“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ”¦”  ”“ 1st Amendment U.S. Constitution

America is not a Christian nation.

Glenn Beck held his rally Aug. 28 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. His words and actions were a not-so-subtly coded message to white Americans: Beck and speaker Sarah Palin spoke about retaking America and overthrowing a duly elected government. Their base, the Tea Party Republicans, advocates violence, theological purity and purification, and the destruction of the Constitution that they claim to hold dear. What is clear from their words and actions is that neither these leaders nor the Tea Partiers themselves have ever read the document.

I’ve been a pacifist since I came to understand the meaning of the word; I encourage discourse and engage in disagreements but with words. Very little makes me angry enough to wish even intellectual harm on people I perceive to be my enemies or enemies of the state. Even when it comes to Beck, Palin, Limbaugh, and Tea Partiers, people with no philosophical grounding whatsoever, I want each and every one to have an intellectual epiphany, to finally understand that their proposed violence and blatant racism are not the way. Saul, on the road to Damascus, was touched by God, his epiphany. He became Paul the Apostle and spent his life preaching God’s word, the pacifistic doctrine that became, in part, The New Testament.

Let me be clear, I am at this point in my life agnostic, leaning toward atheism. Still, in my own way, I envy those with faith. I see in those good people a satisfaction and belief that I cannot intellectually accept; to write otherwise would be hypocritical on my part. Yet, I understand the lessons of the New Testament, the antithesis of the eye-for-an-eye-tooth-for-a-tooth Old Testament doctrine. Performing good works, caring for our brothers and sisters regardless of their race, ethnicity, religion or lack of it, are the cornerstones of American culture. Whether it’s helping Haitians, tsunami victims through donations, or volunteering and aiding the neighborhood poor, these are often small acts that together make the United States strong and make our country and its citizens the envy of the world.

Beck, Palin, Limbaugh and their Republican ilk appeal to the basest, inhumane natures of humanity. They wrap themselves in the American flag, claim it as their own exclusively, and wear the mantle of some deviant form of Christianity that does not conform to any Christianity or Christian God that I know. Beck and Palin spoke of dividing America while on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Their words conveyed fear and hate to an uneducated mass of gathered Republican Tea Partiers.

Forty-seven years earlier, a truly great American spoke of bringing the nation together. Besides reading the Constitution for the first time, Beck, Palin, and the Tea Party hordes should head the words of Martin Luther King Jr.:

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of “interposition” and “nullification” — one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; “and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together. (Delivered August 28, 1963.)

As long as Beck, Palin, and Republicans continue to advocate hate, fear, and division, King’s dream will remain just that, a dream.

— Paul C. Trahan lives in Saco.

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