15th December 2008
“It does not follow that the theology of a few should be allowed to forestall the health and well-being of the many.”
“It does not follow that the theology of a few should be allowed to forestall the health and well-being of the many.”
December 15th, 2008 at 7:39
I agree completely. I hope nobody minds if I provide one of my own. Here’s a good one from Barry Goldwater. If more republicans espoused this kind of thinking they might get a few votes next time around:
“However, on religious issues there can be little or no compromise.
There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious
beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than
Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme
being. But like any powerful weapon, the use of God’s name on one’s
behalf should be used sparingly. The religious factions that are
growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with
wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following
their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups
on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a
loss of money or votes or both. I’m frankly sick and tired of the
political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if
I want to be a moral person, I must believe in ‘A,’ ‘B,’ ‘C,’ and ‘D.’
Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to
claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me? And I am even
more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every
religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my
vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today:
I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their
moral convictions to all Americans in the name of ‘conservatism.’ “
December 15th, 2008 at 7:58
Ron Jr. sure could have taught his dad a thing or two.
I love that quote from Goldwater. Every time I’ve read it makes me wish I was there able to come to his aid.
Furthermore, as I tell my friends, I don’t just think we just need a seperation of church and state, what we need is a seperation of church and planet.
December 15th, 2008 at 10:34
Ronald Reagan?
When did he say this?
Is this the same man who was saying when he was president that Darwinian science was “only a theory”?
December 15th, 2008 at 15:17
Terence,
That’s Ronald Reagan’s son. I saw the Jr and had to look it up in Wikipedia. Wikiquote has a few more gems from him:
I would be unelectable. I’m an atheist. As we all know, that is something people won’t accept.
If you are going to call yourself a Christian—and I don’t—then you have to ask yourself a fundamental question, and that is: Whom would Jesus torture? Whom would Jesus drag around on a dog’s leash? How can Christians tolerate it? It is unconscionable. It has put our young men and women who are over there, fighting a war that they should not have been asked to fight— it has put them in greater danger.
Nef
December 15th, 2008 at 15:20
It’s his son, Ronald Reagan Jr. He and others in the family have become supporters of stem cell research, having seen the effects of Alzheimers on Ronald Reagan Senior. There’s a certain amount of irony in this.
December 15th, 2008 at 15:23
The quote is not from Ron Reagan the president, it is from his son Ron Jr., delivered to the Democratic National Convention in Boston, MA in July of 2004. He was speaking in favor of stem cell research. He thought it was a medical breakthrough and some religious folks were stopping the scientists from moving forward. Hence the quote about the health and well-being of others!
My aunt is very religious and dead set against stem cell research. When I asked her to articulate her opinions, she explained that her preacher had explained where stem cells come from.
He had told the congregation of non-scientific but high-moral folks, that doctors deliver a baby, then slice it’s back open, to get at the stem cells located in the spine of the newly arrived child, killing it in the process.
I proceeded to tell her the truth, and showed her white papers and research papers I retrieved from the Internet. The good thing is, it was one more chance for me to prove that religious leaders are willing to lie and deceive in order to advance their agendas. And, my aunt now understands that her preacher does not always have her best interest at heart and would use her and her friends for his personal beliefs.
😉