The Social Issues Matter ~ Part 1~ Separation of Church and State

Separation of Church and State

This is a big one. It is the First Amendment of our Constitution for crying out loud!

       Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;    or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof

Those are pretty powerful words.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof

I keep repeating them, because they need to be repeated. No laws shall be formed respecting religion or prohibiting the exercise thereof   You know what that means?  You cannot shove your religion down my throat, and I cannot shove my religion down your throat.  It also means that if I choose to live without religion, that's fine too, I have a right to be free from religion as well.

You can go to church, I think that's great, go to church, pray, break your bread, sing, confess, bond with your religious cohorts.  That's fine! I'm not wanting to take that away from you, I think its great that you can worship how you choose.  Just let me do the same, in peace, without being bullied because I pray differently than you do.  I have that right.  Also, don't try and make laws based on your religion, its not the only religion in this country, not the only one in this state, in this city or even on this block.  There are MANY different religions and belief systems out there. Each one is valid and each has the same rights to pray and worship how they choose if they choose.  You cannot use your religion to make laws that infringe on other peoples religious freedoms.

 END. OF. STORY.  Or it should be anyway, unfortunately, that seams to be a hard one to grasp.  Even if you think that your religion is right and mine is wrong, we have no right to force our will on others.  Guess what? There are countries that have religious law of the land.  Where the fundamentalist have control of the government and they force their extreme religious views on the population.  In these countries, you can be jailed for practicing a religion different then the "chosen" religion of that country.  You can be Jailed, you can be killed, you can be denied your right to pray how you choose, you can be denied your right to an education, you can be denied your rights period.  If you honestly think that it doesn't happen in this day and age you are wrong. Look at the Middle East and tell me that you want that here in America.

 But guess what?  It happens here in America.  While it is illegal to persecute people in America for their beliefs, it happens anyway.  After 911 this country went into fear mode, and we enacted laws to "protect" us.  But in that fear we began to persecute many people that belong to the peaceful religion of Islam.  Yes, it is a peaceful religion, there are a few jerks that have given it a bad name, but at the heart of it is a peaceful religion. Yet if you look like you might be from the middle east or go to temple, or pray, you become a target to those that don't understand, and have no interest in understanding.  Recently here in Wisconsin we had a shooting in a Sikh Temple.  These beautiful people in one of the most peaceful religions in existence were shot in their place of worship because someone misjudged them. How would you feel if someone did that to you in your place of worship? Yet we seam to be okay with continually teaching hate rather than tolerance. We tolerate people only so long as their beliefs are in line with ours, and that is a sad way to live. If more people stepped out of their comfort zone and learned about these other religions this world would be a much better place.

Many of you might not understand why this is so important to me, I am white girl in America, what could I possibly know about religious persecution.  You couldn't be more wrong, I was raised in a small town in South Dakota where 99.99% of the population was some form of Christian.  I was a Bah'a'i, another peaceful middle eastern religion. I was told many times that I was "Going to go to Hell" for my "Heathen ways."  I was asked not to attend my best friends funeral because "your spirit might stall her progress to heaven."  This is the kind of hate that I was on the receiving end of when I was growing up because I belonged to a different religion then they did. By the way, I was 11 when my best friend died, I was dealing with her death, she was one of the very few people in town that didn't treat me like crap, and rather than help me deal with my grief, I was basically told I was going to hell and I was going to drag my recently deceased friend with me if I went to her funeral.  Guess what, I held my head high and went to her funeral anyway.

My point is, if you don't want me to tell you how to pray, then why do you think that its okay to tell me how to pray.  If you want to live by your Gods laws or religious laws, then you do that, just don't try and make everyone else live by those same laws because not everyone has the same beliefs that you have. Respect the differences between us.  Don't try and make laws based on your religious beliefs, because they are not the beliefs of everyone else. And don't claim religious persecution because you don't agree with a law that doesn't only address your religion.  This countries laws aren't supposed to do that.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof

Getting repetitive here, I know that, but I really need to hammer this home.  If you want to follow your religious laws then go for it, but don't try and force those laws on everyone else!!!!!