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4.2.12
WC: 191694

Justice O’Connor was not, of course, the first (or the last) public office to use Christianity in the
of partisan politics. The issue got so bad during the 1984 presidential race that Walter Mondale
found it necessary to remind Ronald Reagan that in the United States the president, unlike the
queen of England, is “not the defender of the faith” but rather the “defender of the Constitution.”

In 2012, A Republican candidate for President, Rick Santorum, said that the concept of an
absolute separation of church and state, as articulated by John Kennedy when he was running for
president, “makes me want to throw up.” Other candidates, though expressly themselves less
graphically, have also railed against the separation of church and state. “Faith” has become
synonymous with “values” in the minds of many although there is absolutely no correlation.
Indeed, the “values” espoused by people who would impose their faith on others are highly
questionable. They include denying gays the equal protection of the law, denying women (and
young girls) the right to choose abortion, and sometimes contraception, even in compelling cases;
and, often, other conservative political “values” that have nothing to do with religion, such as low
taxes, the right to bear arms, the death penalty and widespread censorship. The debates over
these issues, especially gay rights and the right to choose abortion, have become wedge
controversies that are unduly influenced by the churches in violation of the spirit, if not the letter,
of our Constitution.

The rights of gays to absolute equality

When I was growing up, it was impermissible to use any words that were demeaning to African
Americans (who we called Negroes or colored), to other religions or ethnic minorities (except for
the Germans and Japanese during World War II) or to women. But insulting gay boys (we had no
idea there even were lesbians) was perfectly acceptable. Indeed, we commonly used “the F word”
to insult non-athletic classmates or effeminate-looking boys. We never actually met a real live
homosexual (at least to our knowledge) but we knew there was “something wrong” with anybody
who was sexually attracted to people of the same gender.

Our bigotry was not religiously based, though we knew that the Bible prohibited sex between men
(perhaps the Bible’s authors, like us, had no idea there were lesbians). We just didn’t like
“homos.” It was as simple as that. You really do have to be taught to hate (as said the words of
a song from a show popular back in the day.) And we were taught to treat all people, except
gays, equally.

It’s very different among today’s youth, at least in parts of the world that I frequent. Most young
people I encounter can’t even understand why anyone would discriminate against someone based
on his or her sexual orientation or preference.

Today, the discrimination does seem religiously based, at least to a significant degree. The Bible
is frequently cited as the authoritative source for condemning homosexuality, and the sanctity (a
religious term) of marriage between a man and a woman serves as the primary basis for
opposition to gay marriage.

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