Religion in Politics
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Religion in Government
It's interesting that, although "freedom of religion" is guaranteed
under the Constitution, many see this as "freedom to have any religion
as long as you have one, preferably one of the mainstream Christian
ones."
I don't support the banning of religion, myself, or any current
form of Communism, but Karl Marx had a very good point when he said
that in a
truly
responsible government, there is no place for religion. However,
humanity has not yet evolved to the point where the
government can take care of just about everything without screwing
anything
up or violating people's rights (i.e.: Communism), so we make do with
the
Bill of Rights, civilization's greatest attempt yet to guarantee
individual
human rights. The bad news is that it now seems that the small
progress
we've made over the last several thousand years is being pushed back
yet
again -- people are devolving. Religion is on the rise
again.
Congress is crawling with loudmouth Christian demagogues, whether they
be
moderate
or foaming-at-the-mouth types who want to ban everything that's not
explicitly
listed as okay in their
poorly-translated-and-therefore-totally-unreliable
King James Bible.
Any legislator that passes any law because of "Jesus" or "the Bible"
or
"morality", or denounces any taxpayer because they don't follow the
legislator's
own personal religion or morality should be voted out of office... even
by those who share the same beliefs. It's about protecting everyone's right to the freedom of
religion, and even though they're not currently condemning your beliefs, lifestyle, or
ethnicity, history proves
repeatedly that those winds can change course with little
warning.
And of course, we've all got to stop electing extremists on either
side.
This, of course, requires that you sacrifice your own greedy local
interests
-- after all, even though they're trying to destroy the country, those
corrupt, loudmouth bastards really
know how to bring the pork home, don't they?
Evidence of rampant Unconstitutionality in regards
to
Separation of Church and State:
- "In God We Trust" is on all U.S. currency. This is a daily
reminder to the millions of people who don't believe in "God" that
their freedom of religion is ultimately conditional and that the
majority is always looking for reasons to removing it altogether.
Anything created or sanctioned by Government needs to be entirely
secular, period. Thankfully, courts understand this, as most of
the
legislatures in this nation have no problem trampling the First
Amendment for a little vote-gaining demagoguery.
- In court, you must swear on the Bible. Refusal to do so
will get
you cited for contempt (though no one ever sites a judge for contempt
of
Constitution). No copies of the Torah are handy if you're
Jewish.
And if you're Athiest or agnostic, it's just plain insulting to swear
on
a book of fables. The ultimate point, of course, is that swearing
on the Bible somehow makes a contract with God, which basically gives
non-Christians carte blanche
to say whatever they will under oath.
- Students say "One nation, under God" in the Pledge of
Allegience.
"Under God" was a line the McCarthyist religious extremists added to
the
Pledge of Allegience in the 1950s to distinguish us from those filthy
commies.
- The President says "So help me God" during his swearing in, as if
his
Presidency is somehow ordained or supported by a supreme being.
- Roy Moore, a judge in Alabama (before being elected Head Justice
of their Supreme Court), was totally unapologetic about keeping the Ten
Commandments on display in his courtroom, and later the Supreme
Courthouse itself, throughout his entire career. And two thirds of people in Alabama support him! And, even though
he was
removed from office for violating a federal court order, they're
preparing to re-elect him if he's not disbarred.
- The US House of Representatives passed a bill (by Aderholt, R-AL)
248
to
180 on June 17, 1999, that would allow schools and gov't buildings to
post
the Ten Commandments, even though the Supreme Court has struck down
similar
legislation before. One Republican (Barr, R-GA) who obviously
has his head up his ass, even suggested that the Columbine High
massacre
wouldn't have happened had they had the Ten Commandments posted
there.
(Actually, the reality is that more massacres will probably
happen
as more morality dictated from Big Brother worms its way into the lives
of the religiously resentful.)