Less than a week after Jerry Falwell’s death, Newt Gingrich appeared at Falwell’s college, Liberty University, to address to the school’s 2007 graduating class. The former House Speaker and likely presidential candidate denounced the “growing culture of radical secularism.”
In a speech heavy with religious allusions but devoid of hints about his presidential ambitions, Gingrich drew applause from the graduates and their families in the school’s 12,000-seat football stadium when he demanded: “This anti-religious bias must end.”
“In hostility to American history, the radical secularists insist that religious belief is inherently divisive,” Gingrich said, deriding what he called the “contorted logic” and “false principles” of advocates of secularism in American society.
“Basic fairness demands that religious beliefs deserve a chance to be heard,” he said during his 26-minute speech. “It is wrong to single out those who believe in God for discrimination. Yet, today, it is impossible to miss the discrimination against religious believers.”
Impossible to miss? It can’t be that impossible; I have no idea what on earth he’s talking about. Religious beliefs don’t have a chance to be heard? Since when?
I’m hard pressed to imagine what country Gingrich and the 12,000 people who applauded his worldview are living in. Out of the 535 members of Congress, 50 governors, the president, vice president, the Bush cabinet, and nine Supreme Court justices, there is exactly one person — not one percent, just one guy — who does not profess a faith in God. If polls are to be believed, less than 5% of the population describes themselves as non-believers.
In the last presidential election, one candidate announced during a presidential debate, “My faith affects everything that I do, in truth…. I think that everything you do in public life has to be guided by your faith, affected by your faith.” This was John Kerry, the more secular candidate of the two.
As for “discrimination,” the New York Times had an interesting report last week showing that so much public money is now going to ministries, religious groups are hiring lobbyists to get more.
In our culture, religion is common in the media â I canât remember the last month Time and/or Newsweek didnât feature religion as a cover story â almost exclusively in a positive light. In sporting events, celebrating athletes routinely express their religiosity. At awards ceremonies, entertainers routinely âgive thanks to Godâ from the outset, usually to considerable applause.
Gingrich sees all of this and believes an âanti-religious biasâ dominates U.S. society. I have no idea why.
