CONSTITUTIONAL AND RELIGIOUS PEROGATIVES

It seems to me that, the US CONSTITUTION is taken by most and interpreted somewhat like the Bible or Koran. We tend to pick and choose those issues that raise our ire, fear or that we tend to agree with and wholeheartedly stand on those few, of the thousands of principles, teachings, parables and laws we read. It interests me that usually people are with these things much the same as they are with politics. A recent Pew Poll showed that over 50% consider themselves "one issue voters". It might be the hot button issues of Abortion, Gun Control or a host of others that they vote on based on their religious upbringing and teaching. It is hard to explain to someone who was raised in a "foot washing" Southern Baptist or Pentecostal home and church that had they been born and raised by a just as devout Muslim family in Baghdad instead of the one they were brought up in in, say, Birmingham, there is about a 99% chance that they would be just as devout to that faith as they are to their current one, which is, as they are taught, the one true faith. So religion has much more to do with geography than one's personal. strongly held beliefs. And as for the one issue voters, abortion and gun control (or the unfettered right to keep as many weapons as one chooses) are not even mentioned. The other single issue voters, the Anti Gay Marriage crowd and the Anti Immigration folks should take a look at their particular religious texts, whether it be the Bible or the Koran. The verse so often quoted against the gay community is "it says in the Bible that it is an abomination". Indeed it does. But how many of those same people have read the verse RIGHT ABOVE that one that says it is an abomination to "lay" with a woman during her monthly "cleansing period (menstural) time of the month? I have never seen marchers with placards damning those of us to eternal hell for that particular sin, yet there it is, like it or not. And the Bible and Koran tell us emphatically we are to not only accept immigrants but take them into our homes, feed them and treat them as guests of honor. I guess it all comes down to where you were born and if you choose intellectual honesty over religious fervor that I, a backslider of epic proportions think is not only relevant in any discussion on religion but in the way we conduct our lives. I used to think the What Would Jesus Do bracelets were a little silly. I think now they were perhaps more profound than I realized.   JBT 06/18/2014