Monday, 11 April 2011

• Separation of Church and State

  
  As usual, I put off an essay I had to write for my English class until the last minute.  Instead of getting a good start on my argumentative essay early in the weekend, I slept Saturday and most of Sunday away, woke up around five ish, and started working hardcore on the beast.  I finally finished it sometime after midnight simply because I dragged my feet through it all.

  For my topic I chose one that is argued to death, but one that hits close to home for me.  With my topic in mind and the knowledge that my first draft had to be turned in today, I sat in bed with my laptop and library books writing away about same sex marriage.  Of course, being an argumentative essay of a thousand words, I needed many points to argue.  This wasn't a problem, but the more I wrote, the more I realized the whole reason for opposition really is about religion, namely, Christianity.  At least that's true in this country.  I mean, I pretty well knew that before I started, but in writing the essay, I realized just how hard it was for me to write a thousand words without referring to religion every single paragraph, even numerous times.  Of course, I managed to do so, but what's the deal, folks?  This is bullshit.

  GodlessLiberal recently mentioned something about Christians claiming to be the most persecuted group in America, and I couldn't agree with him more.  It's a funny thing to me that so many make this claim while I myself am unable to get married due to Christian beliefs.  For any of you who think you're persecuted as Christians, try walking in my shoes or living in my neck of the woods for a while.  I'll bet you'd change your minds.  The majority of U.S. citizens claim to be Christian or of Christian beliefs.  No one is stopping you from attending church, and your religious foundations and organizations are exempt from paying taxes.  Furthermore, while you fight passionately to defend the so called sanctity of marriage, you're certainly not fighting against a married couple's right to divorce for irreconcilable differences, which the bible forbids.  If that right was taken from you, regardless of God's will, you'd fight hard to get back that right.  And no one is debating whether or not atheists, Wiccans, and Hindus can be married in America--but if marriage was created by God and is ordained by him, don't you think that should exclude everyone the right to marriage but you?  The truth is, from Western Civilization where freedom abounds to places like India where partnerships are arranged, marriage is a universally recognized legal institution afforded to people of many cultural and religious backgrounds.

  The United States is a country that boasts of its freedom of religion, among other things, and not everyone is Christian.  Besides that, our Constitution says there will be a separation of church and state.  Religion has no place in government.  If we allow one particular religion to govern the laws of this land, then we're going to have to allow other religions to have their say in the law which would most definitely abolish some of the rights of the very people who fight so hard to prevent same sex couples from marrying. Just imagine what a mess that would be, and while this simply won't happen, if you get to decide what's right and what isn't, in all fairness, people of other faiths should have their say as well.  "But my God is the true God!"  Says who?  The Bible?  Pastor Joe?  Jesus Christ?  The Pope?  What proof have you?  NONE.  You have none because you live on faith alone, and if there was proof, faith would not be needed.  I believe in giraffes because I've seen them with my own two eyes.  I don't need to have faith that they exist.  I know they do.  Chupacabras, on the other hand, are another matter.  If I believe in those, I'm going to need faith because there is no real proof of their existence. "But I've had many prayers answered so I know God is real!"  Yeah, you and praying people of every other religion on earth.  My best friend and I used to do candle spells for fun, not because we're Wiccan, but because it was interesting and we were bored.  More than once, we got exactly what we asked for.  Maybe the pagan gods are real.  No wait, it was Satan, right?  That's what I thought.

  My point is, while some of you go around bitching and moaning that you're basically treated as second class citizens, there are real people suffering because you have so much say so in this country.  Maybe you've lost the battle of keeping prayer in schools, but boo hoo.  Pray at home with your kids.  Pray in church with them, in your cars, or wherever else you'd like.  No one is stopping you.  It isn't about attacking Christianity.  It's about fairness.  Some kids and their parents don't share your faith, and prayers aren't being held for them in schools either.  Actually, quite a few schools still do hold prayer during certain events.  You haven't lost completely, though there isn't anything being lost in the first place.

  It's high time our government uphold the U.S. Constitution and prevent any religion from governing the laws of the land, granting every person equal protection under the law, and no longer fueling discrimination.  Denying same sex couples the right to marriage does nothing but encourage the awful ideas many have of us.  It's time for an end to this.

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