History is rife with misunderstandings that caused great hardship for people based upon political and religious ignorance. The worlds of politics and religion are two of the only concepts that affect everyone whether they participate in them or not. Despite the concept of separation of church and state, the two have always been and will always be intertwined. The influence they have on one another can be denied and even ignored for the sake of promoting a secular worldview, but invariably they collide despite all attempts to keep them separated.
These are strange times. Technology has brought nearly all societies together to some extent. Someone in the Middle East does not need to travel to America to have profound knowledge about western culture. Someone in America can become acutely aware of the geopolitical and religious conflicts happening in the Middle East. All it takes is a few keystrokes and some time spent researching. This is why terrorism is thriving. It’s why potential terrorists are being radicalized across the globe. It’s why the next American President must have an intimate knowledge of the Bible, the Qur’an, and the Constitution.
Some would argue that having knowledgeable advisers is enough. This is absolutely not the case. We are in times unlike any other. These three documents will play a larger role in our future than ever before. Scholarly understanding will be necessary for the decision-maker; having an unelected cabinet member or adviser calling the shots on these types of issues is simply unacceptable. Advisers on these issues worked in the past, but today too many things center around the interactions and responses that are driven by religious considerations.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, atheist, agnostic, or believer in any other religion. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Republican, Democrat, Independent, Libertarian, or any other political party. It doesn’t even matter if you’re like most Americans focused on your own circle of influence and unaware of anything happening in the political and religious worlds. The need for the President to be versed in the Bible, the Qur’an, and the Constitution is not negotiable. There’s no time for on-the-job training. Good ideas aren’t enough anymore.
Why the Bible?
President Obama famously butchered sections of the Bible during speeches in his first term when he was trying to appeal to Christians and Jews to follow the secular path he laid out for the country. I was proud of those who denied his callings and saw through his ruse. Then, I became concerned when I realized that his constant attacks started having an effect on the spiritually or intellectually weak.
In the last seven years, we’ve seen the deterioration of our values in this country. As a result, we’ve seen the deterioration of the country itself as political correctness, race wars, crime, and poverty have increased as planned. It’s ironic that his Presidency was supposed to be an awakening for America, a fundamental change in the way the country and its citizens operate. He succeeded and the people cheered. Many of them are still blind to the fact that they participated in hurting themselves and those around them.
Throughout all of this, the silver lining is that the core Judeo-Christian base of the country has been strengthened out of necessity. The numbers are down and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Since it’s no longer as socially beneficial to go to church and act religious, the true believers in the one true God are standing out against a sea of lukewarm religious practitioners. In other words, the acceptance of the secular and agnostic model for American culture has helped to separate the wheat from the chaff in ways that were not visible before.
While President Obama failed to use the Bible as a weapon against Christians and Jews, the next President has an opportunity to use it to further unite believers from a political perspective. It isn’t just about knowing a few Bible verses and defending religious freedoms, though that is important. It’s really about knowing how Christians and Jews can be guided towards a conservative perspective. Even in the church today, there are many who are leaning left. The Bible, when understood by the President, can be his most powerful tool for shifting the mindset of the country at its Judeo-Christian core to a righteous worldview that puts aside the pseudo-conservative principles like racism and embraces a Biblical perspective that is truly conservative and truly beneficial for the nation.
This absolutely must be understood. The Bible can unite this country within the confines of the 1st Amendment by building up the religious right and coalescing them towards the common goal of making America a better place for all. Rather than using certain Bible verses for leftist means like President Obama has done, it can be used to promote conservatism in ways that even those with a secular worldview can embrace. This is only possible with a President who truly, intimately knows the Bible and follows its teachings without question.
No, this isn’t a call for a theocracy. It’s a call for the President to understand the Bible in a way that empowers him to make the right decisions and to guide the nation down a conservative path.
Why the Qur’an?
We are not at war with Islam. We are, however, at war with radical Islamic forces who commit genocide for the sake of their caliphate, who promote terrorism in the United States (or anywhere for that matter), and who strive to destroy the United States by any means necessary. That means understanding Islam front, back, and in-between.
A President as well as the Secretary of State should know and understand the Qur’an if they have any hope of working with or negotiating with Islamic countries and organizations. Again, some will say that they simply need advisers, but in the heat of the moment during discussions or when decisions must be made, the President needs real knowledge, not advice. That doesn’t mean the President must be a scholar of Islam. It simply means they must have intermediate knowledge of what the Qur’an teaches.
The President must read the book in order to understand radical Islam. To paraphrase Sun Tzu, “Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.”
The teachings of the Qur’an shed a great deal of light on the thinking that drives Islam. Unlike other religions, the Islamic faith is as political as it is religious. There is no separation of church and state with Islam. In fact, the Qur’an is the guidebook to everything political in Muslim nations such as Iran and Saudi Arabia. We have enemies and allies who are driven by the teachings of Muhammad. It behooves us to have a President, Vice President, Secretary of State, and Secretary of Defense who have read these teachings.
Why the Constitution?
The requirements for President of the United States are that he or she must be a natural born citizen, a resident for 14 years, and 35 years of age or older. There should be another requirement. The President of the United States should be able to pass a comprehensive test about the Constitution. It’s ludicrous that we would ever allow the leader of the free world to not have intimate knowledge of the document that is the backbone of our country.
Today, it’s more important than ever. President Obama knows the Constitution and has systematically used this knowledge to entangle the country in a web of legal and political loopholes and landmines that undermine the fabric of the Republic. It will take more than a roomful of DC lawyers to clean up the mess when he’s out of office. It will take a leader who deeply understands what can and cannot be done, a leader that is dedicated to defending it with his core. Those who espouse the belief that the Constitution is outdated are the same people who believe students should be protesting about what lunch is served on college campuses. They’re the same people who believe that ObamaCare was somehow supposed to be a good thing. They’re the same people who see no problem with the Supreme Court taking on state issues such as gay marriage.
The 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 10th Amendments have been under attack for three decades. As a result, the Constitution is bleeding. We need the equivalent of a trauma surgeon with embedded knowledge of the Constitution to sit in the Oval Office and make things right again.
As it pertains to religion, we need a President who understands the importance of religious freedoms and who will fight to maintain those freedoms within a society that is becoming tired of them. So many are willfully letting these liberties slip away because they think it won’t affect them. They are sorely mistaken and the President must be a person who understands why.
These arguments are intended for a secular understanding. Even atheists or agnostics can see the importance of this knowledge. If you’re one who believes we may be living in the end times, then the reasons for wanting someone in the White House with knowledge of the religious texts go up exponentially.
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