Columnist Karen Gardner: What kind of nation are we?

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Published: 04-09-2024 7:31 PM

Modified: 04-14-2024 11:09 PM

By KAREN GARDNER

Did you know that the Founders of our great nation wrote these words: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”?

Isn’t that amazing? That’s the first line of the First Amendment to the Constitution. It was ratified as part of the Bill of Rights in 1791. Those men — and there were only men, white men, of course, allowed to participate in these decisions — knew all too well that a government based on one religion conflicted with their ideas for what a democracy should be.

Yes, those men believed in a god, no doubt a Christian god, but they decided not to define who that god was and to which religion that god was attached. The idea was that the government should not be dictating how its citizens worship.

Those words in the Constitution make it very clear that our nation was not founded on any particular religious belief: not Christianity, not Judaism, not Islam, not Hinduism, not Buddhism, to name just a few, and not even on the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. This last one really does exist and refers to its believers as Pastafarians. It is an example of how our country does not need to be made great again, as it already is. Our people are free to worship as they please, and that’s just as it should be.

But unfortunately, there are those who believe otherwise. It’s the Make America Great Again people, who believe that America was once a Christian nation and that made it great. But now we’ve somehow stepped away from that greatness and stopped being the Christian nation that we never were. So, they believe, we must rip out those parts of our Constitution and rewrite them back to where they never existed.

And leading the charge is the former guy, the famous adulterer, financial fraudster, sexual predator, insurrectionist, and serial liar. Let me clarify that last statement. I don’t think the former guy cares at all about religion or our Constitution. His beliefs are squarely centered on amassing power, enriching himself financially, and garnering the adoration of his fans through whatever means necessary, lawful or not.

To accomplish that, he has surrounded himself with people who have promised to keep his butt out of jail and place it back into the Oval Office. All he has to do is promote their religious agenda on issues like same-sex marriage, women’s health rights, trans rights, and more.

Earlier this year, the former guy shared a video on his Truth Social platform that quite graphically states that he was chosen by God to return our poor country to prosperity. A priestly voice starts out with these words: “And on 14 June 1946, God looked down on his planned paradise and said: ‘I need a caretaker.’ “So God gave us Trump.”

As terrifying as that statement is, I decided to consider what that might mean. Was Trump chosen by God? Maybe he thinks he is God. Back at the Republican Party convention in July 2016 when he became that party’s presidential nominee, he told the crowd, “I am your voice” and “I alone can fix it.” This was coming from the mouth of a man who had never held elected office, so had absolutely no experience fixing anything remotely like what needed fixing in our nation.

Perhaps now he’s just taken a step back from being a god to just being the chosen one, anointed by God.

Remember that time back in 2020 when he ordered military and police officers to clear a park in Washington, D.C. of nonviolent racial justice protesters, and then he strolled across the street to stand in front of a church while clutching a Bible?

Now, just in time for Easter, the former guy isn’t just clutching a Bible, he’s been selling them. Named the God Bless The USA Bible, you get his official version for a mere $59.99. It contains not only the Bible, but also the words of Lee Greenwood’s song of the same name, along with the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the Pledge of Allegiance! Who could ask for more?

We all know that this is the Christian Bible that he’s repurposed for himself and that it is the Christian God that he wants us to believe has tapped him to save us. And conflating the religious teachings of one particular religion with our most sacred founding documents goes against the words of the First Amendment of our Constitution that I mentioned above.

We are not a Christian nation with its tenets built into our government, nor have we ever been. We are a nation that was founded on respect for all religions, a nation of many differing beliefs and practices. And, of course, that includes the religion based on the teachings of Jesus Christ.

As Eugene Robinson pointed out in the Washington Post last week: “Toward the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus does give a warning that could not be more relevant as Trump seeks to regain power: ‘Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.’”

Our democracy and way of life is in grave danger should Donald Trump be allowed to return to the White House. The people and organizations supporting his campaign want this nation to become a theocracy, a nation based on one religion that will dictate through him what we can and cannot do and say based on that one religion’s teachings. What the Founders wrote in the Constitution will no longer matter.

Karen Gardner of Haydenville can be reached at opinion@gazettenet.com.