The United States founding fathers are getting a lot of air time lately. Various political figures and interest groups have taken up quoting those men of exceptional character in order to support whatever cause they champion. Libertarians cite writings and quotes warning of the dangers of big government while progressives bring up essays and early American government expansion policies that provide them with precedents. In both of these cases, the sources are factual and clearly exist. In a third case, however, multiple "liberties" are taken with the truth. Christian conservatives claim that our founders meant for the U.S. to be a Christian nation, even though they rarely (if ever) cite a source.
This claim, in the strictest and most pure sense of the term, is wrong.
The first amendment of the Bill of Rights states that the U.S. government will recognize no state or civil religion. Later on in the 1790's, this was expanded upon to include the complete separation of church and state, including (eventually) making churches tax exempt. Founders such as Ben Franklin and particularly Thomas Jefferson warned of the extreme dangers of melding religion and government, and allowing the church to influence social and governmental policy.
Opponents of this separation will claim that our laws and policies are directly based off of Christian morality, and without the moral compass of God in our government, we will descend into ethical darkness. To this I say: Stop, and think. Values such as not killing your fellow man or not unlawfully taking what isn't yours are universal codes. These and many more have been found in nearly every great organized society, Christian or otherwise, and do not magically vanish if you take Jesus out of the equation.
By far, the two most talked about religious based social policies are the outlawing of same sex marriage and the legality of abortion. Opponents of homosexual marriage claim that it is an abomination, is against the the Bible and will destroy the institution of marriage, which honestly makes me wonder how many of them have actually read the word of God. Homosexuality is specifically mentioned only a handful of times throughout the course of the bible, and is expressly forbid on only two occasions. The first is found in the old testament book of Leviticus, where it is stated that a man laying with another man in the way he would lay with a woman is wrong, and in such a case both men should be killed. This verse is the most commonly quoted, and also the most easily debunked because of the verses that surround it. Such verses include listing the consumption of shellfish as a sin, and that if your wife cheats on you, it's perfectly acceptable to drag her into the town square and have the citizens kill her with large rocks. Apparently, it's OK for modern day Christians to pick and choose which apparently equal sins to uphold and which to throw away. Oh wait... it's not alright to do that.
The second place that homosexuality is forbidden in the Bible is found in Paul's teachings in the book of Romans. Christians will claim that Paul was divinely inspired in his teachings, and that his word is God's law. This is, of course, despite the fact that he spent his early adulthood making a hobby of killing Christians. Even if divine inspiration was the case, his teachings against homosexuality were listed in the middle of a long list of other sins, such as pride and being "effeminate". He did not raise one single sin above another. Furthermore, Jesus never once mentioned homosexuality in any of his teachings, as he was busy stressing everyone to love and embrace one another, and to help those in need. However, I'm sure that he really hated gay people in private (/sarcasm).
The issue of abortion legality is, in my humble opinion, far more complicated. Though there is no direct reference to abortion in the Bible, religious opponents of Roe v. Wade will cite the sanctity of life, and that life begins at conception as arguments against legal abortions. For this particular concept, I have set aside personal beliefs on the subject to look at the deeper implications involved. Though I personally find abortion to be horrific, I am far more appalled by the idea of the Federal Government being able to tell a woman what she can and cannot do with her uterus. Furthermore, if life truly begins at conception, why not provide funerals and death certificates to miscarried fetuses, or imprisoning women who have abortions? Pretty absurd when you think about it. Finally, repealing Roe v. Wade and thus making abortion illegal would not stop women from having abortions, it would only stop them from getting it done safely in licensed medical facilities. Before it's legalization, back ally abortions and other shady operations cost countless women their lives and severely injured many more. The body count is the only thing that would change.
In closing, I would like to state that I could not care less about your religious affiliation or beliefs. It is your right in this great nation to believe in whatever you want, be it God, Buddha, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and no one can ever take that away from you. However, using your beliefs to deny others their rights or freedoms, or violating the clause of separation of church and state, is not something that should be tolerated, or within your rights to do.
Also, if churches truly want to get into politics, how about you start paying taxes like the rest of us. We could definitely use the revenue.
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