A Very Frightening Proposition

Dear Indigna,

Recently, Florida Congresswoman Katherine Harris made some astonishing public remarks. Some of her key points in an interview with the Florida Baptist Witness include:

• separation of church and state is "a lie we have been told"
• "if you're not electing Christians then in essence you are going to legislate sin"
• "a nation of secular laws" is "not what our founding fathers intended and . . . certainly isn't what God intended"
• "Average citizens who are not Christians . . . don't know better"
• "God is the one who chooses our rulers"

In her defense, Ms. Harris told the Orlando Sentinel, "I look at how the law originated, even from Moses, the 10 Commandments. . . . That's how all of our laws originated in the United States, period. I think that's the basis of our rule of law"

Is it all true? I have a number of questions:

• If the First Amendment does not separate church and state and make America "a nation of secular laws," why is it in the Constitution? Why not just leave it out?
• Since I am not a Christian, does that mean I have to resign my Senate seat to avoid the sin of "legislating sin"? And, as a Jew, am I still an American, or am I considered a Brooklyn-born-and-bred Israeli ex-pat who has never been to his "native country"?
• I have a Ph.D., MD. and J.D. from Yale. How can I "not know better"? As I am still not a Christian, should I sue my esteemed institution for academic misconduct? Or "failure to educate"?
• If God chooses our rulers, why did He choose that anti-Semite Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to lead Iran? Does that mean we Jews are no longer His Chosen People?
• Finally, is it true that Moses became an American Christian and a member of the Constitutional Congress? How long did that dude live, anyway?

Senator Name-Withheld
Washington, D.C.

Dear Senator,

I will take your questions one at a time.

• It's common knowledge that the First Amendment is commonly misunderstood. It says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." It doesn't say God or Moses or the President can't establish a national religion.
• As you freely admit that you are not a Christian, you must resign your Senate seat so that a Christian can have it. As for your national identity, why would you want to be an American when you are not a Christian? Wouldn't you rather live among your fellow damned?
• I think it's clear that you do "know better" yet still persist in not being a Christian. You cannot blame your own willful refusal to be a Christian on your educational institution, although I do not understand why they granted you your degrees when you so openly failed (to be a Christian).
• Iranian people tend not to be Christian, so God doesn't care who leads them since the whole country is doomed to hell anyway.
• Yes, Moses founded the American judicial system, but you don't have to make it sound like it was some kind of miracle or something.
  

Ms. Harris' main point in her Florida Baptist Witness interview was that, in Florida's gubernatorial race, "no other candidate can beat [rival] Bill Nelson except for me" and "if Bill Nelson wins, it's going to be a very frightening proposition in 2008 in the presidential elections because whoever wins Florida will win the presidency."

Apparently, Ms. Harris has made some kind of high-stakes deal with God that whoever becomes the governor of Florida automatically becomes President in 2008. A very frightening proposition indeed!