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Michele Bachmann (R-Mars): 'Biblically Qualified to Be President'

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Slumbering Behemoth Stinks12/31/2011 1:29:02 pm PST

Biblically qualified? Okay, time for a quick cut and paste:

Founding principles of America (1) –
Republican democracy: Explicitly denied by the Bible. Rather than democracy, the Bible’s preferred model of government is a divine-right kingship, where one individual is hereditarily chosen and wields supreme power. This is what America’s founders were rebelling against when they brought forth this nation

Founding principles of America (2) –
Separation of powers: Explicitly denied by the Bible. As above, in the Bible’s divine-right monarchy, a single individual wields supreme power over all functions of government. Some apologists seek to find an equivalent in a verse from Isaiah 33 - “For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king” - but what they overlook is that this verse explicitly envisions all three of these powers as being held by the same person.

Founding principles of America (3) –
Federalism: Partial equivalent in the Bible. The Old Testament’s society, where each of the twelve tribes of Israel has partial autonomy over its own region, is similar to the American model of states. However, there is a notable dissimilarity as well: the Bible envisions membership in a tribe as hereditary, whereas states are made up of free collections of individuals who can move around at will. In any case, some sort of hierarchy is unavoidable in any organization too large for a single person to directly oversee.

Founding principles of America (4) –
The process of amendment: Explicitly denied by the Bible. Rather than creating a living, dynamic system of laws that can be improved and mended as society sees fit, the Bible claims that its laws are eternal and immutable, literally set in stone, and can neither be added to nor changed. The Old Testament says that each of its laws “shall be a statute forever” (Leviticus 23:41), and the New Testament says that anyone who suggests a different gospel should be accursed (Galatians 1:8-9).

Founding principles of America (5) –
Religious freedom: Explicitly denied by the Bible. Far from granting people the right to worship as they see fit, the Bible says that anyone who encourages believers to serve other gods, or anyone who speaks “blasphemy”, should be killed (Deuteronomy 13:6-9, Leviticus 24:16). God himself joins in on many occasions by slaughtering people who worship different gods (Exodus 22:20). Although Jesus does say that people should “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” (Mark 12:17), there is no indication that any non-Christian should enjoy the same freedom of worship as believers.

Founding principles of America (6) –
Freedom of speech, assembly, press and petition: Explicitly denied by the Bible. As above, the Bible does not grant freedom of speech, but rather threatens death for those who speak in unapproved ways. Ancient Israel had no concept of the press, but there are also many cases in which people were killed for unapproved assemblies or for questioning their leaders (Numbers 16:35).

Founding principles of America (7) –
Protection from search and seizure: No equivalent in the Bible. Lacking a judicial system or separation of powers, ancient Israel had no notion of search warrants or of protection from arbitrary seizure.