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Why The Left Has Abandoned Religion - Tulsi Gabbard

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Tulsi Gabbard addresses the strained and often antagonistic relationship between people on the political left, God, and faith in contemporary discourse. She notes a significant historical shift within the Democratic Party, which she originally joined as an inclusive institution welcoming individuals from all religious backgrounds. Over time, however, this dynamic has changed drastically; while former President Jimmy Carter was an Evangelical Christian who faced some internal skepticism upon his election, recent trends have moved toward actively excluding God from public life. Gabbard points to the 2020 Democratic National Convention held virtually during the pandemic as a prime example of this shift, where organizers made a show of eliminating "Under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance despite it being recited over Zoom. The transcript highlights specific instances where the party appears to target Catholics and Christians primarily in an effort to remove any mention or influence of religion from public life. Gabbard cites Kamala Harris's tenure as a Senator, specifically her actions on the Judiciary Committee where she opposed a nominee for a judgeship because he was an observant Catholic and a member of the Knights of Columbus. Similarly, she references warnings issued by Senator Diane Feinstein regarding Amy Coney Barrett before her Supreme Court confirmation, noting concerns about religious dogma conflicting with constitutional provisions that forbid religious tests for public office. Gabbard argues these actions violate the fundamental concept of freedom of religion, which should allow individuals to practice their beliefs—whether Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, or atheist—in both private and public spheres without penalty. Gabbard posits that this hostility stems from a lack of belief in objective truth among party elites who seek to position themselves as the sole authority on what is true, acceptable information, and free speech versus misinformation or hate speech. She suggests that those who believe in a higher power are viewed with suspicion because they do not bend the knee to Democratic elite power structures. To illustrate how centralized religious control can be dangerous, she references William Tyndale, the scholar who first translated the Bible into common English from Hebrew and Greek. By making scripture accessible directly to common people rather than mediating it through priests or an educated clergy, Tyndale decentralized spiritual authority; Gabbard draws a parallel between this historical persecution of decentralization and modern efforts to suppress direct personal relationships with God in favor of government control over truth. Ultimately, the speaker expresses deep concern that these policies are not only illogical but also counterproductive, effectively shooting themselves in the foot given the high percentage of religious Americans who remain Christian. She criticizes the leadership at the forefront of culture and economics for being unsophisticated and failing to understand second- or third-order consequences. For Gabbard, the most disheartening aspect is not just that these leaders make mistakes, but that they do not care enough to try to figure out solutions or respect human error. She concludes by emphasizing that a party controlled by those who reject objective truth cannot coexist with citizens following their own spiritual paths, creating an environment where faith is treated as incompatible with patriotism and public service rather than being seen as a valid foundation for community engagement.
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certainly an interesting angle I think to the political discourse at the moment is the strained relationship that people on the left have with God and faith and this almost antagonistic relationship uh with religion and belief but certain religions certain um what do you make of that how do you sort of see I have a whole chapter in my book uh on this exactly um and and in in that you know I talk about how and refer to once again the the history of the democratic party and how uh it it really has grown as of late where it was once a party that that there was no aversion to mention of God there was it was a it was and this was the party that I joined it was a more inclusive party I welcome people from all different religious backgrounds and faiths and different beliefs um to now fast forward to and and it was something that happened over time I mean Jimmy Carter was an Evangelical Christian and even when he was elected president there were some people around him who are just like oh I don't know if this is like too much and this this is something that has increased over time to where in the last Democratic Convention that was held obviously was held virtually uh during the whole covid thing uh but even um saying the Pledge of Allegiance they made a big show of eliminating saying one nation awkward silence refuse to say under God I didn't know that even as they said the Pledge of Allegiance interesting over Zoom um so you know seeing seeing uh how today's Democratic party uh is you know they they are targeting Catholics and Christians primarily um trying to eliminate like God God really any ition of God from from every facet of public life you had kamla Harris when she was a Senator on the Judiciary Committee uh going after an attacking and ultimately opposing a nominee for a judgeship specifically because he was an observant and devout Catholic and a member of the Knights of Columbus uh you [ __ ] is that the Knights of Columbus yeah it is um it is an all male organization uh I don't think it's like it's not go I don't know if it's governed by the Catholic church but it is a Catholic organization Knights of Columbus sounds cool it does sound cool way cooler than me and my friends but it's it's a community it's a community like service oriented organization they you know they go and do good things in in the community essentially but but it is centered around a very um a Catholic system give it a less intimidating name it sounds Masonic and dangerous and you know spooky um they did the same thing with Amy Cony Barrett who's now in the Supreme Court uh with uh now um since passed away but Senator Diane Feinstein warned against her when she went for confirmation before the same Judiciary Committee saying you know I'm concerned the Dogma lives loudly within you all of these things going against our constitution which says there shall be no religious test to serve in any public office period um and uh it's just it just it it unfortunately um it it goes against kind of the whole concept of freedom of religion where you can have your beliefs you can be atheist agnostic Christian Buddhist Hindu whatever uh whatever you know your your your choice is that is literally the concept of freedom is not that you're not allowed to practice your religion in public and it's got to be just a private thing you can do what you want where's this come from is this a uh contamination Zone from trying to maybe upend some of the uh History of the United States is it that you know the uh sort of love of country and patriotism is Right coded and so is maybe religious participation right coded and if we're not that then it means that we're the like I I don't understand given that there's so many Americans who are religious Christian it just seems like you're shooting yourself in the foot and the face why why would you do a lot a lot of the things that they're pushing fall into that category because because they don't make sense and and they're so insanely radical that um that there are very negative consequences to those policies just at a basic human level we talked about some of them already um you know ultimately at its heart and again I I don't find any logic or rationale to the actual reason that they're giving but at its heart when you have a party um that is controlled by people who don't believe in objective truth that there for example that there are biological differences between men and women that they want to be the authority that tells us what is true and what is not true they want to be the authority that tells us uh what is acceptable information what is not you know misinformation disinform hate speech violent speech acceptable speech whatever the case may be uh they they see themselves as that Authority and they recognize that those who believe in a higher power whatever that may be um are not going to buy into them being that higher power or that Authority and and the ultimate you know influencer that people should be concerned with and so at its core that's that is where this is coming from it comes back to Power and them seeing those who believe in God or who are following their particular spiritual path or faith as not being willing to bend the knee to the power of the Democrat Elite uh and the the positions that they hold in our government so there's a story about William tyale who was a scholar and linguist he was the first person to translate the Bible into common English from the original Hebrew and Greek and what you had when you went to mass was a conduit between you and the priest so if you as a common me and you are common peasants and we go on Sunday to church service our relationship with God is mediated through the priest and because the Bible is not written in the common language we have to go so they've kind of centralized power in this one forcing point in the middle which is the one person that can actually read it and that William tale was persecuted for doing that because the then the relationship had become completely decentralized it was totally accessible to everybody and um it doesn't feel too if what you're saying's right it doesn't feel like that's too dissimilar that you know if you are able to get your meaning and your trust from somebody a direct personal relationship with God is not Daddy government yeah then maybe you don't need us so much and it's so like if this stuff's true and I'm too green behind the ears in this country to actually be able to sort of contextualize much of it it's so unsophisticated and infantile yeah like it's so like unimpressive that you know the people that run the Forefront of culture the country that's behind the economic engine and all the rest of the stuff they America coughs everyone else catches a cold all of this that these people are like actually really unsophisticated yeah and stupid and uh they don't understand second or third order consequences they don't do they they're not even trying how which makes it even worse in my view you know if you've got someone us the respect toly to like eat like just try do the work try to figure this out and look you're we're all human you might make a mistake you might make a wrong decision got it but these are people who aren't even they don't care enough and this is this is the most disheartening and the most dangerous part they don't even care enough to make that effort in other news this episode is brought to you by Maui Nei venison you just heard our resident Hawaiian princess Tulsi talking about her home state of Hawaii whose axis de population is ravaging the RICO systems and that is why I am a massive fan of Maui Nei venison not only does this meat tastes absolutely amazing it is actively combating the environmental destruction which is caused by Maui's axis deer overp population it has the highest protein per calorie ratio on the market up to 53% more than grass-fed beef and it's the only stress-free 100% wild harvested red meat 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