My advice to presidential candidates: in your speeches , stick to upholding the law, fixing the economy and providing national defense and stay away from preaching.

Nowhere in the Bible does Jesus say or imply that his followers would rule the world before he returns or even suggest the use of government to force others to be moral.

Strong moralistic, patriotic rhetoric from the right and reactionary social media propaganda from the left both contributed to the election of a very bad president, yes Biden.

Trump’s MAGA campaign was not as popular after the pandemic. The world had been united by the crisis. Trump failed to convince the public that he cared about all people, not just his own fans. The Democrats used the words of the few radical right to create fear that all Republicans want to control their personal lives.

Many moderate voters were afraid of Trump because they believed the media message that he was too authoritarian. And some Christians refused to vote for Trump because of misogynistic comments and behavior and racist comments that were constantly spotlighted by the media; a standard they failed to apply to Biden. But others voted for Trump because the left was so radical that we felt we had to protect ourselves from their agenda. In a choice between Marxism and Nationalism , there is no question.

Of course what most logical people want is an honest and upright president who will serve all Americans equally. But since it’s election season, Christian nationalism is getting lots of media attention once again. Any Christian who fights the outrageous policies of the anti-feminist, anti-human trans movement is lumped in with White Supremacists .

True Liberalism is about freedom, not radical lifestyles

The original meaning of liberalism refers to freedom, generosity of living, allowing more than one way, allowing freedom of thought, not forcing conformity, refraining from using the power of the military, legal, or economic systems to control the personal lives of citizens. Liberalism recognizes that humans are not meant to be slaves to the government or factory owners, or unthinking robots.

The original founders attempted to protect these rights in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. After living under a religious monarchy, they knew that it was not a good thing. Classical liberalism refers to the freedom that most of us want. But those of us who want to live and let live, libertarians , are now on the defensive against radical ideologues of all types.

The real enemy of freedom is always the rigid, controlling, self-righteous radical and the divisive rhetoric they employ.

We see the piles of bodies left in the wake of power hungry leaders throughout history. Radicals on both right and left in politics threaten the liberalism that makes America free and her status as the greatest country in the world. Unless we hold on to the most important freedom, freedom of religion, which assumes freedom of speech, America will become just a failed experiment in the history books.

We are at risk of falling into the hands of those who believe that the “other” must be muzzled but they must be allowed to say and do anything. The concept of “your rights end where my rights begin” is being eroded by ideological acid in the halls of academia and social media platforms .

The Right to Live According to our Beliefs

Ultimately, it’s not if secularism can tolerate religion, but whose religion is it willing to tolerate as ‘religion.’ 

https://thewire.in/rights/why-do-secularists-see-hinduism-as-cultural-and-islam-as-religious

While researching the topic of the Hindu presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, I learned that religious Muslims in India are currently experiencing persecution by supposedly ‘secular’ Hindus. The writer of the article above, Zehra Mehdi, makes a good point in defending the right of Muslims to practice their religion in a country that claims to have religious freedom, but is 99% Hindu. If one religion is allowed to be persecuted, all religions can be persecuted.

Hindus will tell you that you can be a secular Hindu. Hinduism is not a religion, they say, it’s a way of life. It’s Dharma. In its essence, dharma refers to the moral and ethical order of the universe, as well as the duties, responsibilities, and righteousness that individuals should follow to lead a harmonious and virtuous life. In other words, dharma means ‘being a good person’. This is the secular humanism of India and they are very proud of it. And yet, as the article describes, they continue the religious practices of Hinduism without the faith. This is similar to Americans who say they have “Christian values” but do not believe in God.

Save us!

The anti-religious worldviews have all of the features of religion except for admitting that they are religions . Statism, secularism, humanism, climate alarmism, transhumanism, evolutionism, globalism, earth worship, animal rights activism, Marxism and spiritualism all have strong emotional components, charismatic leaders, particular books which they often compare to a Bible, the faith that their ideology will save them from some mortal danger or offer enlightenment, gatherings of believers, rituals, symbols, and narratives.

Most people who follow these movements view themselves as ‘good’, ‘moral’, socially responsible, caring people. Like any religion, they often don’t see their own hypocrisy or intolerance when they try to force others to go along with their personal beliefs .

Most Indian Americans, including Hindus, are Democrats. But some conservatives see an opening with a population that prioritizes family life, marriage and education. As president, Mr. Trump hosted Diwali celebrations at the White House, and in April the Republican National Committee announced a new Republican Hindu and Indian American Coalition. Prime minister Narendra Modi of India is a popular figure among a rising cohort of right-wing Indian Americans, attracting a crowd of 50,000 when he appeared with Mr. Trump in Houston in 2019. Mr. Ramaswamy spoke last year at a gala organized by the right-wing U.S. group HinduPACT, which is aligned with Mr. Modi’s style of nationalism.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/09/us/vivek-ramaswamy-hindu-republican-christianj.html

Vivek Ramaswamy’s Savior Rhetoric is Alarming

On the one hand, I like most of what Ramaswamy says as far as limiting the power of government and eliminating the regulations that hinder the free market economy. But his style of speaking is just too familiar. I’m old enough to remember Obama’s speeches. I also hear Trump in Vivek, but he’s being careful until he knows if Trump will be eliminated from the race by some corrupt legal maneuvering.

When I first started investigating Ramaswamy, I was more focused on whether America should have a Hindu president. After thinking about this a lot, and I believe that choosing the best presidential candidate is a practical issue, not only a moral one. Who is the going to fulfill the Constitutional terms of office best?

What matters is protecting the legal rights of ALL Americans , not just those who share the same beliefs as me or you. It’s not clear if that is something Ramaswamy wants to do. He is saying a lot of bold things that the right wants to hear and it’s easy to say “Yeah! Our team for the win!”. But we must keep America one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. A divided nation cannot fight it’s real enemies, hate, extremism, greed, and corruption.

Ramaswamy frequently uses the word “God” in his speeches to Conservatives, but he doesn’t believe in the Christian God. He says that he shares the same values as “Judeo-Christians”. This is a very vague claim . His beliefs are not the main issue, though. What concerns me is that he is using religious verbiage at all in a country where we have preserve religious freedom.