Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Public theology - Is Mike Pence as bigoted as Donald Trump?

This is the first article in a new feature on UU A Way Of Life being tagged "public theology."

AS PART OF his annual commencement speech tour, Vice President Mike Pence warned graduates at Christian colleges such as Liberty University that they would be “shunned or ridiculed for defending the teachings of the Bible” and adherence to “traditional Christian beliefs.” As an example, Pence cited the backlash he and his wife, Karen Pence, received after she took a job at Immanuel Christian School in Springfield, Va., a private Christian school that bans LGBT employees and students and the children of gay parents.
What the vice president and many like him are describing, however, is not an infringement of their rights or persecution, but theological disagreement and different beliefs that are as protected as their own. While the Constitution protects their right to choose their religion and how to practice their beliefs, the Constitution does not protect against theological or philosophical disagreements.
Pence’s assertion that his rights are being infringed upon ignores the historical understanding of the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom. The First Amendment protects my Judaism just as it protects another’s Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism, Buddhism, or atheism.
From Jack Moline, Mike Pence Is Wrong, Sojourners, August, 2019
Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning.
Mike Pence's bigotry is another example of how evangelicals have lost their way and no longer follow the teachings of Jesus. Mike Pence's religious bigotry is also another example of how his thought processes align with Donald Trump's racism. Both men manifest significantly prejudiced behavior.

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