Alan Keyes Defends State-Level Theocracies
Baptist Press reported a couple of years ago on a speech by Alan Keyes:
Americans should demand that they be granted “what the tyranny of the courts has sought to wrest from us -- the freedom to live in communities that are governed by laws that reflect our beliefs,” Keyes said, adding that what a state does regarding religion is “none of the federal government’s business.”
“There might be states in which they require a religious test or oath of office,” he said. “There might be states in which they have established churches where subventions are given to schools and so forth to teach the Bible. There might be places where you and I might disagree with the religion some folks want to put in place over their ... community.”
With such a constitutional interpretation, Keyes acknowledged, Catholicism likely would dominate in the Northeast and Protestantism down South. With a growing Muslim population, a state could even have state-sanctioned Islamic symbols and schools. “I don’t think it would be likely, but it would be possible,” Keyes told Baptist Press. “It was intended that folks who were of a similar persuasion in terms of religion would be able to establish communities. That’s what the first colonialists to America did.”
Alan Keyes admits that it isn’t likely that any religion other than Christianity would be imposed on the public, but that doesn’t bother him. Perhaps it is because other religions might, in theory, come to dominate is what makes it OK. Perhaps it is because Alan Keyes doesn’t really want any other religions to dominate.
Whatever the reason, Alan Keyes wants an America where Christian churches dominate politics on all but the federal level — all laws and all social norms will be determined by whatever religious persuasion is in the majority. If you don’t like it, you can move. If you can’t find an American community that isn’t dominated by religion, I guess you can just leave the country.
Alan Keyes’ understanding of the Constitution is... well... let’s take a look:
When the First Amendment was passed, he noted, “there were a majority of states in the United States ... where there were religious tests” and there were “established churches.” If religious tests and established churches were unconstitutional, Keyes said, then they would have been abolished prior to the First Amendment’s passage. Such a state-sanctioned church would be sanctioned not by the federal government but instead by an individual state, he said.
What can a person say about such confused nonsense? First, such churches would not have been abolished prior the First Amendment — it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that it was only after the First Amendment was passed that there could even be an argument that established churches were unconstitutional.
Second, in light of the First Amendment, many states did begin disestablishing their churches.
Third and finally, none of the Bill of Rights were originally thought to apply to the state governments — Madison wanted them to, but in the end they didn’t.
The application of the Bill of Rights to state governments was a slow process. If Alan Keyes’ “theory” of constitutional interpretation were to dominate, no state governments would be required to obey any of the Bill of Rights — they could restrict religious freedom, they wouldn’t have to hold fair trials, they wouldn’t have to grant free speech, etc. That may be exactly what Alan Keyes wants for America — and since the above remarks were made at a rally in support of Judge Roy Moore, that wouldn’t surprise me in the least.
Stop for a minute and think about just how deep in the mire of authoritarianism America has sunk if a man like Alan Keyes can openly and proudly promote theocracy without being condemned and completely marginalized by the Republican Party. The fact that Alan Keyes is a still regarded as a “good” Republican should be sufficient evidence for anyone that the Republican Party no longer stands for traditional conservatism; instead, it’s being transformed into a part of radical, theocratic revolution.
Separation of Church & State:
- Separation of Church and State 101
- Secularism 101
- What is the Separation of Church and State?
- Religion's Place in the Public Square
- Myths About Church/State Separation
- Church and State News
- Church & State Polls
Christian & Religious Privilege:
- Religious Privilege
- Christian Privilege
- Hidden Christian Privileges
- Christian Supremacy
- Judge Roy Moore & the Ten Commandments
Christian Right & Christian Nationalism:
Christian Nationalism & Dominion Theology:
Comments
No comments yet. Leave a Comment