NEWS FLASH: THE U.S. IS A THEOCRACY

   

     IT'S SUMMER, IT'S HOT, BUT WE STILL MUST stick selflessly to our post and attempt to define the larger picture. We'll be brief.
     My inclination in pursuit of this objective is mainly to ask questions, most of them related to the passing parade of news, large and small.

     FIRST QUESTION: NOW THAT HE'S AN OFFICIAL CANDIDATE,  will U.S. Republican presidential hopeful Willard Mitt Romney, a highly-ranked member of the Mormon church, disclose his intentions with respect to tithing -- a fundamental requirement of Mormonism -- should he win the presidency?
     Tithing: that's the word for turning over a tenth of one's income to the benefit of the church.
     
     ONE WONDERS WHETHER MOST AMERICANS -- especially including Republicans -- are aware of this Mormon rule. (I personally am aware, by the way, that tithing is a long-standing idea within mainstream Christianity, but few branches of the Christian church are so strict about it, in almost a cultish way, as the Church of Mormon.)
      Will this tithing principle of faith require Mr. Romney to somehow transfer the practise to his governmental duties, as president; in other words, to make branches of government tithe in some way?
     My reading of the U.S. Constitution says there's no way such a thing could happen because of the idea of separation of church and state. But that doesn't change the fact that the U.S. Constitution has been bent in the past in some very awkward ways (think slavery).

      THE U.S., IT APPEARS TO ME, IS A NEAR-THEOCRACY, if not wholly one. I mean, every candidate for political office in the U.S. (and this has been the case since the beginning of that nation) must express belief in "God" (and, mark my words, it's the Christian God, very heavily so) in order to have any chance of winning any elective office.
      At the Republican convention over recent days and nights, I didn't hear a single speaker of note who failed to finish his or her remarks with almost exactly the following words: "May God bless you all, and (speaker voice-volume goes up here strongly and so earnestly) may God bless the United States of America!" (Goodness me -- could you imagine some Canadian politician making it a habit to end every speech with "and may God bless Canada"? Well, actually, I guess one could, with PM Harper.)


       BUT WE MUST NOT ACCUSE the Republicans of being the only ones wearing their theology  on their sleeves. The Democrats, as you will clearly see when their convention comes up soon, will be doing just as much "God blessing" and "one-nation-under-God"-ing, and all the rest of it, as the Republicans.

       JUST AS A REMINDER,  I am obliged to state here that the American Constitution says no candidate for office shall be subject to a religious test. Unless I have mistaken the meaning of what sounds to me like extremely clear, plain constitutional language, it is my claim that  U.S. politicians violate their own constitution every time there is an electoral contest, and many times in-between.
       Here is what Article VI, paragraph 3, of the U.S. Constitution states:
       "The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." (My italics.)       
      Yet, almost without exception candidates are unable to escape the religious test, because each and every one of them must say "God Bless America." That is, if they wish to be elected.
       And that's, well, you know, kind of like a . . . theocracy.