My brother speaks his mind…
My brother D wrote this in response to a column in the Weekly Planet about the separation of church and state. Unfortunately, a fraction of his writing was published. All of the best details of this response were cut out in order to “save space” in the paper. Give me a break. I think his right to free speech was seriously invaded. Anyway, read on and enjoy my bro’s true feelings.
When I saw the title of John Sugg’s cover story, “Armageddon For the Religious Right (May 24-30, volume 8, number 23),” my first thought was “Hallelujah!” When I see, hear or read about Christians arguing with other Christians I can only laugh. It makes me think of a bunch of geeks bickering over why the chicken REALLY crossed the road. They make a lot of meaningless points and ultimately, nobody gets the joke. Nonetheless, I am getting frustrated with this subject’s dominance in our nation today and feel the need to pose two questions: 1) Why do preachers keep trying to creep into office?, and 2) WHY IS CHRISTIANITY THE ONLY FAITH WHICH
CONCERNS THE SEPARATION-OF-CHURCH-AND-STATE DEBATE? Isn’t the USA supposed to
be the renowned “Melting Pot?” Surely there’s more than just Christians who are concerned here. Or are Christians the only ones exercising their constitutional guarantee of “Freedom of Religion?” I guess nobody else matters. Occasionally, the Jews are awarded a whisper in the matter. Hindus night as well not exist in the USA except as Matt Groening caricatures operating convenience stores, and Buddhists as a lot of flaky, freeloading hippies. The only Muslims we are concerned with are the ones with bombs and Pagans are only interesting when they are on Oprah Winfrey fending off accusations of animal sacrifice and ritual child abuse. Nonetheless, I suppose the only way to get a word in is to sprechen sie Christian as it seems to be the only faith taken seriously in our nation today. Leon and Darlene Pondo are quoted in Sugg’s
article as saying, “Separation of Church and State? Where does that come from? It’s not in the Constitution.” Besides the fact that it IS, I can cite three other reliable sources on the matter: Christ, the early Baptists and the Founding Fathers.
It was Christ himself who first advocated Separation of Church and State when he said “Give unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s and unto the Lord that which is the Lord’s.” However, since this little quip does not appear in Exodus, Leviticus or Revelations and does not condemn homosexuality or abortion, nobody pays attention.
The first Americans to advocate Separation of Church and Government were the Founding Fathers themselves WHO WERE NOT CHRISTIAN. An article by Dean Warbois entitled “America: Not A Christian Nation” features such quotes from the Founding Fathers as Thomas Jefferson calling the Bible a “Dunghill.” For legislative proof, read article 11 of the Treaty Of Tripoli signed
by John Adams which reads “The United States is not in any way founded on the Christian Religion.” Ben Franklin’s affiliation with the Hellfire Club need not be mentioned. If any of them knew about Bush Jr.’s Faith-based initiative of the likes of Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority, they would crawl out of their graves so as not to rest in their own vomit for eternity.
The loudest voices preaching Christian values for political agendas seem to come from Southern Baptists, which is both sad and ironic. In their early days, the Baptists were among the most staunchest advocates of Separation of Church and State, knowing full well that religion and politics cannot be combined without one overpowering the other. IN more recent
years, however, the Baptists have been taken over by a fundamentalist faction who believe the Bible to be the highest and ONLY book of law and all other authority must bend in acquiescence. Thusly, Nativity scenes and monuments of the Ten Commandments spring up in front of government buildings and onward we creep towards theocracy.
Nothing is as it was intended in our country. Church and State are not separate. Synagogue, Temple, Shrine, Monastery, Coven and State most certainly are separate however. Perhaps we should set a more realistic ideal for the American mentality called Separation of Churches UNCHRISTIAN from State. Or we could for once take the practical approach and form
an ENTIRELY SECULAR GOVERNMENT. Before anyone lights a fiery cross on my lawn, let me clarify that I am NOT saying eradicate religion entirely. I am merely saying keep it in the Church and OUT of the government. Part of Sugg’s article stated that liberals are now realizing the importance of religion to voters. A more accurate statement would be that they are buckling under and pandering to the wife-beating, trailer-dwelling, entertainment industry banning, holy-rolling bigots who for some reason are gaining more power as voters. It is because of religious influence on government that political powers seem to think it would be worse to have a married same-sex couple move in next door than to have Iran drop the big one on us. The sooner we secularize, the sooner we can do what REALLY needs to get done and do it right.