When I saw a link to the RightWingWatch.org website show up on a social networking site that I use to keep in touch with friends across the country, my first response was to shake my head in disbelief that one of my friends had posted yet another link filled with political diaper-filling. Then I looked again and saw that in this case, I was being blamed (at least in part) for a laundry list of issues that all the citizens of the United States of America are facing.
First off, let me be blunt. I have absolutely zero problems with the vast majority of Christian believers in this country or around the world. They are completely free to worship as they feel drawn to do. I only ask that my family and I be acknowledged as having the same freedom. This is a right that some Christians in the United States feel that I, as a ‘Pagan’, along with members of religions like Islam should not have. It does not matter to this particular type of Christian that the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the US Constitution has been understood to protect the rights of this entire nation’s people to be free to worship as they choose or that strictly speaking, even the right to have NO religion is protected.
I will fully admit that our country is facing a lot of difficulties at this particular moment in time. We are in danger of defaulting on our public debt. We are fighting in multiple theaters of action around the world. We have rampant unemployment. We have socially controversial issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion becoming increasingly polarized. In short, times are tough. When Texas Governor Rick Perry decided that it would be a good idea to have a prayer rally to ask for divine aid through this minefield, many people were far from surprised. The problem is that this is a self-described “non-denominational, apolitical Christian prayer meeting” (http://theresponseusa.com/faq.php) and there is apparently no room at the table for persons of any OTHER religion.
At this point it should come as no surprise that many of the supporters of this rally are from the group of Christians that are called “Fundamentalists” or “Evangelicals” as there are a large number of people who identify with this viewpoint in the state of Texas. What unfortunately is also not a surprise to a lot of people is that many of the supporters of this rally are among the type of religious leader that even Conservative icon Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) during his 2008 bid for the US Presidency had to publicly reject because of the radical things they had said and, in doing so, made clear that their views were "crazy and unacceptable" as well as "deeply offensive and indefensible" and stated that "there is no place for that kind of dialogue in America” (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/22/mccain-rejects-hagee-endo_n_103143.html)
What makes these supporters so much of an issue for me when I do not live in Texas? It is simple. I am someone who follows a “Pagan” religion AND Pastor John Hagee (who is an official endorser of Gov. Perry’s rally) has PUBLICLY STATED at last year’s Word Explosion Conference (http://www.god.tv/node/2064) in Tulsa, Oklahoma the following:
“America right now has its fist in the face of God and in the name of pluralism we are honoring paganism coast to coast in this nation.
“You want to know what drives environmentalism in America? Paganism, paganism, this is exactly what Paul spoke about in Romans. And Paul said, when a generation does this I will give them over to a reprobate mind, they will believe a lie and they as a generation will be damned. Let me say this to you very clearly and those of you watching over the internet: There is one God in this book, it is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Allah is not God, Buddha is not God, Mary is not God, Mary Baker Eddy is not God, birds, animals and bugs are not God, Jehovah God is the God of all Gods. He is a jealous God, and He demands that He be the Lord of all or not at all!
We have allowed the worship of Satanism in the U.S. military, most Americans are not aware of that, and we wonder why it takes us ten years to defeat our weak enemies as Moses said in Deuteronomy 28. How is it that in World War II we whipped the world in four years and now we’re bogged down in one lingering war after another that does nothing but rape our economy and kill our young men? Why? Maybe the God of Heaven is not with us. He says when you accept another God, I leave. I’m either the only Lord, or you’re on your own. That means stop voting for pagans and putting them in public office”
Imagine my surprise, or lack thereof, that Pastor Hagee is saying that the religion claimed by 81.2% of US citizens has been consistently voting into office members of a group of religions that combined equal about o.8% of US citizens if you combine “ethno-religionists” (who usually worship the Gods of a particular ethnic group) and “neo-religionists” (who follow some of the ‘newer’ religions such as Modern Wicca) (http://www.thearda.com/internationalData/countries/Country_234_2.asp) AND that these people are the ones who are responsible for this nation’s problems.
We faced something like this in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 and again during the “Red Scare” of the 1950’s. During both of these periods, the ones getting the blame were the ones least likely to actually have caused the issues they were blamed for. Somehow I fail to see how people who advocate environmental responsibility or who advocate the First Amendment are by definition NOT Christian when many Christian congregations do both. We can ill afford to allow religious exclusion to become the default position in our country if we actually truly hope to fix the issues we face. People of all religious viewpoints are affected by these issues and it will take people of all religious viewpoints to fix them.
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