Thursday, July 3, 2014

How to re-institute the separation of Church and State

Separation of Church and State was a founding principle of our nation.  But now, some want to use the government to impose their particular interpretation of their religion on others.  And they do so in the name of protecting religious freedom.  "Allowing women to make their own choices about abortion infringes on my religious right to tell people what to do", or "Forcing my company to pay for health care that includes birth control infringes upon my religious right to try to make my employees live according to the principles of my church."  I want to live in a Democracy, not a Theocracy.  But the tide of Supreme Court decisions (5 to 4) has been to allow religion to trump other individual freedoms.  So what could change this trend?  If the Bin Laden family were to buy a major American company (say Sears, or Starbucks) and require that all their female employees wear burkas.  I think public opinion and the Supreme court would quickly condemn it and re-institute the ability for individuals to live free from the religious beliefs of their employers.  Remember, when you allow religion to dictate, you have to allow all religions to dictate.  The right-wingers don't want that, they want everyone to follow only their version of the Bible (be it the Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran interpretation or what have you).  But they know they can't sell that idea.  So they cloak their intentions in the guise of religious freedom.  Bin Laden's please come and push the envelope so people can wake up and realize the danger of letting a religion dictate civilian life.