Separation


When people mix religion and politics, they want to use one to control the other
So here's the reason decided to speak up again before moving everything.

"Asked Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” how his faith fits in with his ideas about governing, Santorum said he disagreed with the “absolute separation” between church and state outlined by Kennedy in a 1960 speech.

Santorum said reading the speech made him want to “throw up.”

“I don’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute,” he said. “The idea that the church can have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical to the objectives and vision of our country.”

"The church?" Which church? I certainly hope for his sake that Santorum isn't speaking for the Westboro Baptist Church. Even when they speak of "the church," Christians can't even agree among themselves who is and isn't included, or what rules should apply. Throw in those other pesky faiths and we've got trouble.

There is no one church.There is no one faith. Just because I keep pointing that out doesn't mean I am attacking Christianity or Christians or even one church. Although to hear certain Christians speak, I'm persecuting them because I won't submit. Just as your faith and your religious choices do not control me, parity means my faith and my religious choices don't control you.

Demanding I submit to their belief system is a hell of a thing to do in the name of a God of Love. Or a Religion of Peace for that matter.

Parity, friends and neighbors, parity. It's a much better basis of law than what a priest said that his god expects.

If you don't want it done to you, then don't do it to someone else. If you don't want to live under the rules of my religion, then don't expect me to live under the rules of yours. Nice, simple, and it doesn't require anyone to argue about what The Ultimate Religious Truth® is.

Or is not. grins!

Religion doesn't belong in government and government doesn't belong in religion. If you can't tell me that your religion is a Really Good Idea without resorting to government force, that tells me more about YOUR faith than you really want me to know. Religion cannot be allowed the coercive power of government. And government cannot be allowed the moral justification of religion.

It's people that matter, not a religion. It's the words and actions of individual people that give worth to a religion, not the other way around. The label doesn't bring merit, group membership is not a virtue. It's how people choose to act. It's what people choose to say. It's the stand that people are willing to make. Always has been, always will be.

Tell me about what you said. Tell me about what you did. Tell me about the stand you made.

Don't tell me what your religion allows or forbids. We won't agree. Even if I shared your faith and went to the same exact church/temple/circle that you did. Religion is a terrible basis for law.

Notice that the people who want to mix religion and government always want to use one to control the other? Not just control, but making that control unquestioned. Unless you are willing to submit to another's religion, there should always be a separation of church and state.

That's why I keep vigil.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Mon - February 27, 2012 at 07:21 AM  Tag


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