Thursday, March 28, 2013

ST. RONNIE ON THE FUNDIES

(h/t John Fugelsang and MadisonProgressive)

In 1984, Pres. Ronald Reagan made it clear he opposed the Fundie bullshit about religion:
Remarks to Members of the Congregation of Temple Hillel and Jewish Community Leaders in Valley Stream, New York
October 26, 1984

To help preserve that lesson for future generations, I'm satisfied that our General Services Administration has approved the use of the old Customs House by the New York City Holocaust Memorial Commission as a means of commemorating the Holocaust. And it will be a museum of the Jewish people in the Diaspora. It will serve to remind our children and our children's children the tragic consequences of bigotry and intolerance.

We in the United States, above all, must remember that lesson, for we were founded as a nation of openness to people of all beliefs. And so we must remain. Our very unity has been strengthened by our pluralism. We establish no religion in this country, we command no worship, we mandate no belief, nor will we ever. Church and state are, and must remain, separate. All are free to believe or not believe, all are free to practice a faith or not, and those who believe are free, and should be free, to speak of and act on their belief.

2 comments:

Ken Hoop said...

Disagree. He vouchsafed another religion, right here. One used to excuse the theft of a nation and continued oppression of its people.

And you weren't aware of the prayer meetings of Ed Meece?
Here's a quick find from one point in time...

http://www.wrmea.org/wrmea-archives/113-washington-report-archives-1988-1993/march-1989/1140-national-prayer-breakfast-for-israel-lowered-decibles.html

"As for the significance of the end of the Reagan era, a number of Reagan staff members and confidants, and apparently President Reagan himself, were adherents of dispensationalist/Armageddon theories. (Much of this is documented in Grace Halsell's Prophecy and Politics, published by Lawrence Hill and available through the American Educational Trust.) President George Bush is a practicing Episcopalian, and not given to doomsday faith."

Steve J. said...

Ken,

Once again, thanx for the informative link.

Steve