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Sarasota News Leader December 7, 2012 OPINION Jefferson's extreme heterodox beliefs caused the New England Palladium to write in 1800, "Should the infidel Jefferson be elected to the Presidency, the seal of death is that moment set on our holy religion, our churches will be prostrated, and some infamous 'prostitute,' under the title of goddess of reason, will preside in the sanctuaries now devoted to the worship of the most High." Still, Jefferson was twice elected president. Religion and the Republic survived together harmoniously, thanks to Jefferson's having built into the First Amendment a "wall of separation between church and State," as he explained in an 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association. John Adams was a Congregationalist who sought to rationalize Christian teachings with common sense and observable nature. Benjamin Franklin's religious progression was perhaps the most extensive of all those of the Founding Fathers. He was a sinner turned prodigal. Franklin's core belief is perhaps best expressed by the last of his 13 Virtues (1726): "Imitate Jesus and Socrates." Page 63 Intelligent Americans know that the "war on women" is being fought elsewhere. In Afghanistan — after more than a decade of U.S.-led "nation building" costing billions of dollars — family planning services are still outlawed. Sex outside marriage is punished by beheading. An adulteress and her lover will die by public stoning. An Afghan victim of rape later may also become the victim of "honor killing," a form of ritual murder committed by her close male relatives to expunge the family's shame of having a rape victim living under their roof. Afghan women also face severe punishments for lesser "crimes," such as deserting an abusive husband. In such cases, suicide is often a woman's only exit from the marriage since access to divorce is most often denied her. That is the real war on women. To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, American voters are sometimes gullible but not stupid. The GOP lost the White House in 2012 because too few voters supported its candidate and the entire spectrum of policies and positions he championed. The serious issues Today's "Religious Right" is said by some to contested included reform of the tax code, the promote a vision of society that exemplifies federal budget, the national debt, immigration, the best of American values and traditions: healthcare, Social Security, Iran, etc. love of God and reverence for life. Others, including former Sarasota Democratic con- Pinning the blame for the loss primarily on the gressional candidate Keith Fitzgerald, have GOP's presumed surrender to the "Religious claimed that it wages war on women. Right" demands an enormous leap of faith. %