I had every intention of writing tonight... and then fell sound asleep in my chair for many hours. Now I'm wide awake, but it's far too late to take on Michael Flynn's new declaration that this nation needs to establish one religion (presumably Christianity?) and to explain why our separation of church and state is such a vital-- and admirable-- part of who we are.
The only source of Republican or conservative power in the time since Nixon and the southern strategy has been to use religion and the trinity of bugaboos, namely, homophobia, abortion, and racism. Sophistry became an art form.
Church attendance and monetary support waned since the 60’s. Birth control that worked became reality. It was embraced. The actual ability to do real family planning while actually enjoying sex without the fear of pregnancy was celebrated. Legal, safe abortion became available, especially to the poor. Then the realization that being homosexual was part of the spectrum of being human.
The conservatives fought back with wars on crime; poor people, especially of color. The Federalists were dominated by conservative Catholics. Evangelicals countered with the moral majority. John Roberts became the wrench of the movement, first in getting the SC to elect GWB president. Sophistry reached new heights with “compassionate conservatism”. Citizens United allowed the unholy to join. Gutting of the voting rights act followed, leading one to wonder if John Roberts ever went to confession.
A real non-political SC would have called Mitch McConnell and said he had to allow Obama’s nomination for the SC hearings and a vote. A real non-political SC would have said the truth about the current forms of gerrymandering. They might as well come to court in pointed hats and white sheets. Sophistry.
Now we have disgraced former general Flynn babbling nonsense. Rising insurrectionist Hawley saying the government’s purpose is to do Christ’s work. And all pledge fealty to the orange king. For now.
It’s a reflection of the chaos of our time that the traitor, Flynn, is allowed any attention whatsoever for anything he says. He should be in a dark, damp dungeon filled with other rats. Something must be done about criminal President’s giving pardons to their accomplices.
I saw Heather speak at the New York Historical Society this week, and she was brilliant, funny, and a voice for hope. We must believe our democracy will succeed in order for it to continue...I agree about too much attention is given nutjob fascists like Hawley and Flynn. We must continue to speak out and pressure our representatives to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights bill.
Thank you Heather Cox Richardson and Buddy Poland for the clarity and beauty you share with us
To the poets, the caring, the undocumented and to all who are listening.
poem where no one is deported
José Olivarez
now i like to imagine la migra running
into the sock factory where my mom
& her friends worked. it was all women
who worked there. women who braided
each other’s hair during breaks.
women who wore rosaries, & never
had a hair out of place. women who were ready
for cameras or for God, who ended all their sentences
with si dios quiere. as in: the day before
the immigration raid when the rumor
of a raid was passed around like bread
& the women made plans, si dios quiere.
so when the immigration officers arrived
they found boxes of socks & all the women absent.
safe at home. those officers thought
no one was working. they were wrong.
the women would say it was god working.
& it was god, but the god
my mom taught us to fear
was vengeful. he might have wet his thumb
& wiped la migra out of this world like a smudge
on a mirror. this god was the god that woke me up
at 7am every day for school to let me know
there was food in the fridge for me & my brothers.
i never asked my mom where the food came from,
but she told me anyway: gracias a dios.
gracias a dios del chisme, who heard all la migra’s plans
& whispered them into the right ears
to keep our families safe.
About This Poem
“My parents were undocumented when they moved to the United States. I wrote this poem hoping to honor the power of the undocumented women in my family and in my community. They knew everything. I'm in awe of them.”
I was raised Roman Catholic and attended parochial school for grades 1-8, then a private Catholic high school. In September, 1975 I drove across country (Delaware to California) to attend graduate school at UC Santa Barbara. The biggest story I heard on local radio during my drive was controversy in Utah over the governor considering naming a non-Mormon as President of the University of Utah. Somehow, I naively grew up believing that the First Amendment meant there was an ironclad wall separating Church and State. Now, 46 years later, we have national political figures openly suggesting the establishment of a state religion. What’s next — the establishment of a christian version of shariah law, followed by a state-run inquisition?
I think Trumpists try to sucker liberals into responding to outrageous assertions, thereby giving them more attention than they deserve. On the other hand, I truly enjoy HCR’s lucid, enlightening essays on our national tenets and ideals.
I'm glad your body knows enough to knock you out when you need it. I'm glad that Buddy takes such amazing photos and that you share them with us. I'm glad that when you take a day off, the "family room" here at LFAA continues on with our conversations, be they the late night or early morning kind.
I am a non-theist. My Dad was raised Methodist and never attended church as an adult. My Mom was raised Episcopal and as far as I know, the most religious thing that either of them did after their marriage was to have me baptized in the Episcopal church as an infant. They were moral, ethical people who did not need (and although they would love the phrase, although they never used it) an imaginary sky pilot to tell them how to behave in the world. I am sure they discussed how to bring up my sister and me, because Mom tried to find a church when I was in single digits (7? 8?). I asked her why (after a foray into a Unitarian Church) we were going to church, and while I do not recall the answer, she had written it in her diary as well. (I paraphrase here) "A asked me today 'Why are we going here? This is weird stuff.' When I told her about all the things that I hoped that a church could teach her, she said 'you and Dad do that already. These people don't know us.' Ed and I talked after the kids were in bed, and he simply said 'I guess we're doing it right. It doesn't matter much how.'"
Thomas Jefferson on the separation of church and state.
“Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.“
“The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”
Trading on his military career, Flynn is the 'tip of the spear' in explicitly pushing all things American right wing religious extremist looney in this 'most Christian of nations.' He is marching lock step with such as Tucker Carlson and CPAC in their adulation of Hungary and to a lesser degree of Poland, those most Catholic of nations where white supremacy and state religion hold sway in the populist base and the upper echelons of their increasingly authoritarian governments - and where an independent judiciary exists only as a fiction of government propaganda.
The Founders introduced God, as a character in the narrative of our national genesis, only to give blessing to their overthrow of the Divine Right of Kings and to authorize their revolutionary call for radical equality. Then they left God out our agreed legal framework and explicitly shut religion out of government - to preserve citizens from the imposition of faith based prejudices and practices, and to preserve government proceedings from the irrational habits of mind of religious belief. They gave us a Constitution not a creed.
Through the machinations of such players as Federalist Society honcho and Opus Dei acolyte Leonard Leo, our judiciary is entangled and our civil rights are being strangled in a web of right wing religious extremism. What chance have our freedom of religion and freedom from religion before the conservative majority on our most Christian of Supreme Courts?
The only source of Republican or conservative power in the time since Nixon and the southern strategy has been to use religion and the trinity of bugaboos, namely, homophobia, abortion, and racism. Sophistry became an art form.
Church attendance and monetary support waned since the 60’s. Birth control that worked became reality. It was embraced. The actual ability to do real family planning while actually enjoying sex without the fear of pregnancy was celebrated. Legal, safe abortion became available, especially to the poor. Then the realization that being homosexual was part of the spectrum of being human.
The conservatives fought back with wars on crime; poor people, especially of color. The Federalists were dominated by conservative Catholics. Evangelicals countered with the moral majority. John Roberts became the wrench of the movement, first in getting the SC to elect GWB president. Sophistry reached new heights with “compassionate conservatism”. Citizens United allowed the unholy to join. Gutting of the voting rights act followed, leading one to wonder if John Roberts ever went to confession.
A real non-political SC would have called Mitch McConnell and said he had to allow Obama’s nomination for the SC hearings and a vote. A real non-political SC would have said the truth about the current forms of gerrymandering. They might as well come to court in pointed hats and white sheets. Sophistry.
Now we have disgraced former general Flynn babbling nonsense. Rising insurrectionist Hawley saying the government’s purpose is to do Christ’s work. And all pledge fealty to the orange king. For now.
We will reap what we allow to be sowed.
PS: There! I feel better
It’s a reflection of the chaos of our time that the traitor, Flynn, is allowed any attention whatsoever for anything he says. He should be in a dark, damp dungeon filled with other rats. Something must be done about criminal President’s giving pardons to their accomplices.
I saw Heather speak at the New York Historical Society this week, and she was brilliant, funny, and a voice for hope. We must believe our democracy will succeed in order for it to continue...I agree about too much attention is given nutjob fascists like Hawley and Flynn. We must continue to speak out and pressure our representatives to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights bill.
Thank you Heather Cox Richardson and Buddy Poland for the clarity and beauty you share with us
To the poets, the caring, the undocumented and to all who are listening.
poem where no one is deported
José Olivarez
now i like to imagine la migra running
into the sock factory where my mom
& her friends worked. it was all women
who worked there. women who braided
each other’s hair during breaks.
women who wore rosaries, & never
had a hair out of place. women who were ready
for cameras or for God, who ended all their sentences
with si dios quiere. as in: the day before
the immigration raid when the rumor
of a raid was passed around like bread
& the women made plans, si dios quiere.
so when the immigration officers arrived
they found boxes of socks & all the women absent.
safe at home. those officers thought
no one was working. they were wrong.
the women would say it was god working.
& it was god, but the god
my mom taught us to fear
was vengeful. he might have wet his thumb
& wiped la migra out of this world like a smudge
on a mirror. this god was the god that woke me up
at 7am every day for school to let me know
there was food in the fridge for me & my brothers.
i never asked my mom where the food came from,
but she told me anyway: gracias a dios.
gracias a dios del chisme, who heard all la migra’s plans
& whispered them into the right ears
to keep our families safe.
About This Poem
“My parents were undocumented when they moved to the United States. I wrote this poem hoping to honor the power of the undocumented women in my family and in my community. They knew everything. I'm in awe of them.”
—José Olivarez
The Book of Revelation describes a single religion scenario. It’s rather apocalyptic.
I’m slowly recovering from a delta breakthrough. Turning in early. Again.
Ni night Heather and LFAA community!
I was raised Roman Catholic and attended parochial school for grades 1-8, then a private Catholic high school. In September, 1975 I drove across country (Delaware to California) to attend graduate school at UC Santa Barbara. The biggest story I heard on local radio during my drive was controversy in Utah over the governor considering naming a non-Mormon as President of the University of Utah. Somehow, I naively grew up believing that the First Amendment meant there was an ironclad wall separating Church and State. Now, 46 years later, we have national political figures openly suggesting the establishment of a state religion. What’s next — the establishment of a christian version of shariah law, followed by a state-run inquisition?
I think Trumpists try to sucker liberals into responding to outrageous assertions, thereby giving them more attention than they deserve. On the other hand, I truly enjoy HCR’s lucid, enlightening essays on our national tenets and ideals.
"What if religion was each other?
If our practice was our life?
If prayer was our words?
What if the temple was the earth?
If forests were our church?
If holy water--the rivers, lakes and oceans?
What if meditation was our relationships?
If the Teacher was life?
If wisdom was self-knowledge?
If love was the center of our being?"
-- Ganga White, Founder of the White Lotus Foundation
I can't wait for your assessment of and insights into that treasonist and his distorted piety.
It’s fascinating how your “non letters” get so many varied and thought-provoking comments!
Prof Heather;
That little weasel needs a boot in the arse. By no means is he a leader of men. His brother helped to delay help January 6th. They both need to go.
Thank you for sharing the beautiful photo and for taking breaks when needed, Dr. Richardson. Thank you for being with us for the long haul.🌿
I'm glad your body knows enough to knock you out when you need it. I'm glad that Buddy takes such amazing photos and that you share them with us. I'm glad that when you take a day off, the "family room" here at LFAA continues on with our conversations, be they the late night or early morning kind.
I am a non-theist. My Dad was raised Methodist and never attended church as an adult. My Mom was raised Episcopal and as far as I know, the most religious thing that either of them did after their marriage was to have me baptized in the Episcopal church as an infant. They were moral, ethical people who did not need (and although they would love the phrase, although they never used it) an imaginary sky pilot to tell them how to behave in the world. I am sure they discussed how to bring up my sister and me, because Mom tried to find a church when I was in single digits (7? 8?). I asked her why (after a foray into a Unitarian Church) we were going to church, and while I do not recall the answer, she had written it in her diary as well. (I paraphrase here) "A asked me today 'Why are we going here? This is weird stuff.' When I told her about all the things that I hoped that a church could teach her, she said 'you and Dad do that already. These people don't know us.' Ed and I talked after the kids were in bed, and he simply said 'I guess we're doing it right. It doesn't matter much how.'"
Thomas Jefferson on the separation of church and state.
“Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.“
https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9806/danpre.html
“The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”
https://tjrs.monticello.org/letter/2260
Trading on his military career, Flynn is the 'tip of the spear' in explicitly pushing all things American right wing religious extremist looney in this 'most Christian of nations.' He is marching lock step with such as Tucker Carlson and CPAC in their adulation of Hungary and to a lesser degree of Poland, those most Catholic of nations where white supremacy and state religion hold sway in the populist base and the upper echelons of their increasingly authoritarian governments - and where an independent judiciary exists only as a fiction of government propaganda.
The Founders introduced God, as a character in the narrative of our national genesis, only to give blessing to their overthrow of the Divine Right of Kings and to authorize their revolutionary call for radical equality. Then they left God out our agreed legal framework and explicitly shut religion out of government - to preserve citizens from the imposition of faith based prejudices and practices, and to preserve government proceedings from the irrational habits of mind of religious belief. They gave us a Constitution not a creed.
Through the machinations of such players as Federalist Society honcho and Opus Dei acolyte Leonard Leo, our judiciary is entangled and our civil rights are being strangled in a web of right wing religious extremism. What chance have our freedom of religion and freedom from religion before the conservative majority on our most Christian of Supreme Courts?
For me, it’s people like Flynn that use religion to further their dirty deeds, that keep me away from it