You can Believe our Founding Fathers, or you can Believe the Teapublicans

When it comes to Church/State matters, you pretty much have to pick one or the other. That’s because the Fathers of our Country explicitly said that religion would have no role in our government. None. Zip Nada. Teapublicans think that their particular variety of Fundagelical Christian religion is what should run the country.

Example Number A: The Founders wrote in the Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Pretty unambiguous, innit? On the other hand, Teavangelical Michelle Bachmann says that our secular government is going to destroy the world, and “Christians” like her need to revolt and take over the nation:

Former Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN) predicted in a recent interview that President Barack Obama’s handling of the Middle East was a sign of the End Times and that Jesus Christ would soon return to Earth.
“If we actually turn our back on Israel as we have seen Barack Obama do today, if that happens then I think we will see a scale and a level of push back in the United States, negative consequences,” Bachmann told Understanding the Times radio host Jan Markell on Sunday. “I don’t know what they are, but I believe that the Bible is true. And believe what the Bible says is that our nation and the people of our nation will reap a whirlwind, and we could see economic disasters, natural disasters.”
“The United States does not want to be in that position and unfortunately the people put into office Barack Obama,” she opined. “Not only once, but twice. And the people have to rise up against his actions and demand that their leaders take steps accordingly.”

Example Letter 2: We have the words of John Adams: “As the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion…The United States is not a Christian nation any more than it is a Jewish or a Mohammedan nation.” Or you can pick those of the Texas Teapubbie who refuses to speak to non-Teavangelicals:

State Rep. Molly White (R-Belton) has proposed legislation that would allow businesses to refuse to serve customers on religious grounds. The first-year Republican lawmaker has also proposed legislation seeking to make the state’s ban on same-sex marriage immune from court rulings.

“Marriage is a Holy union of one man and one woman created and ordained by God. There is no other definition. As a Christian, I am guided by God’s Word,” she explained in a statement.

Thirdly: you can listen to the words of Thomas Jefferson:
“No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burdened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities”. Or you can listen to Teapublican Presidential candidate Marco Rubio try to explain why it’s OK to discriminate based on religion.

And let’s not even start on the Teabagging school nurse who threw a sick kid out of the clinic for not being religious. Yes. Screamed at the child, refused to treat the child, abused the child, all because the Nurse claimed it was her Christian right to act thusly. (Yes, the pun on “Christian Right” was deliberate.)

Gentle Reader, we all must follow the law. Even if we don’t like it, we gotta obey it. We can’t even say “end the debate over church and state”, because there isn’t a debate to be had. The Constitution says what it says, and the intent of the law is clear, because the men who wrote it said so, clearly and repeatedly.

Church and State MUST remain separate. The minute they aren’t, America will cease to be America.