Just finished "God's Harvard." But it left one big question unanswered: If they had political power, what would these folks do with America?

Let's say Christian Republicans win the presidency and veto-proof, fillibuster-proof control of Congress - what will they do?

Obviously, abortion: outlawed. But beyond that, would I even recognize America as it is now? Will Jews and Muslims and atheists in grade school be forced to pray to the Christian God? Will teachers who teach evolution or speak against creationsim be fired or loose their funding? Will books labelled un-Christian be banned from libraries? Or even from being published at all? Will atheists' websites be taken down? Will the Catholic Church be outlawed?

Will police vice squads roam around looking for and arresting adulterers, kids kissing, gays, and unmarried people having sex? And what would be an appropriate punishment for such people? What about free speech? Will I be prosecuted for arguing agaisnt sodomy laws? For reading, viewing, producing, or selling whatever Christian authorities call pornography? And what if I'm a doctor and I have a pregnant female patient who has one of the medical conditions which will cause her death if she tries to give birth - will I be prosecuted if I perform an abortion? Or even if I just inform her she's likely to die in childbirth? Or if I advise her she can have an abortion in Canada?

Will you get rid of no-fault divorce? Will everything Hollywood does be sensored, "Leave It to Beaver"-style? Would that mean a movie like "Schindler's List" couldn't be released, since it has nudity, sex, cursing, and violence in it?

Will we reinstate Prohibition? What about taxes? Will you get a big break on your taxes if you convert to Christianity? Will church attendance be monitored and recorded? Will there be religious litmus tests for public employees? The military? If you're not a Christian, no job? In fact. will non-Christians be allowed to vote and run for office?

And lastly, will this Christian government leave office non-violently if it looses elections? If the people decide they don't want Christian government, after all, then will Christian politicians submit to the public's expressed will?

I don't know any Christian Republicans, but I've been burning to ask one these questions for the longest time! Please advise!

You should read more books on the subject. Why stop with God's Harvard?

I'm so amused that a Christian nation is liberals' greatest fear. They should fear a Muslim nation more especially since they are promoting it unabashly.

Just look at Columbia University. A person who is a known terrorist and executioner of homosexuals is a welcome guest.

Well, I might fear a Muslim America more if that seemed to be the risk, but so far I have seen little effort on our Muslim minority to impose Shari'a on America. But a small but militant band of Christian extremests does seem to wish to do just that, and seems to have some support amongst their less radical Christian brothers and sisters.

If you believe their rhetoric and the positions they support then the answer to all of your questions has to be a resounding "YES". If the answer is no to any of them then they are not truly serious about their positions. Since the basis for their views appears to be linked to some passage in the Bible and the Bible is viewed as the direct word of God, then everything in the Bible should be enacted. To do otherwise would be to support a partial interpretation of the Bible and that is impossible. When you start to put the lines of logic together it is easy to draw a parallel between our fundamentalists and the fundamentalists who run the Taliban or Iran. The only difference between them is some passages in yet another Bible or Book of God. That is why we are a secular nation, to do the bidding of any specific religious group is to cease being a free democracy and republic.

The overall message of conservative Christians is strict interpretation of the Constitution and NOT court imposed social liberal laws. Christians don't mind if legislation gets passed regardless if it is against their interests.

Abortion is one law that is not in the Constitution. Even some liberals judges or lawyers don't believe it is correctly adjudicated.

Keep your fear going. I suppose this will win your argument among yourself. You created the bogeyman. It will haunt you.

The real thing will appear in Columbia University and no Democrat has denounced it.

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WALLACE: Senator, we've got about 30 seconds left. One final question. You spoke out very clearly when Iranian president Ahmadinejad talked about going to Ground Zero.

Now he's going to speak at Columbia tomorrow. Do you think that Columbia should rescind this invitation?

H. CLINTON: Well, I'm going to leave that up to Columbia, but I was outraged that he wanted to go to Ground Zero and did speak out very forcefully, and thankfully he will not go to Ground Zero.

Obviously, we have a very difficult problem ahead in dealing with Iran, something that I think the Bush administration put on the back burner for too long, outsourced to the French, the British and the Germans, instead of, you know, going forward and seeing if there were any ways that we could rein in this regime and certainly prevent it from obtaining nuclear weapons.

And that's going to be my focus as a senator and as president.

Thomas Paine:

Well, I might fear a Muslim America more if that seemed to be the risk, but so far I have seen little effort on our Muslim minority to impose Shari'a on America. But a small but militant band of Christian extremests does seem to wish to do just that, and seems to have some support amongst their less radical Christian brothers and sisters.

You have to have your head in the ground like an ostrich to not notice where Sharia Law is attempted. Yet the bogeyman of Christian imposed law has been argued as fact.

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Stanislav Shmulevich of Brooklyn was arrested on charges of criminal mischief and aggravated harassment, both hate crimes, police said. It was unclear if he was a student at the school. A message left at the Shmulevich home was not immediately returned.

The Islamic holy book was found in a toilet at Pace’s lower Manhattan campus by a teacher on Oct. 13. A student discovered another book in a toilet on Nov. 21, police said.

In this country, we have the right to burn flags, burn soldiers in effigy, put crucifixes in urine, sculpt the mother of Jesus in dung, Fred Phelps can spew his hate, gay activists can march, people can openly accuse politicians of crimes with no supporting evidence, and we have any number of ways to express any number of points of view. But through hate crime laws, certain types of expression are being suppressed.

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Troubling incidents began several years ago, when taxi drivers at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport--about three-quarters of whom are Muslim--started refusing to transport passengers carrying alcohol. One woman, returning from France with wine, was turned away by five cabs in succession. Refusals of service now number about 100 a month, and heated altercations have erupted.

In September 2006, the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) proposed a two color top-light pilot project to indicate which drivers would accept passengers with alcohol. The proposal, later dropped, would apparently have marked the first time that a government agency in the U.S. officially recognized Shariah law, and distinguished individuals who follow it from those who don't.

Yes, I think so, too. American Muslims can, and should be able to, practice their religion without being accused of trying to Islamicize the United States. And arguing for their right to do so shouldn't be interpreted as a pro-Muslim position - it is simply the American position, which is that you're allowed to practice any religion you want.

The comparison between the Taliban and proselytizing Muslims on the one hand and evangelical Christian Republicans on the other, I think, is worth considering. I don't see the American Christian Right as necessarily violent, at least not yet, but they do have key ideas in common with Islamic Fundamentalists. For one thing, both groups substitute religious texts and teaching for reason and empiricle experience. That's dangerous; these days, the Bible can be used to justify just about anything. The minds of the 9/11 hijackers were so scrambled up with religious extremism that they couldn't see the plain and simple irrationality of what they were doing. And it's easy to see the same kind of irrationality creeping into the minds of these Christian conservatives. The second thing, as I see it, that the two groups have in common is their absolute certainty that they're right and that everyone else is wrong. This accounts for their often-revealed arrogance, hostitlity, hot-headedness, rudeness, and outright stupidity. And finally, they have in common their desire to use the powers of the state to enforce their views, however extreme they may be, on all the rest of us. In the U.S., they're willing to do this even though the Constitution expressely forbids it. And this from those who call themselves "strict constructionists!" When they read, in Amendment I, that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion...", what the heck do they think that means?

What you reveal is the thought that only you're right and Christians are wrong. Your bias is so strong that you see equivalence between the Taliban and evangelical Christian even though the Christians are NEVER violent. It's just that you're afraid that Christians might be violent.

Well, reason by defintion means you should know what you're talking about. You gotten this far and has shown no reason. Your irrational fear of Christians should be taken care of by a psychiatrist.

There is NO STATE RELIGION. No Christian denomination has proposed one.

Mashup3, man, my God, you are nasty!

No, I don't think Islamic Fundamentalists are 'equivalent' to conservative Christians; I just think they are similar in the ways I mentioned.

And it's just not true that Christians are never violent. Remember how Christianity was used to justify slavery? Remember how Christianity was used in the 60s to stop the civil rights movement? Remember the Timothy McVeigh types running around with guns violating gun laws and protecting their vision of white America, Bible in one hand, M16 in the other? Remember the guy who shot the doctor who had performed abortions?

I'm NOT biased against Christians. I am a Christian, although not a concervative one. It's distressing when people like me are made to feel we're not really Christians just because we don't vote a straight Republcan ticket in every election we hear about.

Somehow our national discussion will have to get back to a civil point where ideas are exchanged without insults, where general nastiness is seen as polluting the national debate, and where we all recognize that we might have something to learn from one another.

I disagree strongly with you. You are making an equivalent comparison between the Taliban and Evangelical Christians. It is despicable. You should be ashamed of yourself.

As Christians should know, don't bear false witness.

Very very few Christians use violence. I do not know any Christians who even think of such a tactic. No Christian leaders speak of it.

Slavery was justified by Christianity, but you also ignore how slavery was eliminated with Christianity as the reason, yet you pin the blame on Conservative Christians. President Lincoln was a Republican.

Segregation was justified by Christianity, but it was also eliminated with Christianity as the reason. Have you forgotten, civil rights laws was obstructed by the Democratic Congress. Your understanding about the subject is flawed.

You certainly can blame Christianity, my Christian brother, but don't feel that liberal Christians are not culpable. ALL CHRISTIANS bear the responsibility.

My insult to you is justified. You beared false witness. You're completely irrational.

I found a wacko that echos your thoughts.

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Why I Have A Little Crush on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by sallykohn Sun Sep 23, 2007 at 05:50:02 AM PDT

I know I'm a Jewish lesbian and he'd probably have me killed. But still, the guy speaks some blunt truths about the Bush Administration that make me swoon...

• sallykohn's diary :: ::

Okay, I admit it. Part of it is that he just looks cuddly. Possibly cuddly enough to turn me straight. I think he kind of looks like Kermit the Frog. Sort of. With smaller eyes. But that’s not all…

I want to be very clear. There are certainly many things about Ahmadinejad that I abhor — locking up dissidents, executing of gay folks, denying the fact of the Holocaust, potentially adding another dangerous nuclear power to the world and, in general, stifling democracy. Even still, I can’t help but be turned on by his frank rhetoric calling out the horrors of the Bush Administration and, for that matter, generations of US foreign policy preceding.

Sealion4000:

Just finished "God's Harvard." But it left one big question unanswered: If they had political power, what would these folks do with America? Let's say Christian Republicans win the presidency and veto-proof, fillibuster-proof control of Congress - what will they do? Obviously, abortion: outlawed. But beyond that, would I even recognize America as it is now? Will Jews and Muslims and atheists in grade school be forced to pray to the Christian God? Will teachers who teach evolution or speak against creationsim be fired or loose their funding? Will books labelled un-Christian be banned from libraries? Or even from being published at all? Will atheists' websites be taken down? Will the Catholic Church be outlawed? Will police vice squads roam around looking for and arresting adulterers, kids kissing, gays, and unmarried people having sex? And what would be an appropriate punishment for such people? What about free speech? Will I be prosecuted for arguing agaisnt sodomy laws? For reading, viewing, producing, or selling whatever Christian authorities call pornography? And what if I'm a doctor and I have a pregnant female patient who has one of the medical conditions which will cause her death if she tries to give birth - will I be prosecuted if I perform an abortion? Or even if I just inform her she's likely to die in childbirth? Or if I advise her she can have an abortion in Canada? Will you get rid of no-fault divorce? Will everything Hollywood does be sensored, "Leave It to Beaver"-style? Would that mean a movie like "Schindler's List" couldn't be released, since it has nudity, sex, cursing, and violence in it? Will we reinstate Prohibition? What about taxes? Will you get a big break on your taxes if you convert to Christianity? Will church attendance be monitored and recorded? Will there be religious litmus tests for public employees? The military? If you're not a Christian, no job? In fact. will non-Christians be allowed to vote and run for office? And lastly, will this Christian government leave office non-violently if it looses elections? If the people decide they don't want Christian government, after all, then will Christian politicians submit to the public's expressed will? I don't know any Christian Republicans, but I've been burning to ask one these questions for the longest time! Please advise!

Oh heaven's to Betsy! If only we had some sort of document by which we based our government, ratified around the beginning of our nation! If only this document could protect our nation from becoming a theocracy by mentioning specifically that the government should establish no religion! What will we do?!

Why should I care about Hillary again? If the OT is the word of God, lets all read Dueteronomy together or Leviticus, I have my stones, do you?