If you doubt my claim that Obamaism/liberalism are no less a religion than conservatism, then consider the following.

CNN.com recently reported:

“Obama said that as a person who has been ‘extraordinarily blessed,’ he is willing to give up some of the tax breaks he enjoys because doing so makes economic, and religious sense. ‘For me as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus’s teaching that for unto whom much is given, much shall be required,’ Obama said, quoting the Gospel of Luke.”

Now imagine if President George W. Bush had quoted the Bible, for any reason, to justify any of his policies that liberals didn’t like.

Impeachment proceedings would begin the next day, and the media hysteria would be deafening.

No, I don’t think it’s right for a conservative to impose Biblical principles on the population, through the use of government force. But it’s just as wrong when a liberal does it. Why no criticism of Obama for this?

CNN.com continues: “Obama wants to allow the Bush tax cuts to expire for the richest Americans, and he has embraced the idea that wealthy Americans should not be paying a lower effective tax rate than those in the middle or lower classes. He has argued that those policies offer Americans a ‘fair shot’ and increased equality, while implying that the policies favored by Republicans do not.”

Finally, Obama gets to the heart of it: “‘I know that far too many neighbors in our country have been hurt and treated unfairly over the last few years,’ Obama said. ‘And I believe in God’s command to love thy neighbor as thyself. I know a version of that golden rule is found in every major religion and every set of beliefs.'”

So let me get this straight, Obama. You believe in God. You believe in the version of God who claims that we must love our neighbors — including strangers, including even enemies — the same as we love ourselves. To me, that’s madness. But that’s your faith. You’re entitled to believe it; but you want to impose it on everyone else, too? You’re saying that YOUR religious belief should have the force of law. This is why you demand unequal tax rates.

This sounds a lot like merging of religion and state, to me.

Obama is counting on Americans to be too inattentive, or maybe too stupid, to see that he’s doing the same thing as a Rick Santorum. Rick Santorum wants his version of God and religion to become law. Santorum is fixated on things like contraception, abortion and homosexuality. He wants these things to be illegal. Why? Because, he claims, the Bible says so.

Obama is no different. He wants wealth inequality to be illegal, and wealth redistribution to be the norm — perhaps even the absolute. Why?

Because, he claims, the Bible says so.

The Bible is killing America. Specifically, the Bible is killing the American form of government. It’s killing the only means human beings have for prospering: the productivity, incentive and prosperity that only capitalism and free, thinking minds can create. Without prosperity, there will be no money to redistribute, by the way. Under Obama’s policies, the economy has almost stopped growing. The only way Obama can redistribute now is by putting the United States into debt in the tens of trillions of dollars. The only problem he sees with this inconceivable monetary recklessness is … that we need more of it. The “command” of God says so.

When it comes to translating “God’s commands” into government policy, it can only mean one thing in practice: Obeying the commands of the one doing the translation.

Rick Santorum says God’s commands are to outlaw contraception and to restrain the pursuit of happiness; he’s more than happy to implement them. The Ayatollahs of Iran say the same thing, and are also more than happy to implement their version of religious law. Barack Obama says God’s commands are to redistribute wealth; he’s more than happy to implement those laws.

Government using force to impose a particular version of religion …

It’s all the same thing!

The religion of conservatism and the religion of liberalism are no different, in principle. That’s why neither liberals nor conservatives have any credibility. They each seek to impose force on the entire population, a force they can only rationalize by the creed of faith. And then they claim to be philosophical opposites.

I see nothing in the Constitution about the imposition of faith-based principles on the individual. The Constitution was written to protect private property, intellectual property and the inalienable right of the individual to be free from force.

Crooks, terrorists, criminals, outside invaders? These are the kind of forces the government of a free people was designed to restrain.

Religion, charity, sex? These were private matters at the time the Constitution was written. I doubt that Madison, Jefferson and Washington ever conceived they would become targets of government policy.

If either Obama or the religious conservatives get their way, we’re all going to need protection from government itself. The government that started out as the last, best hope of freedom is now on its way to becoming the instrument of force and tyranny.