The divisive gospel of Bill Sali

Idaho's 1st CD congressman is making some big waves with his bigotry toward non-Christians, specifically his complaints about his Muslim colleague (Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota) and the Hindu who offered a  prayer in the Senate last month. Bill Sali's comments have predictably drawn an outpouring of support among people who believe that fundamentalist Christianity is the only true religion. I've been on the road and missed a lot of the action, but mcjoan front-paged it at Daily Kos last night. Ridenbaugh Press and MountainGoat Report have more.

I want to write more on this issue, and I can't right now. Suffice it to say that Sali has cemented his support with people who seek a Christian theocracy in America, and he has shown his true nature to the majority of Americans who value the rich religious pluralism of our nation, not to mention the Constitutionally guaranteed separation of church and state. Through his comments, Sali is feeding the anti-Muslim frenzy in our nation and giving legitimacy to the handful of extremists who shouted down the Hindu prayer from the Senate gallery, cat-calling, “No Lord but Jesus Christ,” “There’s only one true God,” and labeling the prayer an “abomination.” He is an embarrassment to Idaho.

Comments

[theresa]

He is an embarrassment to _____

sadly there are MANY things that fill in that blank besides the state of Idaho.

My experience is that many of the mouth piece fundies that talk so loudly, are in fact hiding something in their personal life. (ie: i hate gays tends to equal secret gay lover - or marriage is for one man and one woman tends to equal 15 year affair) One wonders what his is and how long till we all know....

t

[Julie in Boise]

I'll have more to say on this next week when I get a chance to write something cogent, but I think the root of Sali's difficulty with non-Christians is mainly his discomfort with the rapid increase in religious and other diversity in the United States.

[Sisyphus]

I agree Julie. And the word is xenophobia. Seems to be driving the right wing right now.

[theresa]

and from the article in the Statesman

But Sali's spokesman Wayne Hoffman said: "What he was saying is that it's something that the Founding Fathers couldn't have contemplated — that's all. It's just a historical observation."

rest of the story at
http://idahostatesman.com/newsupdates/story/129935.html

t

[Sisyphus]

One of the commenters in Thinkprogress had this to say:

Ben Franklin was one of the main Founding Fathers.

Ben Franklin helped build a house of worship in PA…

This is what he had to say about that building and its purpose…

“Both house and ground were vested in trustees, expressly for the use of any preacher of any religious persuasion who might desire to say something to the people at Philadelphia; the design in building not being to accommodate any particular sect, but the inhabitants in general; so that even if the Mufti of Constantinople were to send a missionary to preach Mohammedanism to us, he would find a pulpit at his service. ”

-Ben Franklin

http://www.pioneernet.net/ rbrannan/ whitefield/ bfongw.htm

The great thinkers of early America were not rightwing nut jobs… they were theists and unitarians … they were not far removed from the times of christianity being violent and deadly and abusive much more so than today…

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/bill-sali-bigotry/

[David Erin Anthony]

On a similiar subject matter, has anyone get a chance to see the documentary, "Jesus Camp"? If you haven't I suggest you do......
This is just the latest chapter of embarrasement to the people of Western Idaho and how we look like complete Lemmings to continue to support Silly Sali. I am a Luthern but the message the Evangelical right is espouting makes me question relion in America today. These folks have perverted the word of God into some sort of Hate Mongrol State of Mind.
I am truely worried about thier actions and message.

[No More Mr. Nice Guy!]

"What he was saying is that it's something that the Founding Fathers couldn't have contemplated — that's all. It's just a historical observation."

Which further demonstrates Sali's ignorance. Thomas Jefferson wrote in his memoirs, discussing the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom:

The bill for establishing religious freedom, the principles of which had, to a certain degree, been enacted before, I had drawn in all the latitude of reason & right. It still met with opposition; but, with some mutilations in the preamble, it was finally passed; and a singular proposition proved that its protection of opinion was meant to be universal. Where the preamble declares that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed, by inserting the words "Jesus Christ," so that it should read "a departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion." The insertion was rejected by a great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan, the Hindoo, and infidel of every denomination.

[MountainGoat]

The Idaho Democratic Party has just issued a press release calling on Sali to resign...or apologize.

http://mountaingoatreport.typepad.com/the_mountaingoat_report/2007/08/idp-apologize-o.html

[Julie Fanselow]

David, thanks for the tip for "Jesus Camp." It's a must-watch for people who seek to understand the Sali mindset.

I, too, grew up Lutheran, and - although I am Unitarian Universalist - I continue to consider myself a follower of Christ. I also don't have problems with evangelicals; it's the fundamentalists (of all religions) who scare me. Jesus preached love and tolerance. The fundies preach fear and division.

It is very good to see this schism develop within Christianity. Let's hope it helps further marginalize the fundamentalists because their views are not those of the majority of Christians (or of Muslims, for that matter).

[coushmarta]

for watermalon viagra with low price viagra price to get new coupon