I Watched, I Listened, and frankly I am Scared...

   Like millions of others, I watched the debate on Monday evening, but it was not entirely what I saw, or heard, but what was absent and not heard.

   I had just read, a few days before, an article that referenced James Madison, 4th President of the US, a founding father of the nation, in fact, called the Father of the Constitution.

   "After sitting under John Witherspoon, Madison came to think that the state, when governed not merely by the will of the majority but by the higher authorities of Natural and Divine Law, may support the life of virtue."

   Increasingly over the past few years, I have thought that the two doctrines of Democracy, defined as the will of the majority, and Christianity, defined as by Biblical authority, may not long be able to exist side by side in America.

   And that thought scares me. Not only for the generation that lives now, but for those who will follow and not be subject to the disciplines that these doctrines impose on a society.

   And how does all of this fit into what I heard and saw Monday night?

   I did not hear one word of reference, by these two candidates, to any kind of religious thought or idea. I may have missed this, but it seemed to me to be a religion of "I" or "me" all the way through.

   Candidates in the past seemed to at least tip their hat to the idea that God was around, and that they wanted his help, at least to win.

   I think ahead to the inauguration of the next president and the oath that he  or she will take, with a hand on the Bible, which concludes with "so help me God".

   Will that just be an empty phrase? Will we have to remove even those 4 words from our lexicon and the oath?

   Can we even pretend to sing "God Bless America" when we have relegated the Divine to the graveyard?

   Catastrophe aside, we will elect one of these two to the highest office in the land. The will of the people prevails, but where will that lead us?

   I'm Scared

      Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee. (John Donne)