Say it, Ray!

On tonight's Word for Word, there was a rebroadcast of a speech by Ray Suarez, The Politics of Faith in America. It was fabulous!

Could Thomas Jefferson be elected president today? Could Dwight D. Eisenhower? Could any candidate who doesn't have a strong religious faith or doesn't speak openly about it win the White House?

Suarez says we need to be careful about who we're asking to do what. If we need someone who knows how to get the garbage picked up and keep the streets lit, that's what we need to vote on. Can the person get the job done? Their particular faith tradition, or lack thereof, isn't relevant for the job description.

Suarez quotes a recent study that said 75 percent of Americans believe "God helps those who help themselves" is in the Bible. Actually, it was from Benjamin Franklin.

"'God helps those who help themselves' is a very American notion and it is the antithesis of a Christian notion. It flies directly in the face of almost everything Jesus taught. Being a Christian nation might mean finding a way to stop being the wealthy industrialized nation with the highest rates of murder and violent crime on the planet. Being a Christian nation might mean finding a way to climb off the bottom of the league chart of wealthy nations in government giving to the world's poor."

He shows the folly of the very secular and the very religious. According to Suarez, the secular ascribe nothing or only negative to religion's impact and the religious exaggerate the impact on the founding and growth of the country.

He's an excellent speaker and scholar. And also quite funny with lines such as the "secure bunker of ignorance." He reminds us that the separation of church and state is a very good thing and the divisiveness in faith and politics in the U.S. isn't effective. He reminds me of what is good about the U.S. Something that doesn't happen very much, for me, these days. Take a listen!