Here's an idea. How about if we just keep God out of politics. I know, a nutty idea for a nation founded in the era of the Enlightenment and all...but just a thought to consider.
Conservatives: America is a great nation because it's founded on Enlightenment values.
Also Conservatives: America is a Christian Nation.
Every Enlightenment thinker looking up from the grave: WTF is wrong with you?
Also Conservatives: America is a Christian Nation.
Every Enlightenment thinker looking up from the grave: WTF is wrong with you?
I feel obliged to point out as a historian that the relationship between religion and the Enlightenment is very complicated and interesting. But if there's one thing Enlightenment thinkers were not ok with, it's theocracy. That I can say with confidence.
I mean, Thomas Jefferson curated his own version of the bible that excised all of the "magical" parts and depicted Jesus as a great moral teacher of secular truths that any rational person can endorse. smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/h…
But I guess Jefferson is just some demonic, liberal, egghead, deep state actor...so what the heck does he know?
It's also worth noting that Jefferson was the preferred candidate of the evangelical Protestants of his day, because they knew that mixing politics and religion was ultimately bad for religion. Somehow today's evangelicals have forgotten that insight.
