Monday, October 10, 2011

Commander-in-Christian?


Should a person's religion be a criteria for being president of the United States? Should the fact that Mitt Romney is of the Mormon faith be a factor as to whether he is qualified to be president? What if Mitt Romney was a Jew? Would he be any less qualified than he is as a Mormon?

I have listened to the Religious Right for over 25 years and I can't say I understand their fixation with a person's religion to hold political office. Back in the 1980s I listened as leaders of the Christian Right spoke about how you couldn't be a good American unless you were first a good Christian. Being Jewish, born to two Jewish parents and having four Jewish grandparents, I wondered why I couldn't be a good American regardless of my religion. I served my country for two years in the U.S. Army and spent a year in Korea. I thought of myself as a model citizen that voted, did volunteer work in my community, and helped my older neighbors when they needed a hand. I never spent a night in jail and at that time the most trouble I had gotten into was a speeding ticket. So, I asked myself, why couldn't I be a good American even if I wasn't a Christian? Eventually, I came around to putting together my own "Mother & Child", my own "religious icon", as I do not accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior, I needed to create something that was mine. The above painting in oil on board framed in a wood frame covered in gold metal leaf was my way of dealing with the question: Why can't I be a good American if I am not a Christian?

Mother & Child: An American Icon oil on board 72" x 48", 1988-92.

3 comments:

Julie Kwiatkowski Schuler said...

Religious people give me indigestion.

Theslowlane Robert Ashworth said...

No one religion has a monopoly on the truth. I grew up in a liberal Christian denomination that doesn't claim to have any more of a "corner on truth" than folks of other beliefs, or non believers, for that matter.

Many churches are not that open minded. When I was in high school, a new bookstore opened in my home town. It was called "One Way Books." I knew that was from more fundamentalist folks who thought they had a monopoly on truth. They would say, "there's only one way;" which I tend to think is hogwash.

My dad didn't understand that connotation of the phrase "one way." He thought it met, "buy the books and there's no return policy." Basically he just thought it met a business with no money back guarantee; "one way."

Well, I guess it has kind of met that also.

Seems like many of our leaders from the religious right follow their version of the Golden Rule. "The one with the gold rules."

Butch said...

These tea party self proclaimed righteous people need to get a life. This country was founded on the avoiding of religious persecution but today that is forgotten and they try to tell everyone how to live and what to believe in. Unfortunately the seperation and church has become a thing of the past but needs to be brought back. I'm not going to vote for God or Jesus. I'm trying to elect a person.