|
|
|
| Sunday, 14 August 2005 |
 |
|
 |
Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Walls separating religion and State breaking Critical issues by Lionel Yodhasinghe Moderate democrats in America point fingers directly at President Bush that he used Christianity as an election tool during his campaign to woo the traditional Christian vote bloc. Whether people go to church or not, majority Americans are Christians and what Democrats argue is that the wall built by America's founders to separate Christianity and State has now been broken by President Bush. Propagating a religion anywhere in the world would help to discipline people, to build peace and to create a better environment for the masses to live in unity and diversity. So the issue is not propagating religion but making governments out of religion. Although the genuine Christians promote religion innocently, fundamentalists could do harm to the society in the name of religion. As in many Third world countries, Sri Lanka too is facing an issue of unethical conversions, which has now become debatable in parliament. While conversion is being continued in the city as well as in the periphery people of other religious faiths and the genuine Christians too have become dismayed over it. Poverty, frustration, diseases and other social woes have become the driving forces behind this conversion. The JHU has proposed new legislation to stop unethical conversions saying it threatened other religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism. Sri Lankans would not worry about entire America getting converted to Christianity but what bothers them is the increase in number of dollars contributed by unsuspecting people throughout the world towards invisible forces behind these conversions. This trend would not stop in America but it would continue to spread into the other parts of the world consequently creating new religious crusades. Many countries lashed by poverty and other social problems including Sri Lanka have become easy ground for such groups to operate. American democrats fear that the spirit of democracy would gradually disappear from the land of its origin when governments are formed with religious allies that could influence the State, and they blame politicians for taking advantage of religion to win elections. Is the United States a Christian country? Not if you believe the Founding Fathers of the United States. Presidents George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Thomas Paine, and Benjamin Franklin argued for complete separation of Church and State. A recent survey shows nine out of ten Americans believe in God, and Bush took a different view of his predecessors, American moderates said. Bush used a moral character to approach conservative people where Kerry failed. He created a war in Iraq, got Sadam and launched war on terror to beat 'axis of evil' after 9\11 situation and imposed a situation for people to decide. And Bush was right, that even democrats in America thought that they should not change the leader at that crucial time. That is why Democratic Mayor of St.Paul Randy Kelly supported President Bush openly. Kelly says there is no secret behind the victory of George Bush. "He is a man of the masses, he is accessible and his moral qualities lure people towards him", Kelly said during our meeting with him in his St.Paul office. "One day I met him on an official matter, he enquired about my son standing behind me. Hey who is this young guy come and pose for a picture with me", Kelly was overwhelmed and lured to Bush's friendly gestures. Bush's victory was comprehensive. It leaves those who reflect upon the nature of America and its future with a very profound and serious question. Are these results indicative of a fundamental change in American political culture or is it merely the consequence of transitory factors such as the war on terror, a weak Democratic candidate and the manipulative skills of a Machiavellian genius - Karl Rove the political strategist behind the Bush campaign? Muqtedar Khan, a researcher writes on his study, The Rise of Political Christianity, in The Daily Times in Pakistan. "The rise of political Christianity, a coalition of white born again Christians, conservative Catholics, African Americans and Hispanics, is concerned with more than gay marriages and abortion rights. Political Christianity seeks to breach the wall of separation between the Church and State and wishes to make this country a Christian nation. America has been experiencing nativist Christian resurgence that is both self-righteous and untraditional". George W. Bush has returned to the White House on these nativist fears. He is probably convinced that God is firmly in his corner and his mission to "save America" is indeed divine. He is going to charge into battle against dragons overseas and wrestle monsters at home. By George! America will be born again, pure and Christian, Khan added. A recent U.S. Census Bureau projection shows that the nation's Hispanic and Asian populations will triple in size over the next half century, while the population of white Americans will decrease by 19 percent. The estimates, which are projected through 2050, show that as early as 2010 the minority population will have grown to 110 million out of a total 309 million. The projection shows the white and minority population eventually balancing out to an almost 50/50 status. The Census Bureau projects that the Latino population will grow to 103 million by 2050, a threefold increase from the 2000 figure of 36 million. According to the Census Bureau, the terms "Hispanic" and "Latino" are only in reference to ethnicity, but not race. Because of this, Hispanics have identified their race as being white in previous census data. Researchers see this as a problem down the line, where it could skew data and not promote "clear" projections. By 2050 "minority" groups will comprise 49.9 percent of the U.S. population of more than 420 million people. Today whites are 69 percent of the population, but in 45 years that percentage will shrink to just over 50 per cent. White birth rates and immigration numbers continue to drop while the Hispanic population in the United States will explode by 188 per cent by mid-century to about 103 million people - nearly a quarter of the nation. This trend would also be an excuse for fundamentalists to work on converting more people of other faiths to Christianity as majority new migrating Americans are from other faiths. However, besides Institutes like Free Market Foundation with headquarters in Dallas which is openly raising a voice for Christianity in US, no other funding agencies operate publicly to finance religious fundamentalist movements engaged in unethical conversions in the US or in any other part of the world. Next: Stroll on rustic Wisconsin Roads |
|
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Produced by Lake House |
