Despots used religion too

L.B. Madison - June 10, 2005

Despotic rulers, throughout the ages, have invoked Divine Authority to assert their "divine right" to wield power over others. Their claims that they were directed by a Supreme Being to rid the world of "evil" enabled those same despots to murder, pillage, torture and rape with impunity. Rulers have, since time immemorial, humbled and terrified the masses into believing they actually had God (or the Gods) whispering in their ears -- and that anyone who opposed them was opposing God's will.

These emperors, kings and queens, sultans and Tsars wrapped themselves in the cloak of having been appointed to their lofty positions by God Himself, all the better to overawe and subdue the masses.

George W. Bush may be an ignorant man, but he knows a few things: he knows how to persuade the gullible that he, too, has God whispering in his ear and directing him not only to rid the world of "evil' but telling him exactly who is "evil" and who is good. Bush knows one further equally important thing: he knows how to spot people with the know-how he needs to help him acquire and retain power. The Bushites know the power of religion and use it as "divinely-appointed" monarchs have used it for eons -- to claim a special relationship with God, and their right to rule.

In America, we do not have rulers appointed by God; our rulers are elected by The People, who retain all sovereignty. The People rule and are self-governing. We, the People; remember?

Our Founding Fathers were well aware of the terrible history of mingling religion with civil rule and did everything they could to protect our new nation from such intermingling. Most of the Founders believed in God, but they believed religious faith was a matter of personal conscience and civil government had no proper role in aiding, monitoring or harming it -- or in judging whose religion was real and whose was not.

They sought to protect religion from governmental interference and government from religious interference. James Madison, in an 1822 letter to another of the Founders, wrote, "religion and Government will both exist in greater purity the less they are mixed together."

Religious faith should guide one's personal actions. But the Framers wrote into our Constitution that "no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."

The Framers endeavored to protect us from politicians who would claim they have been chosen and directed by God.

We forget that at our peril.

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