Monday, January 21, 2008

‘Fixing’ the Constitution

Salaam and Peace to you all:

Over the past several months, the Republican presidential candidate Huckabee made several references to his idea regarding our American constitution. In a nut shell, the US constitution needs to be amended and repaired to in line with God’s word in the Bible [Read more about this].



[this video was added after initial posting date, for viewers convenience]

It is an interesting and thought provoking idea. After all, in a democratic country the majority has the final say on how the country is run. So, if he wins, and he gets support from the Congress, he can submit to the people of the USA a referendum to change the Constitution.

As a believer in God, that puts me, and many other Muslims, in a strange position. Should an American Muslim feel comfortable with a change in our constitution in a more 'Godly' direction? I know that some Muslim groups in the south showed support for public portrayal of the Ten Commandments in government offices 2 years ago. there is also some Muslims that support Huckabee [Click here for an example]. How would these Muslims feel about a ‘Bible-conforming’ constitution. Is that better than a ‘godless’ Constitution? Would it make any difference that Huckabee has less than friendly views of other religious beliefs, and some of his major advisors are definitely not Muslim-friendly [see this article] and some are downright contemptuous of Muslims [The Real Huckabee, The Nation, Issue 1/28/08].

Would it be even ‘democratic’ to change the Constitution in that direction?

khaled

6 comments:

  1. This nation was founded by Christians and we should follow the lord's eternal word found in the Bible.

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  2. Salaam,

    Anonymous needs to remember that the Constitution is to protect the rights of the minority, not the majority.

    Huckabee is a clown and his idea of amending the constitution in this way is ridiculous. He will be finished after Feb. 5.

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  3. The real strength of this country is in the "separation of Church from State". We should do every thing to keep these two powerful institutions separate, and to prevent a brutal theocracy.

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  4. Not sure where this idea of amending the constitution comes from -- from Huckabee himself?? Form Huckabee's website:

    "The First Amendment requires that expressions of faith be neither prohibited nor preferred. We should not banish religion from the public square, but should guarantee access to all voices and views. We should share and debate our faith, but never seek to impose it."

    Nothing terribly objectionable here, except like Bahar mentioned, rather not see religion displayed at the public square.

    If there is an agenda, that agenda is certianly not in display, and doubt very much that the people of this country stand pat and let a few fanatical evangelicals impose their view on the rest of us.

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  5. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  6. In response to Muhammadq's comment on the source of the'change the constitution'. Please see:
    http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Huckabee_Amend_Constitution_to_meet_Gods_0115.html
    There is a partial transcript
    "I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution. But I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that's what we need to do -- to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view."
    The video clip and commentary from MSNBC are on the same page.

    ReplyDelete