Fred,

What about Ayn Rand and her admirers?

I do think inclusiveness is a problem with Republicans, but not necessarily based on bad motives. We don’t see America as a collection of interest groups, but a place where everyone is welcome and now please become like us. The problem is defining “like us.” Since a Republican club is a political group, it should be based on politics: We want other people to adopt our political philosophy. But our politics is based on our religion, to some extent, so it’s not as simple as it is for secular liberals. I think David’s solution is a good one, but it takes some conscious thought to make our prayers inclusive.

First of all Christians don’t have to move to Israel or Egypt. Both countries already have long-standing “indigenous” Christian communities.

Israel is a Jewish and democratic state that extends religious liberty to all and provides limited communal self-givernment with respect to matters of private law. There are secular and religious parties in the Knesset.

Here’s what the State Department has to say about Egypt:

http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2011/nea/192881.htm

“The constitution and the Constitutional Declaration of 2011provide for freedom of belief and the practice of religious rites, but the government places restrictions on these rights in policy and practice, such as forbidding Muslims from converting to another religion. Islam is the official state religion, and Sharia (Islamic law) is the primary source of legislation….

“Non-Muslim religious minorities officially recognized by the government, including most Christians, generally worshiped without harassment. However, Christians faced personal and collective discrimination, especially in government employment and the ability to build, renovate, and repair places of worship. The government also failed to redress laws relating to church renovation and construction. Members of the Baha’i Faith, which the government does not recognize, faced personal and collective discrimination. The government also sometimes arrested, detained, or harassed minority Muslim sects, converts from Islam to Christianity, and members of other religious groups whose beliefs or practices it deemed jeopardized communal harmony. Government authorities often refused to provide converts with new identity documents indicating their chosen faith.

“The government used violence against demonstrators, including against mostly Coptic Christian demonstrators at the Maspiro radio and television building in Cairo in October, killing 25 persons and injuring approximately 330. On other occasions, through inaction, the government failed to prevent violence against Christians or stop the destruction of churches and religious minority-owned property. The government generally failed to investigate and prosecute effectively perpetrators of violence against Coptic Christians and continued to favor informal “reconciliation sessions,” which generally precluded criminal prosecution for crimes against Copts and contributed to a climate of impunity that encouraged further assaults.”

Can we say that there’s no analogy at least between the Christians in the Republican Party and the Muslim Brotherhood?

RL,

I certainly don’t go to the kind of Republican meetings that you or Mr. Goldberg do. (In fact, I wouldn’t be caught dead at a Republican meeting!) But my impression of at least some Republicans on this issue is that they take it for a fact that the United States is a Christian country, and if those of other religions somehow feel left out, what in the world do they expect being Jews or Muslims or whatever in a Christian country? If Christians move to Egypt or Israel, they’ll be minorities, too, and they’ll have to lear to deal with it, just like non-Christians in our (Christian) country.