I called Ron Paul a theocrat on a political quiz, and someone called my bluff. Let’s see if I am convincing, or if I am mistaken.

There is a missive on house.gov by Ron Paul, entitled “Christmas in Secular America“. There is a choice quote or two here.

“The notion of a rigid separation between church and state has no basis in either the text of the Constitution or the writings of our Founding Fathers. On the contrary, our Founders’ political views were strongly informed by their religious beliefs. Certainly the drafters of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, both replete with references to God, would be aghast at the federal government’s hostility to religion. The establishment clause of the First Amendment was simply intended to forbid the creation of an official state church like the Church of England, not to drive religion out of public life.”

Well, hallelujah. First, he says the constitution is “replete with references to God”. Guess he never read it. The closest it comes to a reference to a god is this: “in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven”.

“[O]ur Founders’ political views were strongly informed by their religious beliefs.”

Patently false. There were arguments, but with many of the pre-United States colonizers having come here to avoid religious persecution, they were inclined to desire to keep religion out of their new governments. In fact, the phrase “building a wall of separation between church and state” was coined by Thomas Jefferson in a January 1, 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association. When the primary author of the Declaration of Independence and contributor to the constitution has that to say, you start to see how unfounded the opinions wielded by Paul are.

Through perverse court decisions and years of cultural indoctrination, the elitist, secular Left has managed to convince many in our nation that religion must be driven from public view.

That is a seriously stinted view of someone aiming for President, though it is probably shared by GW Bush and Mike Huckabee.
He also apparently does not realize that the Christians stole Christmas from many other religious groups. It is a pagan holiday celebrating the winter solstice. If Christmas is taken from the Christians, then it only serves them right.

note: Thomas Jefferson is also one of my favorite sources of Atheistic quotations.

Apparently I’m not the only one who has noticed that Ron Paul is a theocrat. The Lew Rockwell link on there is a renaming of the Christmas in Secular America article.

Dr. Paul also sponsored or proposed amendments to the constitution that would basically short circuit the first amendment.

Paul sponsored a resolution for a School Prayer Amendment:

H.J.RES.52 (2001), H.J.RES.66 (1999), S.J.RES. 1, H.J.RES.12, H. J. RES. 108, & H. J. RES. 55:

Nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to prohibit individual or group prayer in public schools or other public institutions. No person shall be required by the United States or by any State to participate in prayer . Neither the United States nor any State shall compose the words of any prayer to be said in public schools.

H. J. RES. 78 (1997):

To secure the people’s right to acknowledge God according to the dictates of conscience: Neither the United States nor any State shall establish any official religion, but the people’s right to pray and to recognize their religious beliefs, heritage, or traditions on public property, including schools, shall not be infringed. Neither the United States nor any State shall require any person to join in prayer or other religious activity, prescribe school prayers, discriminate against religion, or deny equal access to a benefit on account of religion.

* Proposed Legislation:H.J.RES.52, School Prayer Amendment, 6/13/2001 (Murtha)
* H.J.RES.12, School Prayer Amendment, 2/7/2001 (Emerson)
* S.J.RES.1, School Prayer Amendment, 1/22/2001 (Thurmond)
* H.J.RES.108, Voluntary School Prayer Amendment, 9/21/2000 (Graham)
* H.J.RES.55, Voluntary School Prayer Amendment, 2/13/1997 (Stearnes, Hall, Watts)
* H.J.RES.78, Amendment Restoring Religious Freedom, 5/8/1997 (Istook, et. al.)

Also, Ron Paul is an evolution denier. Check the video. I realize that not everyone that denies the validity of the theory of evolution is a religious nutter, but it seems that the vast majority are. A denial of this theory means that your opinion is that most science is a farce. I don’t want someone like that making decisions.

More fun quotes can be found here.

To the secularists, this was John Paul II’s unforgivable sin– he placed service to God above service to the state. Most politicians view the state, not God, as the supreme ruler on earth. They simply cannot abide a theology that does not comport with their vision of unlimited state power. This is precisely why both conservatives and liberals savaged John Paul II when his theological pronouncements did not fit their goals. But perhaps their goals simply were not godly.

But really, when looking at these things, consider my position. I do not know what you believe, but the Christian faith is easily disproved if the source of proof is the Holy Bible. [Was Jesus born when Herod the Great was king (before 4 BCE) or when Quirinius (also Cyrenius) was governor of Syria (after 6 CE)?] So, for someone like me that does not believe in God, and does not find the pursuit of religion to be noble, but rather as a threat to my way of life, how should I perceive the way he feels mythology and government should intertwine? I’ll tell you: He is a theocrat and would be an enemy.