Jesse Ventura on keeping religion out of the Supreme Court

To the American People:

I once said in a Playboy magazine interview that religion is a crutch for weak-minded people. And the press made me look like a piker following that statement. But if you read quotes from our founding fathers, you'll see that, compared to them, I'm a lightweight in regards to my religious views.

With regards to my views on religion, I consider myself a lightweight compared to those expressed by our founding fathers. These are the fathers of our country; those who wrote the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

The late Justice Antonin Scalia was as religious as you could get. He would bring his religious beliefs to the bench. I find that offensive and wrong: in order to interpret the law, a justice does not and should not require a religious foundation. I can interpret right from wrong without the support of religion. This is nothing personal against Scalia, but he brought too many of his religious convictions to the bench and made no bones about it.He believed what he believed and wasn’t shy about it. I respect him for that; I respect him for his strong convictions. But I don’t agree with that outlook.

Many politicians will tell you that our country was founded on Christian beliefs. I’m here to let you know that they are full of crap.

If you read quotes from our founding fathers - from Benjamin Franklin to John Adams - it confirms my belief that these politicians are remaking history.

Our forefathers were opposed to religion being a part of government in any capacity. Just take a look at the quotes below. If I ran for office, I would carry these quotes with me to the debates so that when other politicos bring up this nonsense of religion and government, I can respond with these statements.

Thomas Jefferson:

“The Christian god can easily be pictured as virtually the same god as the many ancient gods of past civilizations. The Christian god is a three headed monster cruel vengeful and capricious. If one wishes to know more of this raging three headed beast like god one only needs to look at the caliber of people who say they serve him. They are always of two classes fools and hypocrites.”

Abraham Lincoln:

“The Bible is not my book nor Christianity my profession.”

Benjamin Franklin:

“Religion I found to be without any tendency to inspire, promote, or confirm morality, serves principally to divide us and make us unfriendly to one another.”

George Washington:

"If they are good workmen, they may be of Asia, Africa, or Europe. They may be Mohometans, Jews or Christians of any Sect, or they may be Atheists."

Treaty of Tripoli, signed by John Adams:

“As the Government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion...”

I simply bring this up to show that we cannot bring religion into court.

-Jesse Ventura

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