"Restoring this great country to it's Christian basis, as intended by the Founding Fathers," or some such. What I saw was a clear violation of the First Amendment.
You realize that has no connection whatsoever with the First Amendment, right?
If it means anything at all.
Appropriate section of the First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;"
How does planning to run the country according to "it's Christian basis, as intended by the Founding Fathers," NOT qualify as a violation? Seems like a clear cut violation of both the Establishment Clause AND the Free Exercise Clause to me.
There's a LOT in their platform that I can agree with, and plenty that I am neutral on. However, continued references to the "Christian origin of our nation" and the "Biblical foundations" of our country raise my hackles. From their current platform:
(Preamble) "This great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. "
"The goal of the Constitution Party is to restore American jurisprudence to its Biblical foundations ..."
"The U.S. Constitution established a Republic rooted in Biblical law, ..."
(Sanctity Of Life) "The pre-born child, whose life begins at fertilization, is a human being created in God's image." (Note: I further disagree with this entire section as being any business of a civil government - I'm trying to stay focused on the religious aspects, which I find most inappropriate for a civil government, or an organization seeking power in same)
(Education) "All teaching is related to basic assumptions about God and man. Education as a whole, therefore, cannot be separated from religious faith. The law of our Creator assigns the authority and responsibility of educating children to their parents."
(Family) "The law of our Creator defines marriage as the union between one man and one woman. The marriage covenant is the foundation of the family, and the family is fundamental in the maintenance of a stable, healthy and prosperous social order. No government may legitimately authorize or define marriage or family relations contrary to what God has instituted. "
"[We] affirm the rights of states and localities to proscribe offensive sexual behavior."
(Gambling) "Gambling promotes an increase in crime, destruction of family values, and a decline in the moral fiber of our country. "
(The Judiciary) "We particularly support all the legislation which would remove from Federal appellate review jurisdiction matters involving acknowledgement of God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, or government."
(Pornography (entire section)) "Pornography, at best, is a distortion of the true nature of sex created by God for the procreative union between one man and one woman in the holy bonds of matrimony, and at worst, is a destructive element of society resulting in significant and real emotional, physical, spiritual and financial costs to individuals, families and communities. We call on our local, state and federal governments to uphold our cherished First Amendment right to free speech by vigorously enforcing our laws against obscenity to maintain a degree of separation between that which is truly speech and that which only seeks to distort and destroy.
With the advent of the Internet and the benevolent neglect of the previous administrations, the pornography industry enjoyed uninhibited growth and expansion until the point today that we live in a sex-saturated society where almost nothing remains untainted by its perversion. While we believe in the responsibility of the individual and corporate entities to regulate themselves, we also believe that our collective representative body we call government plays a vital role in establishing and maintaining the highest level of decency in our community standards."
The section on Welfare skates close to the edge, IMO, but not over the line, as it deals more with the message that can be learned from Christian teachings and the Bible on charity, rather than proposal of imposition of religiously-themed restrictions on people.
Ironically, I have no quibbles whatsoever with ANYTHING they say in the section on Religious Freedom. Wish the rest of the platform was as good, religiously-speaking.
Does that articulate my concerns any better for you, Fistful?
Because of their religious-themed imposition of "moral correctness" on matters which are no one's legitimate concern but those personally involved, and their continued insistence that our nation and government are "properly" Christian in nature, I cannot in good conscience support the so-called Constitution Party. A pity, as it seems like it's run by Christian-fundamentalist versions of Ron Paul, from a pass through their platform.
Don't misunderstand me - you want to be a Christian, even an evangelical Christian? You - personally - go right ahead. When my GOVERNMENT wants to be Christian (Jewish/Muslim/Zoroastrian/insert-religion-of-choice), or when someone wanting to become said government does so, THAT'S when I start to get a little nervous.
