RELIGIOUS RIGHT R.I.P.

I'm glad to see some rationality coming back to the conservative Christians. You'd probably call me progressive, though I shun labels. There are no either/or sides in America, there is a spectrum. I would prefer no abortions, but I can't see myself forcing a woman to do what I want here to do, as far as telling her she cannot make that decision. I don't think late term abortions should be allowed. So I'm pro-choice, but have caveats. I'm sure there are many who would claim to be pro-life who would agree that forcing a 10 year old girl who was raped by her father or grandfather should not be forced to carry the baby to term. Sometimes the situation isn't all that black-and-white. I generally have the view of 'god' that Bill Maher does, and I know Bill Maher isn't very popular with conservatives. He just says he isn't sure, and that there is no other human being that has any special access to divine enlightenment that the rest of us don't have, even though many think they have the absolute truth. If I saw decisive evidence I would be walking the streets to lead people to the truth. I am glad to see and end to 'religious politics', though it isn't finished quite yet. I agree with Mr. Thomas that Jesus would prefer people live like him and lead by that example,than by seizing control of the government and forcing others to live like him. That is what Iran is. That is what the Taliban is. There has been a trend for the population to move away from religion in general in the U.S. Don't let that worry you. If you believe, you are entitled to live your life as you wish. Isn't that what America is about? If Christians or any other religious group starts to lose their freedom to worship who they wish I will join in the fight to help you hold your liberties and rights. Even if I don't believe exactly as you do on religion, you better believe we agree that in America Christians should be allowed to be Christians, Muslims allowed to be Muslims, and everyone else what they wish as long as they aren't harming others. Human beings will ALWAYS have disagreements and different life styles. From Thomas Jefferson, my favorite American. "An association of men who will not quarrel with one another is a thing which has never yet existed, from the greatest confederacy of nations down to a town meeting or a vestry." -Jefferson- "It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God." -Jefferson- "Power is not alluring to pure minds." America provides a place where those differences are allowed to exist. Speak your mind, worship your own way, and allow others the same. And don't fret. I'm a progressive and if there comes a moment where someone wants to do away with Christianity or ANY religion, I will be at your side, as will many others who may believe differently than you do. I promise. Payne

Religious conservatives better open up the Republican party to all of those that believe in liberal democracy, freedom and capitlism and quit trying to define the Repbulican party as the party of God. Our freedoms are protected by Republican conservative principles that are not defined by any god......socialism is the enemy of all freedom loving people regardless of religious belief. As Michael Steele has said....people do not like political parties that judge them. If you want to protect your religious beliefs.....join together with those of us that believe in freedom, democracy and capitalism! Separation of church and state is a good thing! TryLogic

Mr. Thomas is at it again, predicting the end of religious conservatism, decrying those who put too much faith politics and power . . . blah blah, you know the rest. I wonder - just who are these misguided Christians who have been so hoplessly ensnared by the lure of absolute power? Name names, because inquiring minds want to know. (All I did was vote for McCain. I'm not sure if that counts). Mr. Thomas seems to get a little depressed over Democrats controlling the White House. Last time that happened, he wrote "Blinded by Might." I agree with Jeff Y: it's not an either or thing and it has never been. I enjoy Mr. Thomas' columns and his perspective. But the "death of the religious right" thing just plays into the left's morbid fantasies of a public square minus religious conservatives. Sounds like a broken record to me. Time to upgrade to CDs or something . . .

You present a false dilemma, Cal. But there are more than two choices in this matter. One can work through the system, and still do it with a hear of servant-hood and not imposed legalism.Jesus looks at the heart of a believer, no matter through which medium one seeks to enact change. And unless forbidden in scripture, which civic activity is not, it can be done THROUGH Christ, though sincere prayer is ALWAYS a believer\'s first petition. But I wonder how one such as yourself, who is a POLITICAL columnist, who professes to follow Christ, can negate his own position by saying he should avoid political means. Have you thought through your position? If you had, perhaps you\'d abandon your column and go work in a soup kitchen.

For love of self and neighbor… I am discouraged that so far I have not been able to effectively promote awareness, and a corresponding public outcry, concerning the fact that the public college campus in America has been the arena where conservatives have been losing the battle to Christophobic “liberals” who have displaced Christ from our social consciousness and have been allowed to incrementally push their anti-Christian agenda/religion (a set of strongly-held beliefs, values, and attitudes that somebody lives by - Encarta Dictionary) on the mainstream of America. Perhaps due to a lack of awareness, not only have conservative-minded individuals not really even been contenders in this confrontation, but tragically, by our silence, continued tuition and fee payments, tax subsidies, and even philanthropic donations, we have actually been financing our adversaries and their anti-Christian agenda/religion that is militantly being promoted on public college campuses across the nation. In my experience and observation, I have noticed that ardent “liberals” do not compete fairly, and there is no one in this world that can enforce fair play since the spirit and prince of this world is pleased by deceitful actions that serve his devious mission; it is the only way that he can win. I have firsthand experience concerning this since in my dealing with two significant issues I have been confronted by a double standard in the application of the law and the enforcement of civil rights. It appears that it is the fulfillment of what has been foretold: And because iniquity shall abound, the love [the care for salvation of self and others] of many shall wax cold (Matthew 24:12). Truly then, the ultimate victory, with its superworldly and intransient reward, is in the actual struggle itself – “he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (Matthew 24:13). Therefore, for the glory of Christ God, we must become true athletes in the arena, answering the challenge that we are confronted with so that we may retain, for ourselves and for our children, the possibility of coming to the knowledge of the Truth and to one day perhaps be able to say: I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing (2 Timothy 4:7-8). The more recent of the significant issues that I have had to deal with, and which has prompted me to try and raise a grassroots awareness and response, involves the education of one of my daughters. On 9/2/08, my daughter, a high school valedictorian and college honors student, had no choice but to finally withdraw from attending one of New Jersey’s top-rated public colleges because, being an Orthodox Christian, she was different, and she could not become of one mind with the administration of this public college, which essentially insisted that, as a condition of enrollment, she participate financially in anti-Christian (against the teachings of Christ) campus activities via the mandatory student activity fee process. The college administration made no effort to work out a reasonable accommodation for my daughter’s special needs. Even though, as I see it, when taken to the extreme, as evidenced by my daughter’s situation, the Supreme Court has mistakenly ruled that public colleges are permitted to collect these mandatory student activity fees, nevertheless public colleges are NOT required to do this, and taxpayers across the nation should put a stop to this practice, which has the potential of infringing on the free exercise of religion (Orthodox Christianity is a lifestyle) and appears to be discriminatory, denying equal access to certain higher educational opportunities to those who, because of a religious or other sincerely held belief, cannot comply with a public college’s requirement to participate, financially or otherwise, in certain campus activities that are incompatible with their religion/way of life. If you are interested in specific details concerning our ordeal, please see my blog posts at: http://studentactivityfees.blogivists.com Please use password: Offensive Content - to access one of the posts that is password protected due to numerous quotes with objectionable content from the college’s official student newspaper. Conservative-minded taxpayers need to have as their primary focus the true love of self and neighbor, which is a requisite to at least give our future generations, our children, a fighting chance to be able to endure unto the end. Therefore, in order to prevent our opponents from continuing to rape the hearts and minds of our future generations, we need to get our defensive line off the sidelines and finally get involved in this ongoing battle that is taking place on college campuses across our nation. We need to put up a good offense by shining the light of truth on this crucial issue and exposing it for all to see: And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light... (Ephesians 5:11-13). And perhaps, if God so wills, we, the taxpayers, might even be victorious and be able to take back the nation’s public colleges and universities that belong to us, the general public, and whose will should be represented by these institutions of higher learning if they want to continue to receive our taxpayer subsidies. Otherwise, if we neglect the true love of self and neighbor, and therefore do not lay our foundation on this rock, anything else we do to try and rebuild the United States, back to its constitutional and freedom based greatness, will be a joke in the eyes of our adversary and for us an exercise in futility. I appreciate the opportunity to have been able to bring this concern to your attention, and I hope that you will help spread the word and resolve this issue for the altruistic benefits for humanity in general, as well as for my personal benefit; I still have two other children who would like to get a college education, and who would benefit from having equal access to the variety of higher public educational opportunities that should be available to them without their having to compromise their religious beliefs.