CPT Asshole

Fearing religion is like fearing Shakespeare, only those who choose to remain ignorant, remain in fear.

Don't knock it if you haven't tried it. From bubblegum to oral sex, from religion to Shakespeare, you really don't know what you're talking about if you haven't tried it. Fearing religion, or even references to God, seems to me like fearing Shakespeare. Only those who choose to remain ignorant, remain in fear. Ignorance is the real enemy, people tend to fear what they don't know.

It's not separation of God and state, it's separation of church and state, there is a difference. The church (along with the state) is an institution controlled by man. Even non-believers understand that God cannot be controlled by man. While our founding fathers meant to separate church and state, they also clearly meant to include references to God that would remain in our society forever. They knew the term God was a generic one that refers to every God, without referring to any particular God, and therefore never crosses the line of establishment of religion.

Right now, one religion cannot become more powerful than any other. One way to concentrate enough power to oppress the people would be to establish a single national religion. Another would be to create a totally secular state, same difference as having a national religion, as far as concentration of power is concerned. Our founding fathers really had to worry about the church and state ganging up, and oppressing the people. But they never worried about God and the state ganging up to oppress the people.

Our founding fathers were faced with a difficult balancing act. They wanted to insure separation of church and state, without creating a completely godless/secular society. I think they did it.

None of these things have changed since the days of our founding fathers, why should we?

Now, go back to my opening paragraph, and one of these days I'll talk about homophobia...

posted by cpt asshole @ 1:05 PM