Church and State

“Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told ministry students at her former church that the United States sent troops to fight in the Iraq war on a 'task that is from God.' In an address last June, the Republican vice presidential candidate also urged ministry students to pray for a plan to build a $30 billion natural gas pipeline in the state, calling it 'God's will.’”  Associated Press, September 3, 2008

What absolute ARROGANCE! No one, and I mean NO ONE, can say what God's Will is as it applies to anyone else. It is a purely personal matter between the individual and his concept of God. The Taliban got its start with someone thinking they know what God's Will is for everyone else. Is that really the way you want Christianity or any religion to go? One man's interpretation to rule the world? To say that it is God's Will about anything is to imply that to go against it is to go against God. This is mind control at its best.

"(McCain's) campaign put out that it was up to each state to decide whether science was going to be taught in science classes, or whether religion would be taught, in one form or another of creationism.  This is a fundamental violation of the separation of church and state, goes against a series of major court decisions, and it constitutes abuse of the children who are denied an understanding of science and who get religion forced into their heads in schools."  http://www.defendscience.org/ds_commentary10.html

I oppose any governmental intervention in public schools or even in any governmental activity where religious ideas and concepts are concerned. We don't need to go the way of the Taliban in this country. Freedom of religion is a right, not a privilege.

We do NOT need the government to tell the public what anyone considers to be "God's Will", or whether or not we should pray in public schools, or to teach something in a public school anything that is of a fundamentally religious concept such as Creationism.

Anyone who would vote for a governmental candidate that proposes religious views are essential for government 'control' of public affairs needs to understand one thing: they are voting for a Taliban-like rule of public life, and that will be the beginning of the end of freedom of religion in this country.

The difference between any two political parties has nothing to do with religion, at least that was the way it was in the past. They all kept religion out of the mix. It has always been the fundamentalist Christian that wanted religion in government to enforce their brand of religion on the public.

Fundamentalist Christians that want to rule the world are really no different than the fundamentalist Muslims who are trying to rule the world. Strange bedfellows, but bedfellows they are.

Religion has no place in governing public life. Every individual has a right to accept, believe, and follow their personal religious convictions, whether or not "God", as any religion defines it, is a part of it.

The government's sole responsibility is to serve and protect the public, not to tell it how or what to believe.

It is only Religion that insists on enforcing a particular belief on anyone. My mother never enforced any belief on me. She allowed that I could accept any belief, any religion, or none, and she encouraged me to examine any religion. My mother always gave me her opinion on the matter - when I asked for it - and she made it clear that her opinion did not mean it was the truth, the final say on the matter. That is freedom of religion. It starts in the home. If you don't learn it there, you grow up with a one-sided view of the world, a fundamentalist view, and against anything else that doesn't match your narrow-minded view.

You want peace in this world? Then what we should be teaching our children is the concept of love (forgiveness) and unity (everyone is connected), not religious dogma (my interpretation is right, yours is wrong) which leads to separation ('us' vs. 'them'). Insisting on one brand of religion or even one brand of politics is fanaticism.

Look, if this country ever should enforce religion in public schools, then ALL religions should be taught with EQUAL emphasis. And while we're at it, we should also include subjects like astrology, Tarot, numerology, and everything PSI. If we're going to have full disclosure, be complete. Do we have time for that amid the subjects of science, art, music, psychology, geography, literature, language, political science, history, economics, cultural studies, humanities, and sportsmanship? Why don't we toss in family husbandry, where a woman's place should be, rights of children, and forget all about free will and choice?

If you really want religious studies in public schools then courses on individual religions should be an elective with a core course on a comparison of all religions for the purpose of disseminating knowledge, facts, history, and current events in religion (mainly to show how fundamentalism cripples free will and causes strife between religious factions). Come to think of it, this is already available in universities and colleges - where a free-thinking mind can explore without the danger of being exploited.

Whatever God's Will is, it is most likely something that we experience as individuals. It is definitely not something that is forced on us by some fanatic.

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As it is in Love,

John