Response to M. Tovey

Submitted by Geoffrey Sherwood (United States), Nov 23, 2007 at 00:29

Very few Christians have ever had a functioning moral compass. From the countless religious wars throughout Europe's history, to American Christians who supported slavery for generations, to modern-era Christians who have supported needless slaughters in Korea, Vietnam, and now Iraq, far too many Christians have supported actions that are just as immoral as any conducted by practioners of other religions or by those with no religious beliefs.

Our Founding Fathers lived in a time when religious wars, and religious tyranny were fresh memories. They understood that government-supported religion was just as dangerous and potentially tyrannical as any monarchy. That is why they had the foresight to build institutional safeguards to minimize the religious infection of our government institutions. They understood far better than modern-day Americans the plague-like nature of religious fanaticism, and the ignorance and intolerance that religion promotes.

Few American Christians have possessed the moral fiber to make the effort to lift the blinders from American eyes, and expose the myth that America has been a neutral broker in historical negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians. Americans, for the most part, are completely ignorant of our disgraceful record in the Middle East, failing to oppose illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories, failing to speak out when we helped to topple a democratically elected government in Iran (that of Mossadegh's).

Failing to speak out, and take a moral stance, when we were supporting Saddam Hussein in his war of aggression against Iran. Failing to speak out when we continued to support Saddam even after he had gassed the Kurds. How can American Christians have the gall to complain about the elimination of Christianity from government when they have never shown the moral rectitude to stand up for justice? Who in their right mind would ever trust a Christian (or Jew or Muslim, for that matter) to do the right thing on the world stage?

Tell me where exactly we can find this moral compass that American Christians are rumored to possess?

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