The editorial board of the Idaho Statesman — Scott McIntosh, Bryan Clark, Chadd Cripe, Dana Oland, Jim Keyser, and Mary Rohlfing — recently published an opinion piece condemning the actions of Christian organizations Hold the Line and Turning Point USA Faith.  The Statesman editorial board doesn't like the fact that the "Kingdom to the Capitol" tour has made its way to Boise, Idaho.

The Kingdom to the Capitol is a Christian "revival tour" that holds prayer and worship events across the U.S.  Its goal is to bring praise and worship music and prayer to every state capitol in the U.S.  By my count, it's reached 23 so far.  Kingdom to the Capitol is the result of a partnership between Turning Point USA Faith and Let Us Worship (a sister organization to Hold the Line).

The title of the Statesman's foolish opinion piece begins with the old and overused leftist edict, "Keep your religion out of our government."  The title concludes with the "scary" conclusion that "[d]angerous activists [are] coming to [the] Idaho Capitol."

What's so "dangerous" about the Kingdom to the Capitol event?  The authors declare, "It's no accident the rallies are being held at state Capitol buildings, as these charlatans increasingly want to inject their brand of religion into politics."  According to the editorialists, examples of injecting "religion into politics" include restrictions on abortions and restrictions on so-called "gender-affirming care for transgender youth."

In other words, it seems that the Statesman doesn't want the law in America to protect the most innocent and helpless among us from death or permanent mutilation.  Additionally, in an attempt to smear the event and its attendees, the Statesman editorialists also use the familiar "Christian nationalist" label.

Sean Feucht, a Christian singer, songwriter, worship leader, and former congressional candidate, is one of the event organizers.  Attacking Feucht directly, the Statesman editorialists write,

Feucht and his group are playing on the same, tired, worn-out, BS, far-right "fears" that evildoers on the Left are coming for your children, through the schools, through the libraries, at Pride festivals and drag shows. They frame the issue as a fight between good and evil, light vs. dark. Predictably, they clutch their pearls at transgender apparel at Target or popular music videos.

The last two sentences of the editorial declare, "No one is telling these groups to abandon their religious beliefs.  We're just telling them to keep their religion in their church and out of our government."

This garbage opinion piece by the "Secular Nationalists" at the Idaho Statesman is a perfect example of why so many in America hate newspapers, and why so many newspapers across the U.S. are dying.  (The McClatchy Company, which owns the Statesman, declared bankruptcy in 2020.)  Given that Idaho is a solidly conservative state, it's almost certain that this opinion piece is quite unpopular with a significant majority of Idaho's residents, and just another reason for them not to give their time or money to the Idaho Statesman.

Being unpopular doesn't mean that one is wrong.  However, as most conservatives including the conservatives in Idaho well know, the Idaho Statesman editorialists, like so many opinion-writers in America, are indeed on the wrong side of the truth in some of the most important moral issues of our time.

Few things in the moral realm are more clear than what is life, and what is a male and a female.  Thus, any society governed by the rule of law should have laws that reflect the long known truth on these grave matters.

What's more, the Statesman editorial-writers are seemingly blind to their moral and political hypocrisy here.  It seems they are fine with injecting their leftist worldview into America's politics and laws, but they don't like the idea of Christians doing the same.

As I have long said, all law the world over is rooted in someone's idea of morality.  In other words, either we write our own moral code — which almost certainly will be grossly flawed — and have our laws reflect this moral code, or, when living our lives and when legislating, we adhere to the laws of the Lawgiver.

"Keep your religion out of our government" is much like the leftist complaint of "Stop forcing your morality on me!"  The proper retort to the latter is, "Stop forcing your immorality on me!"  Thus, to the Idaho Statesman editorial board, I say, keep your irreligious, godless, and profane ideas out of our government!

Trevor Grant Thomas: At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America.
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

Image: Idaho Statesman.