Katherine Harris, in the Florida Baptist Witness:

…that lie we have been told, the separation of church and state, people have internalized, thinking that they needed to avoid politics and that is so wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers. And if we are the ones not actively involved in electing those godly men and women… then we’re going to have a nation of secular laws. That’s not what our founding fathers intended and that’s certainly isn’t what God intended.

…But that’s why we need the faithful and we need to take back this country. It’s time that the churches get involved.

… if you’re not electing Christians then in essence you are going to legislate sin.

…whenever we legislate sin and we say abortion is permissible and we say gay unions are permissible, then average citizens who are not Christians, because they don’t know better, we are leading them astray and it’s wrong.

As a non-Christian, I can vouch for what Ms. Harris is saying: Me, my people, my family… we actually don’t know better. Honest. No idea about the whole “right and wrong” thing. It all seems like one big gray, mushy area to me. So I’m voting Christian this year, and I hope you will too.

But before we get to that…

…let me say that I’m glad someone finally had the courage to suggest that religious organizations should get together and become active in politics. For too long the churches and the people of faith have kept themselves above it all. But if they start getting involved, then one day we might be able to elect representatives, governors, senators - who knows, maybe even presidents! - who don’t hide their Christian faith.

It’s not going to happen overnight, but if we follow Katherine’s model, we just might get there. Me, I’m tired of living in a country where people pretend not to believe in God just to get elected. Where a man of faith has to deny his love for Jesus just to get a few votes. I see a day when a politician can get up and say “I’m a Christian!” with the same joy and pride that today’s politicians get up and say “I’m an atheist!”

Someday.

Meanwhile, we need to get those Christians in office or else I’m going to stray from the path. I know it. I can feel it. I’m one of those average citizens who isn’t a Christian, and if you “legislate sin,” well, then I’m likely to think it’s okay. It’s not my fault, really. I just don’t know any better.

Let me give you an example: Rape. I don’t do it. Why? Because it’s wrong. How do I know that? Because it’s illegal. Easy, right? That’s how my non-Christian mind works.

But suppose for a minute that some weird ACLU types decided to pass a law that made rape legal. Some “freedom of expression” argument or something, get an activist judge to rubberstamp it - ba-boom! Rape is legal. Does that make it okay?

You bet it does! At least to me. As someone who doesn’t know Jesus, I can say that if rape wasn’t illegal, I would no longer see anything wrong with it.

Would I rape people right away? That’s hard to say. It wouldn’t be “wrong” anymore, but it’s never really been anything I’ve been interested in. But what if Hollywood started making rape cool? What if there were lovable movie heroes doing it, like maybe some flick where like Matthew McConaughey starts raping people for fun and the background music is kind of bouncy so you know it’s not a scary or bad thing and then maybe it cuts into a techno/house rhythm and neat spinning cameras and washed-out Matrix-like green lighting so it all seemed really excellent while he was raping people and stuff…?

Then I’d probably be into it. Seems hard to picture now, but if I really think about it? Sure. I can see myself happily bending innocent Christians over barstools - blonde, innocent Christians of both genders - and raping ‘em for fun just because is wasn’t illegal and because Matt McConaughey looked cool doing it.

Sorry if that sounds a little harsh, but that’s how the non-Christian mind works. That’s why I’m so totally into abortions and stuff, and I really wish I wasn’t. I wish I could see what might be wrong with ‘em. But I don’t have Jesus to tell me, so I’m all like “Whatever. I guess they’re okay.”

And that’s why I’m hoping we can all get together - Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, atheists, everyone - all get together and elect some Christians in November. It’s time to finally open the door for people of faith (Christian faith, for once!) to step out of the shadows and come into public life. Let then close the divide between church and state and make sure the law tells me what’s right and wrong. Otherwise I can’t promise that I won’t soon be spending my Saturday evenings trying to impress girls by raping, murdering, aborting fetuses, and marrying men.

Honestly, if it looks cool on MTV and there’s no law against it, I’ll probably do it. Only a Christian government stands between me and… that. Let’s all pitch in and help them help us. Some tiny voice at the back of my shriveled, half-formed, filthy non-Christian soul tells me that it might be my only hope.