Jefferson's Christianity may be subject to debate, but it is clear that he didn't view himself as expressing his own views in the declaration; rather, "it was intended to be an expression of the American mind." (The American mind, it should be noted, was decidedly Christian.) Plus, a congressional committee led by the devout John Adams made more than 80 changes, deleting nearly 500 words and adding two references to a providential God. The declaration was a corporate statement of Congress. Also, Jefferson was not present at the Constitutional Convention. So Kennedy's reference to Jefferson is at best misleading, as is his convenient omission of many other relevant facts -- including that 52 of the 56 signers of the declaration and 50 to 52 of the 55 signers of the Constitution were orthodox Trinitarian Christians.
Kennedy's other proof of Pawlenty's intolerance and "hatred"? He "oozed mild-mannered hatred for anyone who doesn't share his beliefs." Kennedy's basis for that claim? Pawlenty "trashed anyone who attended 'Ivy League schools' or who go to 'chablis-drinking, brie-eating parties in San Francisco'."
Please get a life, Mr. Kennedy, and learn to take at least a little ribbing in exchange for your vitriol.
You see, in Kennedy's leftist mind, if you simply disagree with and make fun of the left, you're guilty of hatred. If you merely invoke God in your public pronouncements, such as Pawlenty's "God's in charge" or Huckabee's call to "take this nation back for Christ," you're proposing "a theocracy of believers. It is an assault not just on anyone who isn't one of them, but on the American idea, and on liberal democracies everywhere."
Once again, Kennedy is projecting. He's the one objecting to the speech of others. He's the one accusing them of advocating a theocracy, when nothing could be farther from the truth. He's the one exhibiting intolerance for the other man's religious views and speech.
He cites no evidence of Republicans advocating any theocratic ideas. When Christians say God is in control, they mean that in the sense of his divine sovereignty -- not as some endorsement of turning any political control over to a national church, much less any individual church.
When we witness this kind of scattershot Christian-bashing paranoia from the left, we must remember that you won't find censorship of speech or thought or infringements on religious liberty emanating from conservatives or Republicans. Those impulses, when present, generally originate from the left.
So settle down, liberals. When it comes to threats to liberty, you have nothing to fear from us. We will fight to protect your religious liberties and even your political speech -- wrong as it is. Can you say the same in reverse?