Religious Values Do Not Belong in Government
In light of the highly anticipated and expected, yet unfortunate events within the California Supreme Court today some might be expecting me to spout forth the standard fount of vitriol and say that the Church of Latter Day Saints is an evil institution comprised of ignorant fools and bigoted asshats that wish to force the rest of the country back hundreds of years in social developement.
I am not going to do that.
Instead I'm going to talk about how important it is that we keep our religious values out of Government.
I've spoken before about the four pronged arguement for the Seperation of Church and State:
1) People don't always agree about religious issues
2) Religious issues cannot be proven right through majority opinion
3) Human beings are capable of error
4) Liberty is worth defending
We do not live in a country that was founded on religious ideas, our nation was created as a secular state in order to protect the right for any man, woman, or child to believe what they wished. We all know that the Bible does not contain any passages supporting three seperate branches of government and a system of checks and balances designed to keep the distribution of power from getting too lopsided.
People might say that the men that founded our nation were Christians, but they'd be wrong if they tried to claim that the key writers of the Constitution were. Jefferson himself believed the Christ was a Deist and the Jeffersonian Bible takes every mention of God, Christ's devinity, and Christ's miracles leaving a dark political story that's not too nice to the jews. Jefferson himself did not believe in Christ's devinity at all, and could not really be considered a christian by any standard that people used then or today.
Some people try to claim that equality and justice are christian virtues and that these virtues informed the drafting of the documents that have made our country what it is. They would be wrong of course. Equality, Justice, or even simple Moral Virtues existed long before Christianity did and were written about and explored long before Christians attempted to co-opt them as their own. One cannot claim that simply because a thing is good that it is a christian thing, otherwise Ghandi was christian, so was Socrates.
But this idea, this concept of a secular government is a very precious thing, and no matter what our religious convictions we are all obligated to do what we can to protect this secular entity. Without it we will lose the most important part of our cultural identity. This secular force is our first line of defense against people would attempt to tell us what we can and cannot think or believe. Without it people like the Mormons could never have existed, the same people that would claim it is within their rights to fund and fight for legislation that impinges on the same freedoms that protect their basic right to believe.
I would urge every American to think a bit longer and harder before they vote for legislation that claims that some people in America have rights to basic things that other people do not simply because it is in line with their religious convictions. If legislators had thought like that throughout the course of American History then we would never have abolished slavery.
We can cry into the night for reason, and we can shake our fists at the men and women that have attempted to besmirch the honor of a beautiful place we have all had the pleasure of living in but it will get us nowhere until the rest of the nation understands the importance of a force for justice in America.
I am not going to do that.
Instead I'm going to talk about how important it is that we keep our religious values out of Government.
I've spoken before about the four pronged arguement for the Seperation of Church and State:
1) People don't always agree about religious issues
2) Religious issues cannot be proven right through majority opinion
3) Human beings are capable of error
4) Liberty is worth defending
We do not live in a country that was founded on religious ideas, our nation was created as a secular state in order to protect the right for any man, woman, or child to believe what they wished. We all know that the Bible does not contain any passages supporting three seperate branches of government and a system of checks and balances designed to keep the distribution of power from getting too lopsided.
People might say that the men that founded our nation were Christians, but they'd be wrong if they tried to claim that the key writers of the Constitution were. Jefferson himself believed the Christ was a Deist and the Jeffersonian Bible takes every mention of God, Christ's devinity, and Christ's miracles leaving a dark political story that's not too nice to the jews. Jefferson himself did not believe in Christ's devinity at all, and could not really be considered a christian by any standard that people used then or today.
Some people try to claim that equality and justice are christian virtues and that these virtues informed the drafting of the documents that have made our country what it is. They would be wrong of course. Equality, Justice, or even simple Moral Virtues existed long before Christianity did and were written about and explored long before Christians attempted to co-opt them as their own. One cannot claim that simply because a thing is good that it is a christian thing, otherwise Ghandi was christian, so was Socrates.
But this idea, this concept of a secular government is a very precious thing, and no matter what our religious convictions we are all obligated to do what we can to protect this secular entity. Without it we will lose the most important part of our cultural identity. This secular force is our first line of defense against people would attempt to tell us what we can and cannot think or believe. Without it people like the Mormons could never have existed, the same people that would claim it is within their rights to fund and fight for legislation that impinges on the same freedoms that protect their basic right to believe.
I would urge every American to think a bit longer and harder before they vote for legislation that claims that some people in America have rights to basic things that other people do not simply because it is in line with their religious convictions. If legislators had thought like that throughout the course of American History then we would never have abolished slavery.
We can cry into the night for reason, and we can shake our fists at the men and women that have attempted to besmirch the honor of a beautiful place we have all had the pleasure of living in but it will get us nowhere until the rest of the nation understands the importance of a force for justice in America.