Obama vs. Republicans: Faith Style

Barack Obama says:

"No matter how religious they may or may not be," Obama said, "people are tired of seeing faith used as a tool of attack. They don't want faith used to belittle or to ivide. They're tired of hearing folks deliver more screed than sermon."

Today, the AP has an article about Mitt Romney that says:

BOSTON - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is defending his opposition to gay marriage by citing the Scriptures. The former Massachusetts governor, who in his 1994 Senate bid pledged to be a more effective champion for gay causes than his Democratic rival, discussed gay marriage in an interview set to air Sunday on CBS' "60 Minutes.""This isn't just some temporary convenience here on Earth, but we're people that are designed to live together as male and female and we're gonna have families,"

Newt Gingrich has said:

For most Americans, an atheistic society that forbids public reference to God and removes religious symbols is a horrifyingly bad society.

To tie this all together with perfect irony, we have Brownback from the recent debate:

This is a key point, I think. And I think it's a key point for the country. Because we've had 40 or 50 years, now, of trying to run faith out of the public square. And we're a nation of faith. As my colleague, Senator Lieberman, a Jew, says, America is a faith-based experiment as a country. We should celebrate and invite faith. And our motto is, "In God we trust." This isn't something that divides. This is something that pulls together and lifts us up. And it's key, and it's important. We shouldn't be trying to run it out of the public square. We should invite it in and celebrate it.

The most recent government census, taken before the massive explosion of non religious views from Richard Dawkins et al, shows that 15% of Americans describe themselves as Atheists, Agnostics, or "Not religious." When Brownback says "We are a nation of faith...this isn't something that divides..." he is discounting that at least 45 million Americans are not people of faith.

And, what's perhaps worse than all this is something else Brownback mentioned, our national motto. Yes, it's currently, "In God we Trust." But it's only been that way since Eisenhower chagned it to be so in the 50's to thumb his nose at the godless communists. It used to be "E pluribus unum." All for one, one for all. Unity.

No wonder they changed it. To people who desire strife, to people who would pit their fellow citizens against each other, to those who believe only they hold the truth and to hell with everyone else - the phrase "E pluribus unum" must have been poison. To remind them that they have any special bond with their fellow American citizens, whom they detest so much, must have been an incredible thorn in their side.