Not Another Religious Test!?

Dear Professor Niebuhr

I wish you a wonderful Easter 2008!

Soja John Thaikattil
Sydney, Australia

Mr. Niebuhr,

Your use of the phrase "religious test" is a bit overblown isn't it? A religious test would be for the gov't to require you to swear that you are of a certain religion in order to allow you to take office. We're not there yet. There is nothing in the constitution that requires individual citizen voters to use or not use religion as their criteria for selecting a particular candidate. In fact, we have the right to use any criteria we want. We can be ignorant of history, ignorant of foreign policy, ignorant of the candidates proposals even, much less the impact they might have and we still have the right to cast that vote. We can dismiss someone because of their skin color, or their accent or anything else and we don't even have to make up a decent reason if we don't want to, we won't be locked up for it. It's ironic isn't it, that we have a system free from a religious test, but we use our freedom of the secret ballot to implement something that looks a lot like a religious test?

http://YES,Come-iN:-WELCOME-To-YOUR-NEW-HOME!

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Mr. Niebuhr in a country where 80% of the population claims some sort of religious affiliation there will always be some sort of religious test. It may not always be public but it most certainly be applied in the privacy of each believer's heart. When he steps into the voting booth.

Were it not for his twenty year relationship with Pastor Wright it wouldn't and shouldn't matter what Pastor Wright says. However he was associated with him for twenty years and you can certainly see some traces of the impact of Pastor wright's sermons in what Michelle Obama has said.

The only difference between Pastor Wright and the Grand Dragon of the KKK is the color of the skin of the people they hate and despise.

There are certain topics I never discuss with certain friends. Religion with one friend--who is a religious nut, we never go there cause always fight. Politics with another friend, who is a anti-gov nut, we never go there cause we always fight.

So why do we expect our polititians to go there?
O'm starting to think the media WANTS a fight, so they take us there.

Blacks need to start taking some personal responsibility for high rate of high school drop out, sexual promiscuity, children born out of wedlock, , absence of male parenting/role models, drugs, crime, incarceration, AIDS, and lack of personal responsibility instead of playing the victim hood game and blaming everyone else for their plight! Until that time there will always be hate mongers & race baiter,s to use them and profit from their plight like the Rev. Wright, Rev. Jessie Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton as well as 10,s of thousands of White and Black Politicians. In fact the whole Democrat party! Hands outs, instead of a hand up, is the means of keeping Blacks down and economic Slaves! Keeping Blacks as an race of victims instead of a race of achievers is in the best interest of Black preachers and Democrat politicians! Blacks will never be lead to the promise land by hate mongering Preachers like Rev. Wright or by bottom feeding Politician that wants and works to keep Blacks in the Ghetto on Welfare, and voting Democrat!

" WaitMinute:

You may not agree your friend. But if your friend is a racist and hate America from his heart, do you still want him be your friend, mentor, .. for 20 years?"

Good point.

It's not hard to understand the basis of Rev. Wright's "racism". When your ancestors have been enslaved, raped, beaten, murdered, and lynched, it's not hard. When your ancestors are counted as three-fifths a person, it's not hard. When you are forced to ride the back of the bus, enter through the back door, walk to a one room shack to attend school while white children ride past you on school buses to brick schoolhouses, it's not hard. When you are beaten while trying to vote, it's not hard. When you are denied, scorned, and belittled because your skin is brown, IT'S NOT HARD.

You may not agree your friend. But if your friend is a racist and hate America from his heart, do you still want him be your friend, mentor, .. for 20 years?