The tendency to claim God as an ally for our partisan value and ends is the source of all religious fanaticism.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
The power of the American system of republicanism lies in its capacity to allow religious belief to be a competing, not a controlling, factor in American life.
Politicians read the polls that show 85 or 90 percent of the voters profess a belief in God, so they identify themselves with religion, often only to the degree necessary to reach the constituency they are targeting.
Religion often is misused for purely power-political goals, including war.
Politics in America is the binding secular religion.
Politicians use religion, and they get their troops riled up with religion.
Although he's regularly asked to do so, God does not take sides in American politics.
Religion can be the enemy of God. It's often what happens when God, like Elvis, has left the building.
When religious leaders get involved in elections, it is usually with a reactionary social agenda.
In American religious history, theological qualms tend to get pushed aside when politics intervenes.
You see, rebellion, and the disobedience it causes, keeps us from having the power of God that's available to us as Christians.