Newt Gingrich: 'Our First Great Challenge Is Spiritual'
By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country
Newt Gingrich recently converted to Roman Catholicism, but he sounded more like the Baptist he once was in addressing a mostly evangelical audience on Friday at a Rediscovering God in America conference in Virginia Beach, Va. The conference shares its name with a book and a video that Gingrich has released, and many conference speakers are affiliated with a new group, Renewing American Leadership, that Gingrich has founded to mobilize religious conservatives.
The liberal group People for the American Way has compiled a clip reel (above) of Gingrich's remarks. It shows how comfortable Gingrich has become with speaking in a charismatic-style worship atmosphere. That will come in handy if he winds up battling Sarah Palin, raised in a charismatic church, for the Republican nomination in 2012.
Here are some of the "faithier" lines from Gingrich's presentation:
—We are in a period when we are surrounded by paganism. And paganism is on offence and that's why our first great challenge is spiritual.
—Reignite in people an understanding that the heart of your life is subordination to God, the heart of your life is seeking God's will and that all of us are weak and vulnerable, all of us make mistakes, but that all are welcomed by a loving God.
—Reach out to everybody in the country who is not yet saved and . . . help them understand the spiritual basis of a creator-endowed society.
—The beginning of wisdom and virtue is a recognition of our subordination to God, and to the fact that a life without God is a life so empty that even drugs and alcohol and other things cannot fill it.
—This is a country in hunger for another Great Awakening, a wave of belief which has again and again swept this country and fundamentally changed us.
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Tags: religion | Newt Gingrich | evangelicals
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Reader Comments
The ACLU has supported many christian organizations
Newt clearly demonstrated his ignorance when he started with his rant about the ACLU. The fact is that the ACLU has defended many christian organizations' rights to freedom of expression. Here is a link to just a few of their cases supporting Christian organizations:
http://www.aclufightsforchristians.com/
The ACLU supports any organization, left or right, when their rights are being jeopardized. This includes the rights of those in minority religions or having no religion when religious groups or individuals try to impose their views in public settings. They have a right to express their views, just not to do so in public schools or in publicly funded enterprises.
Catherine of OH is the one expressing ignorance of the constitution when she says
"NO WHERE CAN YOU FIND ANYTHING IN THE CONSTITUTION REGARDING SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE." The first amendment constitution starts "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." While this doesn't use the words "separation of church and state" it is clearly intended to serve that function. In fact the writings of Jefferson and Madison (and others) clearly document that their intent in writing this phrase was to create "a wall of separation between church and state." This clause means that there cannot be any government involvement in religion. This nation was not founded on any religion, but was founded on the concept that keeping government out of religion insures that everyone will be able to freely practice their religion as they see fit.
Newt's Religion
Does he want to be a politician or does he want to be a preacher/priest/minister? Nothing is wrong with his ideas, our society may indeed need a "spiritual awakening", however, the last person I want to hear talking about spirituality is a politician (particularly, one with Gingrich's dubious background). Politicians should focus on things like the economy, foreign policy and taxes and let the reverends, bishops, and rabbis handle the rest.
CONSTITUTION
PAUL; YOU ARE EVIDENTLY NOT A STUDENT OF THE CONSTITUTION. NO WHERE CAN YOU FIND ANYTHING IN THE CONSTITUTION REGARDING SEPRATION OF CHURCH AND STATE.BEFORE YOU START THIS COUNTRY WAS NOT SET UP AS A SECULAR STATE.
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