"No Religious Test Shall Ever Be Required..."

Article VI paragraph 3 of the Constitution of the United States:

3: The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

I've heard a lot of preaching and ranting from the Tea Party about the CONSTITUTION and how our President has somehow violated it. I still don't know how. Neither do they. They just know they don't like Barack Obama, so ergo, he must have violated that confounded document they hold so sacred. Blah blah blah.

Those screaming the loudest about the Constitution are treating it the same way they treat the Bible. Here's what I mean.

They say: Gays are unnatural, sinful, and they should not be allowed to marry because of the Bible. But you don't see them protesting legal divorce. Or starting a foundation to end the weaving of wool with linen. They pick and choose the parts of the Bible they think are important, and simply discard - or ignore - the rest. And they do the same with the Constitution.

Obama has been called a Muslim, a secret Muslim, an atheist, an atheist Muslim, a secularist, and has been attacked because of things his former Pastor, Rev. Wright has said. All this despite the Constitutional mandate that

[N]o religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

So, whack jobs ranting about imagined interfaith political rumbles, clearly you do not abide by or support the Constitution of the United States. Should we try you for treason?

How about you, Mittens? Here's a link to Mitt Romney questioning Obama's religion and accusing him of considering the establishment of a new religion. A completely fabricated allegation and an UNCONSTITUTIONAL religious test.

Mitt was asked why he thought Obama wanted to require insurance to cover birth control. The obvious answer to any sane person: So that women can have better and more affordable access to birth control. Duh. Mitt's answer: Scary Barry is trying to destroy real religion and force us to practice secularism. (Paraphrased obviously)

And then, when Lawrence O'Donnell says some bad things about Mitt's Mormon religion, the National Review jumps to Mitt's defense. You can begin to see the wisdom of our founding fathers as this attack and counter-attack spirals into utter stupidity.

The Salt Lake Tribune's headline today is "MORMON MOMENT" with a picture of Mitt Romney. Here's a link to the article online. It has a different headline than the printed version. But, NO, it's not a Mormon Moment. It's not a Mormon Moment any more than Kennedy's election was a Catholic Moment or Nixon's election was a Quaker Moment. It's a political moment. That is all.

By the same token, the idea of NOT voting for someone because of their religion - or lack of religion - is about as unAmerican as anything you can put on a list. It is a fundamental principal dating back to our country's founding that our elected officials not be subject to a religious test. Period.

Politics are nasty. And they are made even more nasty by the moral positioning and God-claiming that candidates engage in. Morality and politics are about as foreign to each other as integrity and politics.

Religion and politics? They have been shacking up and fornicating in this country for far too long, despite the Constitutional prohibitions. Look at the bastard candidates that relationship has produced! Sadly, I see no end in sight to this corruption of our elections. The Constitution only has the power we give it, and it only has the authority we submit to. Until the theocrats get out of politics - or are forced out by Americans who truly respect and honor our Constitution - we will never get Above Our Raisin'.