The Bush administration's assault on the separation of church and state took another step forward this week.
Have any of the true believers seen what happens when religion has too much control over policy and government? Take a trip through the middle east for several enlightening examples...
Or you could just study US history. The pilgrims risked their lives to get away from a country where the king ruled by divine right. That's right you little religious nutbags, the pilgrims risked their lives to escape a theocratic, christian, government. Now you want one here. Idiots.
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4 comments:
"That's right you little religious nutbags, the pilgrims risked their lives to escape a theocratic, christian, government."
No, nyet, nein! ;)
My friend, I agree they risked their lives to escape a "theocratic government" but they intended (and did) set up their own version of a "theocratic, Christian, government!"
Don't confuse the Pilgrims (for whom the Church of England was too conservative) with the Founding Fathers of this country.
Most of the founders were privately deists and many doubted the divinity of Jesus. Jefferson saw Jesus as a great moral philosopher and not a god.
Check out his thoughts in the University of Virginia archives:
"No religious reading, instruction or exercise, shall be prescribed or practiced [in the elementary schools] inconsistent with the tenets of any religious sect or denomination." --Thomas Jefferson: Elementary School Act, 1817. ME 17:425
Here's the link to the archives http://etext.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/jeff1650.htm.
If you're really curious, check out the Jefferson Bible http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jul/05/local/me-beliefs5
I'm a religios nutbag and an idiot, but consider the following:
http://www.probe.org/site/c.fdKEIMNsEoG/b.4218181/k.6FE8/American_Government_and_Christianity.htm
Tony,
Thanks for your comment, while I disagree with some of the article, it's a thoughtful piece.
My main concern is the increasingly political nature of religion.
I think Jefferson said it best when he said the true nature of government was to deal with fact, not opinion and thus had no obligtaion to faith.
Jefferson did see Jesus as a great moral philosopher, as do I. I think freedom of religion requires freedom from religion. My tax dollars shouldn't go toward evangelizing any faith (opinion) and neither should yours.
We're 100% free to exercise our faith in this country, but that doesn't guarantee that the faithful have the right to push their beliefs on others...
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