Our Founding Fathers
Sometimes I wonder what our founding
fathers would think if they could hop out of their graves and tune in to
our presidential electioneering. Following in the steps of George W, our
infamous “Compassionate Conservative,” candidates across the board
seem to feel a need to establish their religious bona fides. Of course,
Mike Huckabee doesn’t have to establish them; he is a religionist—a
Baptist preacher. His fellow Republican, John McCain, has been careful to
note his Episcopalian affiliation but is happy to share the podium with
Pastor John Hagee, a mega-church pastor who unabashedly attacks
homosexuals and Catholics. Our friend Hillary speaks freely of her
Methodist youth background and its importance in shaping her political
agenda while Barack Obama, contrary to the claims of the rumor mill that
he’s a Muslim, is actually a member of the United Church of Christ—the
only major Protestant denomination that officially accepts gays and
lesbians into their clergy.
My interest in the religious political
scene was recently piqued when I read an article in the Express Gay News
by Lester Leavitt, a seventh generation Mormon and author of Forbidden
Friends: Memoirs of a Mixed–Orientation Marriage. Leavitt began his
article with a quote from John Leland, a colonial Baptist preacher who was
a strong advocate of separation of church and state. Both Madison and
Jefferson were among Leland’s friends and he is credited with helping
them frame the first amendment to the United States Constitution—the
amendment which enshrines religious freedom in our country.
In researching Leland I was delighted to
find this quote from his July 5, 1802 oration. “Guard against those men
who make a great noise about religion, in choosing representatives. It is
electioneering. If they knew the nature and worth of religion, they would
not debauch it to such shameful purposes. If pure religion is the
criterion to denominate candidates, those who make a noise about it must
be rejected; for their wrangle about it proves that they are void of
it.” I love that— “…their wrangle about it proves they are void of
it.”
Shakespeare made the same point in Hamlet
when Queen Gertrude told Hamlet, “The lady doth protest too much,
methinks.” That quote now is most frequently heard as, “Methinks thou
dost protest too loudly.” Political candidates or anyone else who feels
the need to establish their credentials through blatant assertion or
through blathering protest should be rejected. Senator Larry Craig of the
Minneapolis airport men’s room fame immediately comes to mind.
Repeatedly he protested, “I’m not gay. I’m not gay.” Well,
frankly, who gives a crap? The fact that he felt the need to protest so
vociferously speaks for itself.
More recently Sally Kern, a Baptist
minister’s wife and an Oklahoma state Represen-tative said, “I’m not
gay bashing. But according to God’s word that is not the right kind of
lifestyle.” She was referring to her earlier remarks that “‘the
homosexual agenda is just destroying this nation and poses a bigger threat
to the U.S. than terrorism or Islam.” In attempting to clarify her
remarks she said, “I was talking about an agenda. I was not talking
about individuals. They have the right to choose that lifestyle. They do
not have the right to force it down our throats.”
Regrettably, and ignorantly, Mrs. Kern sees
being gay as a chosen lifestyle. I’m one of the millions of gay and
lesbian Americans who have energetically tried in my younger days to make
other choices, including religious ones, before accepting the fact that
whatever force created me created my sexuality as well. Also regrettably
she demonstrates her lack of faith in the democratic system if she feels
her supposed gay agenda, or any other agenda, will be forced down her
throat. Whatever happened to “…government of the people, by the people
and for the people?” Perhaps that concept hasn’t taken hold in
Okalahoma as yet. Then again, her stance is no surprise from someone who
feels that her individual reading and interpretation of “God’s word”
is a universal religious truth and that her God is the one that all
Americans worship.
This brings me back to John Leland. The
quote that Lester Leavitt used to start his Express article was, “The
liberty I contend for is more than toleration. The very idea of toleration
is despicable; it supposes that some have pre-eminence above the rest to
grant indulgence, where as all should be equally free —Jews, Turks,
Pagans and Christians.” The thrust of Leavitt’s article is that
“Tolerance is not enough,” and Leavitt and Leland are right.
As a public school student in the ‘30s
and ‘40s I was taught to tolerate Jews and blacks and those who were
different from me. But as a gay senior I want more than tolerance. I want
the equality that Leland espoused, not the second class citizenship of
civil unions and domestic partnerships. My guess is that if Leland,
Madison, Jefferson, and the rest of the founding fathers could have a
momentary resurrection and a peek at our current political process
they’d gratefully go back to six-feet-under.
John Siegfried, a former Rehoboth resident who now lives in Ft.
Lauderdale, maintains strong ties to our community and can be reached at hsajds@aol.com.
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