obama named Joshua DuBois, a 26-year-old Pentecostal pastor and political strategist who handled religious outreach for the presidential campaign, to head the revamped and reorganized White House Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

* Focus on the Family hired a new D.C. lobbyist this week, picking up Timothy Goeglein, who is best known for having served as the Bush's White House's liaison to the religious right community. Goeglein was forced to resign after getting caught regularly plagiarizing material for a newspaper column he used to write.


http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/124341/this_week_in_god%3A_southern_love%2C_more_prejudice%2C_catholics_in_trouble/

[CurtEastPoint]

1. WHY on earth do all these doughboy Repubs look like goody-two-shoes??

Could be Ralph Reed's twin.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

4. What's really weird is that lots of them later turn out to be gay and sign up for...

those anti-gaying religious programs, to de-gay themselves.

Republicans as a group seriously need psychological treatment.

[RJ Connors]

2. I was hoping President Obama would get rid of the Faith Based Office

since it has no legitimise in American government.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

5. On the other hand, he's selected a 26 yr old black guy who has nothing to do with....

the gigantic white mega-churches that did nothing but serve as PACs for Repukes.

[RJ Connors]

8. And I suppose that is O.K., but it still does not diminish the fact

that the whole office is illegitimate and unconstitutional.

This is not the first time America has been down this road with the theocrates. James Madison confronted the same problem in 1811 and dealt with it swiftly and decisively as should be the case now.

On February 21, 1811, Congress tried to get President James Madison--"Father of the Constitution" and cochairman of the six member joint Senate-House conference committee which worded the final draft of the religion clauses of the First Amendment--to sign a proposed law which violated the constitutional principle of separation between religion and government by authorizing a "religious establishment," in this case a single Episcopal church, to become a "legal agency" for "carrying into effect a public and civil duty." In other words, the federal government would approve its legal incorporation, including specifics of its organization. Madison vetoed the proposed bill: (1) "Because" it violated the constitutional prohibition against Congress making laws "respecting an establishment of religion," "exceeds the rightful authority to which governments are limited by the essential distinction between civil and religious functions," and would, therefore, "be a religious establishment by law"; and, (2) "Because" it legally vested in "an incorporated church an authority to provide for the support of the poor and the education of poor children of the same, an authority which, being altogether superfluous if the provision is to be the result of pious charity , would be a precedent for giving to religious societies as such a legal agency in carrying into effect a public and civil duty" (Writings of James Madison, 8:132-133).

On February 28, 1811, Congress tried to get President Madison to sign a proposed law which would establish a precedent and principle by which public property (land) could be given to "a religious establishment." President Madison said such a law was unconstitutional: (1) "Because" it "comprises a principle and precedent for the appropriation of funds of the United States for the use and support of religious societies," and (2) it violated the provision of the Constitution which forbid Congress from making laws respecting "an establishment of religion," in this case a single Baptist Church (Writings, 8:133). Madison said, in regard to the specific Baptist church in Kentucky, it was not constitutional to establish by law a legal precedent for giving public property or funds to an institution of (faith-based) religion.

Source: http://www.sunnetworks.net/~ggarman/faithbased.html

Search: http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHMZ_enUS300US303&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=madison+faith+based+government

I agree with Madison. It was it unconstitutional in 1811 and is unconstitutional now and should be done away with. Such bartering and compromising of the Constitution is dangerous for America.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

9. Yes, but remember, a large proportion of Americans are incredibly stupid.....

and they go for that sort of thing.

One of the nicest things about living in Europe is that religion plays NO PART WHATSOEVER in politics.

You'd think the same thing would apply here, but I think people here are so desperate they latch on to God to help them in their miserable lives, so they're obsessed with religion. Ergo the faith-based bullshit.

[pleah]

3. Not surprised about MS,

Having lived down here for 20 years, I can tell you without a doubt that at least half the 85% are complete and total hypocrites.

[NC_Nurse]

6. Dammit! Why are all the least religious states so COLD! I'd love to get away

from all the bible thumpers down here (I'm in GA at the moment). But I don't want to freeze my Southern ASS OFF!

[safeinOhio]

7. Come on up

Just take up some winter activities. You'll love it. You'll even love the warmer months more.