Religious Freedom

What would our Founding Fathers have said if they’d learned that George III was employing secret technology to eavesdrop on all the colonists’ conversations?

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s recent outrageous attack on religious liberty when it allowed gays to marry each other, a groundswell of support for religion has drawn advocates from the right-thinking portions of America to call for legislation permitting free practice of religion throughout the land.

Yes, we should all be free to worship God as we see fit, which includes placing sensible restrictions on those errant citizens who would act in violation of God’s will as laid down in the holy scriptures.

We can start with laws criminalizing homosexual acts.   Well, male homosexual acts since the Bible does not mention female homosexuality.

And then of course abortion, contraception, and masturbation.  Ummm, male masturbation since the ladies can do it as much as they want without limiting procreation.

Then alcohol, shrimp, dancing, card-playing, bingo, mowing your lawn on Sunday, etc.

But wait, you squeal that your religion doesn’t forbid bingo and your neighbor gets to eat his fill of shrimp without offending his church.  That’s no excuse because my religion forbids these activities, and to have full religious freedom i have to be able to prevent everyone from violating my religious laws.

Well, that’s the way most religious people think.  For me, if you don’t like abortion, don’t get one, but don’t try to stop me.  When i think about being forced to obey the dictates of your religion, i begin to understand the mindset of those Islamic suicide bombers.  Obviously they’re crazy, and certainly it’s the ultimate evil to blow up a bunch of innocent people, but at the same time i’m sure the bombers sincerely believe they’re striking a blow for religious freedom and that the end justifies the means.

The difference between their acts and Archbishop Cordileone’s fight against the Employment Nondiscrimination Act is only one of degree, as both are motivated by hatred of the Other and a desire to control his behavior.

And that, folks, is why our Founding Fathers wrote so eloquently about the separation of church and state, they having written our Constitution at the end of hundreds of years of religious wars in which millions died.

Meanwhile, yet another religious issue.