The Oogedy-Boogedy RINO Girl of Lefty DC

Kathleen Parker is at it again. In the Wednesday, November 19, 2008 issue of The Washington Post, the would-be recipient of the Strange New Respect award chastises the Republican Party for having sold out to far-right religious fanatics, whom she describes as "the evangelical, right-wing, oogedy-boogedy branch of the GOP." Go read the article for yourself. I won't bother posting a point-by-point rebuttal of it on this blog. As we say here in Texas, you can only answer an ass with a bray.

Rather than waste pixels defending the Republican Party against the inane charge that it has become the preserve of bible-thumping theocrats, I would prefer to take a broader view of religion's role in our country's history and compare it to how the liberal media (and hangers-on like Parker) choose to define that role.

First off, the Founding Fathers of our nation were not closet atheists, as many an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) member would have you believe. Most of them were Christians of one stripe or another. A few - like Thomas Jefferson - were Deists that maintained an affiliation with the Episcopal Church. None were atheists.

A sidebar on Deism: though practically nonexistent now, Deism was a prominent religious philosophy during the Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries. Deists believed that religious truth could be arrived at by the proper application of reason. This religious philosophy provided the basis for contemporary Unitarian Universalism.

Our very first president, George Washington, had this to say on October 3, 1789 when he set aside November 26, 1789 as a national day of thanksgiving and prayer:

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to "recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.

G. Washington

I suppose if Washington were alive today, Kathleen Parker would shun such oogedy-boogedyness. For who but a backwoods-dwelling, mullet-wearing, dobro-plucking, moonshine-swilling snake-handler would be so gauche as to presume that the citizens of this country might need to thank a higher power for all their comfort and prosperity? Certainly not an upstanding, educated Virginia gentleman who led our nation through the darkest days of the Revolution to freedom and independence.

Do not misunderstand me. In my life I have known and do know atheists who are good, moral individuals. I fully understand their lack of belief, believing as I do that reasonable people can disagree. Perhaps nowadays that makes me a "Pollyanna." In more civilized times, that would have made me an adult.

As for my own religious beliefs, I am a culturally Catholic agnostic. If you want to see Catholicism as I do, read one of Walker Percy's novels, like The Last Gentleman - a hauntingly romantic, sentimental tale - or Love in the Ruins - a wickedly funny political satire. Both being far more worthy of your time than the vapid, ahistorical rantings of an attention-obsessed Beltway ankle biter.