Several weeks ago I mentioned that I had chanced on Sen. Rick Santorum’s (R-PA) new book, and that I had reacted with a bit of shock at his lack of understanding about science. More important, his lack of clarity on issues scientific was used as a critical piece in his philosophy about ethics and God (if science takes the God out of human existence, morality breaks down).
Apparently, I’m not the only one who was a little concerned about this narrow view of human ethics. “A listener to NPR’s Morning Edition heard Sen. Santorum say this in an interview and reacted with a letter to the program”:http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4800070. In short, the listener was a little annoyed that Sen. Santorum has so little faith in his fellow humans that he needs the crutch of a punishing God to keep them in check. Hear hear.
When did the opening “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America” come to mean “We the People of the United States **and God**…”? We can do this, my friends, with mutual respect for the rights of the individual and the defense of the common good.
