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U.S. of G-O-D
By Joshua McCracken
â?¦the U.S. government has given you permission to worship Goofy if you want to.
Anyone who has spoken to me for more than two seconds on the topic of organized religion knows exactly where I stand. Put simply, I don“t like it. I think it limits people to horrible degrees.
Before the incredibly religious among you start showing up at my house with torches, hear me out. This is not completely about religion; this is about religion“s effect on government.
Let me put it simply. It“s OK if you don“t agree with abortion, gay marriage, the death penaltyâ?¦ well you know the list. However it is not okay to invoke God in your argument. Why? We don“t live in a theocracy; God has no place in government policy in the United States.
Don“t get me wrong, I“m happy that you have faith and all of that, but that whole thing about a separation of church and state wasn“t Thomas Jefferson“s idea of a joke. For now, I am sick and tired of the “moral majority” cramming their values down my throat.
We have seen countless members of this moral majority crash and burn over the last couple of years for the same sins they“ve been whining about. If you don“t like abortions, don“t have one. Under Constitutional law abortions are legal, deal with it. Don“t like gay marriage? Cry me a river. I doubt all of your family and friends will like the lunkhead you marry either.
It disgusts me that this “beacon of freedom” that Bush and his friends love to invoke for the sake of sound bites is run by a religion that a lot of people who live here don“t even believe in, yet we are forced to abide by its rules.
An even bigger problem is how the majority will pick and choose exactly which parts of the Bible to accept as law. Did you know that the Bible advocates the execution of disobedient children? Raise your hand if you“re willing to lobby for that law.
If you are going to base laws on an archaic book that has been rewritten countless times then you had better be ready to follow through with everything, not just the parts that work with your own prejudice.
Look, the United States was founded by individuals who acknowledged that people don“t always agree. Let“s face it, the United States is essentially the kids no one liked in high school who broke off and formed their own group.
We are a nation of outcasts, and the people who tried to get some kind of organization to the whole mess knew that religion only complicates things. If having people of different religions in this country was that big of a deal they would have started blowing up shiploads of Jews, Muslims and Hindus before they hit shore.
The whole idea is that people should be free.
You“re free to disagree with me, but please consider something. We“ll even use abortion as an example. Before abortions were legalized women were having make-shift abortions performed in basements with coat hangers. Weigh that against the sterile clinics that they are performed in today.
Just because something is illegal does not mean that it isn“t done, and those red-eyed kids that I keep seeing stagger out of Sandburg are living proof of that.
It“s a disgusting and horrible thing to do to someone who is about to make the hardest decision of her life. Until a device is invented that can tell exactly when a soul is injected into a fetus you have no right to make this poor girl feel worse about what is about to happen to her. Keep your fanaticism off of her body.
I respect religion. I don“t like it, but I don“t go around picketing temples, churches and mosques every other day because of it. Why? The U.S. government has given you permission to worship Goofy if you want to.
A person“s religious beliefs are his or her own business, and let“s be honest. Religion has done more harm than good when applied to government policy (Spanish Inquisition, fighting in the Middle Eastâ?¦). The founding fathers were enlightened cats and they knew that if they tried to base the policy of the many on the personal beliefs of a few all hell would break loose.
To the hardcore Christians, your savior Jesus Christ was all about love. Anti-abortionists frighten children with their sickening signs and good Christians have been responsible for the murder of people who fell in love with someone of their own sex. You have a right to your beliefs, but you do not have the right to determine the lives of complete strangers based on your own personal prejudices as affirmed by a book.
The only life you should be worried about is your own, and until someone puts a gun to your head and forces you to do all the things they want (which is essentially what the Christian Right is doing now), you don“t have the right to say anything about the personal lives of others.
Don“t get me wrong, I“m all about freedom of speech, but a line is drawn when you are hurting people that are only trying to pursue their own happiness or are left with a choice that they hate but can“t get out of.
If you want to live the smug life, do it, but don“t force it down the throats of others. It“s really, really rude.
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