[MD] Theocracy, Secularism, and Democracy

[plattholden at gmail.com]

The White House today responded to news that nearly one in five Americans 
erroneously believe President Obama is a Muslim by telling reporters that the 
president prays on a daily basis.

"The President is obviously a -- is Christian," Deputy Press Secretary Bill 
Burton said. "He prays every day. He communicates with his religious advisor 
every single day. There's a group of pastors that he takes counsel from on a 
regular basis. And his faith is very important to him, but it's not something 
that is a topic of conversation every single day."

{Platt}
Does this sound like and argument "for" or "against" the separation of church 
and state?


On 25 Aug 2010 at 12:54, Arlo Bensinger wrote:

[Ron]
I can understand, this is a very heated topic. One that requires some 
care in explanation.

[Arlo]
This just crossed my desk.

"On Friday, August 27th Glenn Beck presents America's Divine Destiny 
from the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Join Glenn Beck for an 
inspiring look at the role faith played in the founding of America 
and the role it will play again in its destiny. The audience for the 
event will be overwhelmingly made up of pastors, ministers and 
clergy..." (http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/44014/)

[Platt had said]
Ron has nailed it. There's no separation of church and state in Islam.

[Arlo goes on]
I had said previously, "I think the clear evidence shows many on the 
right that would welcome tearing down the walls of church and state 
in this country, provided the church was their own, of course..."

And I had mentioned the BBC program "The Power of Nightmares". 
Consider this from the beginning of Part One, discussing one of the 
founders of the modern "neoconservative" movement, Leo Strauss.

"It was for politicians to assert powerful and inspiring myths that 
everyone could believe in. They might not be true, but they were 
necessary illusions. One of these was religion; the other was the 
myth of the nation. And in America, that was the idea that the 
country had a unique destiny to battle the forces of evil throughout 
the world." (The Power of Nightmares, BBC Transcript)

Re-read that transcript segment, and then go back and re-read the 
blurb from Glenn Beck's website.

[Platt had said]
Ron has nailed it. There's no separation of church and state in Islam.

[Arlo goes on again]
Shortly after condemning Islam for failing to separate church and 
state, Platt responded to DMB with the following comment.

"We should not overlook atheist North Korea nor the 20th century 
atheist  countries of  Russia, China and Cambodia whose citizens were 
murdered by the
tens of millions. As for atheist countries like Sweden, a study by 
the Swedish Research Institute of Trade found that if Sweden were a 
U.S. state, it would be the poorest measured by household gross 
income before taxes."

Does this sound like an argument "for" or "against" the separation of 
church and state?