"Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof"
Today is the "Blog against Theocracy" day. We live in a Nation that was founded on certain principles. One of the First is separation of church and State. I am not against religion. I am a very spiritual person actually, but on my own terms. I am also a the type of person that cannot, and would not stand by and let people's rights be violated. A Theocracy is apart, at least in my view, of the Absolutism family. The absolutism family includes dictatorship, Monarchy, Despotism, Totalitarian, Fascism, Nazism, and Theocracy. I believe this because in a Theocracy the views of one group is set above all others. That will inherently lead to abuses of power. It does not matter how good the religion is absolute power corrupts absolute. A lot of people push religious agendas in American politics. This is wrong. We can't allow creationism to be taught in schools. We cannot allow the Ten commandment in govn't buildings, and we cannot allow prayer in school. We can't be that because if we do we are persecuting people who do not follow these teachings.When we do this we are forcing Christianity on people. This nation of ours is not a christian nation, despite what you may think. My roommate thinks that this is a christian nation. He says that this country was founded by Christians. In fact many if not all of the founding fathers were Deist. They followed Deism, which is a religious philosophy that believes in the existence of God, but believe that God isn't involved in human affairs, and that we must take care of ourselves while we are here on the earth. It also states religious beliefs be based on the natural world, because understanding the world is that only to know God. So basically they were not pro religion, which is not the same as God. I hope we all know that God and Religion are not the same thing. So now that we know the founding fathers could not be Christian because they were not advocates of Religion. We must move on to the majority is Christian claim. What if the shoe was on the other foot? Would you be offended if the Qur'an were displayed at your courthouse? The golden rule "do unto others and you would have them do unto you" This nation is for everyone. If we allow persecute people and force our beliefs on others we are no better than the real bad people. I see that the Right wing evangelical radicals in this country are trying to turn this country in to a christian nation. If that were to let this happen I know we would persecute the people that differ from them. Whether it be Muslims, Scientist, Homosexuals, or atheist. What people don't realize is that if it became that way. the moral values would be enforced harshly and more than just moral views. The principles that we hold dear would be stripped from us. You cannot have it one way, and not the other it everyone is free or no one is. Do not let people manipulate your fears. They will turn it against you. A religious state is not and never will be what you think it is.
18 comments:
c-dell- each voice is a different style but that doesn't make the message any less relevant. your voice and your message is right on- and the important part is that you are reaching your audience and a bigger audience as part of a bigger thing. keep making your voice heard!
Your point on the Founding Fathers is well put: did you ever read Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason. I wrote on him once. I may follow a religion, but I don't believe it belongs in school--I have seen far too many examples of kids who went to religious private schools and hated their faith. It will not bring the so-called moral values that the right are clamering for. I went to one for a while because I was a badass in high schol, and I just hung out with all the dopers. Our relationship to God is personal: it doesn't mean we can't talk about it, but we don't ram it down people's throats. The key word is tolerance: those who are believers need to accept that some will not agree and those who think God is dead should respect those who see it differently. Religion has been the dividing force since who knows when and I doubt it will ever change. Even though we have this church/state separation, political candidates feel bound to publicize their religion: Hillary with Methodism, Bush as an Evangelical and so on. Great, they go to church. They are still assholes in my book.
Thanks for joining in and appreciate your point of view, as it should be!
Cheers! ; )
Well done!
Very good sermon, you are not a preacher by any chance?
Happy eater to u too buddy! :)
Peace & Love
JeeVY
Easter I mean*
That's an interesting thought, C-Dell. Many Americans could very well see the purpose of separating religion from state if, say, women were required by law to wear a hajib.
And you are correct in your argument that the nation was never founded as a Christian nation (if so, we would have to explain our history of bloodlust and imperialism). Rewriting history so that you can impose your religious views on others is certainly neither honest, nor Christian.
Hey! Happy Easter too! But guess im a little late ya? haha.
Disclaimer: I am no trying to be antagonistic by saying this, only making a point about spiritual freedom.
You say that we cannot allow prayer in schools, but I ask you, how are you going to go about legislating that? It's impossible! I pray all the time throughout the day, and I encourage my child to do the same (and he goes to public school!) OH NO! Is he breaking a law?? He isn't praying out loud! So how can you legislate that?
Obviously, the prayer in school issue is not about an individual student practicing his or her right to pray to their God in the quiet of their mind and heart, but rather it is against the teacher, administrator or faculty leading the student body in a mandatory prayer that would violate the student's rights as a whole.
I thought clarification was needed.
C-dell-
Thanks for acknowledging my comment, and for being so nice about it. I hope I didn't come off too harshly or anything!
BTW, I agree with you about mandated prayer being kept out of public schools. If parents want their kid's teachers to lead them in prayer, we live in a free country where you have the ability to send your kids to private schools or to homeschool them yourself. All these choices are what make our country so great, right?
Thanks for your always insightful articles, you never fail to make me think.
I was just reading over your rules for comments. I can understand if someone puts a death threat or racist comments on your blog, but don't you think, with your blog consisting mostly of political articles, you should let some if not all of your dissenters have a say on your issues? I have read most, if not all of your comments since you started your blog and the majority of them, favor your opinions. I don't think Fox News needs any competition, so why don't you let a few dissenters rant?
Off Topic since I've been doing so little blogging and haven't kept up on the latest blogswarm around theocracy...
I hope you had a wonderful Easter. Thank you for your visits to my site and for your thoughtful comments! :)
I see you added blog rules! Wow! I'm sure you did that for a good reason.
I agree with your view, even though I am not an American.
Religion should be separate from state. No state should have the right to forced religion onto its citizens.
Instead all religions should be respected by every citizen and the citizen should be allowed to practice his/her faith freely within societies' tolerable boundaries.
Being a Muslim, my son is studying in a Catholic school because it is one of the best schools in our zone, even though there are other secular public schools around.
He has to respect but not join-in the prayers they have every morning. So do the Buddhist and Hindu children.
I believe government should be neutral to religion even though all religions teach one to be a good person.
A government following one will have the tendencies to impose the thinkings and beliefs of that particular religion to the public. That is wrong.
A true government represents all the people regardless of creed and religion.
Like EOTS said, one may go to church, but one can still be a pain in the... ehem.
C-dell some of our founding fathers were in fact of Muslim faith, as Islam is one of the oldest religions. Some were "converted" to Christianity, which this country has been built on. By taking away any mention of god or any articles of god, you are taking away this nations identity and traditions.
Separation of religion and state is meant so that no religious zealot can demand that you submit yourself to their god.
I am an atheist and have no problem with "In God We trust" on our money or "Under God" in our pledge to this nation. If someone wants to pray to a god or believe in a god and it makes them a better person, so be it. Just as long as they don't knock on my door trying to "convert" me, I don't care.
By removing all religious identity from everything that belongs to the federal, state, or local government, which by the way, actually belongs to the people, not the government, you are destroying the history and identity of this nation. This is what separates us from every other country on this planet. By saying god, you are not forcing anyone to submit to only your god, but to what ever god they want to pray to or recognize, if any.
Remember -- when this nation was established the majority of people were Christian's. Without these christian beliefs our current law structure and Constitution would be very much different.
By banning school prayer you are violating the rights of those that believe in a god. Those that pray are not all Christians. You are falling into the secular crap trap, that is being forced fed to you, as if you are comatose and on a ventilator.
Saying the pledge of allegiance in school and a "moment" for silent prayer did not "force" anyone to submit to Christianity or any other religion. I never felt threatened, the only ones that complained were a few teachers that were outraged by the pledge, claiming it forced children into a culture of destruction.
I understand your point of view, but are you not condoning what you objurgate? Are you not discriminating against those that believe in God?
This country has run great with our traditions over the past two hundred years or so, so why change it now? Remember that our schools were much better and far more affective forty years ago, prior to all of this PC we are now faced with.
What ever happened to that saying, "Stick and stones can break my bones, but names will never hurt me." Now it is, don't say anything for fear you may "offend" someone. This is just another way to control what you say and what you believe.
Take care brother
-T
Solid post!
Freedom of religion must include freedom from religion...
Choice in all things is a good thing.
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