Religious extremists threaten democracy

'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free… .”

Those are the opening words in the inscription on probably the most widely recognized and revered symbol of the United States of America - the Statue of Liberty on Ellis Island.

Those words inscribed there represent what I believe is the fundamental spirit and heart of our nation. And a religious litmus test is not and never should be a prerequisite.

But that's in jeopardy as a result of increasingly radical politics. A clear example of that took place at a Republican Senate candidate forum sponsored by the Family Leader on April 25 at the Faith Baptist Bible College in Ankeny.

According to a May 4 Des Moines Register article, one of the candidates, Matt Whitaker of Des Moines, said that if he's elected to the U.S. Senate, he would ' … only support federal judges who have a Biblical view of justice.”

He added, 'If they have a secular world view, then I'm going to be very concerned about how they judge.” He went on to clarify that he'd require not just a Biblical view, but a New Testament version.

Think about it. A man who is a practicing lawyer in our state capital, is a former U.S. attorney and now a candidate for the U.S. Senate espouses a standard that violates both the Iowa and U.S. constitutions.

Our five most basic constitutionally protected freedoms are identified in the very first amendment to the U.S. Constitution: religion, speech, press, public assembly and redress of grievances.

Another of the candidates participating in the forum was Joni Ernst of Red Oak, whose TV commercials appear to indicate she believes her background of castrating pigs is one of her significant assets in trimming pork for government budgets.

In answer to a question similar to that addressed to Whitaker, she said that judicial candidates would need to understand that America's laws 'all come from God.”

That, my friends, is scary. Whether you're Christian, Jewish, Muslim or agnostic, that's opposed to about everything in our Constitution, the sacred foundation of our government and legal system.

The most recent poll results (Pew Research Center) I've seen confirms U.S. citizens are overwhelmingly (78 percent) Christian. But the Constitution is written and adopted purposefully to protect minorities from what I call 'tyranny of the majority.”

While these most recent extremist examples about which I've written are Republicans, the Democrats have their share.

And that's not even mentioning the Tea Party, which overmatches the radical right and left wingers in both major political parties.

If those extreme unconstitutional views were to become successful, it would be ruinous for our nation's 238-year-old, glorious democratic experiment.

I'm proud to be an American. I'm proud of many things, but I'm worried about the dangers of our increasingly radical politics.

' Bob Elliott is a former City Council member and longtime resident of Iowa City. Comments: elliottb53@aol.com