GOP injects God into '84
1984Hayden Perry 1984-11Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 1 →
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For the first time in the history of the republic God has endorsed a presidential candidate. Ronald Reagan and the Republican Party, it is announced, are "leaders under God's authority."
Fundamentalist minister Jerry Falwell revealed that Reagan and vice presidential candidate George Bush are "God's instruments for rebuilding America."
Reagan himself has said that "religion and politics are necessarily related" and those who oppose his religious views "are against religion."
Jerry Falwell put it more strongly, saying, "The idea that religion and politics don't mix was invented by the devil to keep Christians from running their own country."
It was not the devil but bitter experience and class interest that led the framers of the Constitution to ban the mixing of religion and politics-to put a wall of separation between church and state. They were aware of the religious wars that had plagued Europe, the horrors of the Holy Inquisition, and the Salem witch hunt that led to the hanging of 19 innocent women in 1692.
They were determined that religion would never be a political issue in the new nation. There is no mention of God in the Constitution. The First Amendment says, "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of a religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...."
The right of a citizen to adhere to any religion, or to no religion, was held inviolate for all time.
Cracks in the wall For nearly 200 years the wall between church and state has held. Most Protestant churches have supported the principle, and 267 religious denominations have grown or declined free of any state coercion. The 68 million people who profess no church affiliation have felt no government pressure to become believers.
The wall has stood, but there have been numerous attempts to breach it. Now it is starting to crumble under the (continued on page 11, in “The 67th anniversary of the Russian revolution”)