when our nation was founded the American government agreed to separate church from state for the better of our country. Though in most cases we have followed through with this there are still ways in which we haven't.
The issue of gay marriage often gets mixed up with religious morals because many religions teach that only men and women can get married. The bible also teaches this concept with the story of Adam and Eve. This also goes hand in hand with the debate about abortion. If we want to fully separate church from state we need to not make laws regarding subjects where religious beliefs come into play.
This would allow the American people to have their own beliefs and be free to make their own decisions based on their beliefs. Anyone could be a married gay couple or have an abortion if that is what they choose to do.
It wouldn't be fair to base our nations laws on only a portion of our population's religious beliefs. Everyone should have the right to make their own choices using their own free will.
The American government could move forward and progress if they understood that they were mixing church and state. by realizing what is wrong our leaders could eliminate the problem.
It's not just church and state it's the people in this country. In Britian, they don't have the seperation but they allow abortion, gay marriage, and lots of other rights that we in America are supposed to have, because we are the land of the free.
People just need to be more accepting
I agree that the popular religion needs to stop imposing its morals on everyone else
popular religion or lack there of. what the media instigates plays a rather large role in evaluating the importance of issues, what is the correct side of an issue, etc.
I agree. A lot of issues wouldn't be issues if we weren't a "christian Nation" as i think our current president put it. No matter what the religious beliefs of most of the country are, including the leader, we need to choose if we are going to be a democracy of a theocracy. If we are a democracy then we cannot let a set belief system run a country of people who don't all go by that belief system.
Yeah. The problem is that the beating heart of the electorate is very religious. Check out the book 'What's the Matter With Kansas?' for some awesome insight on the matter.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/jloigman
hey question tho. if the majority of the population is religious, will not the democratic decisions be influenced by their religious interests?
this is the whole problem. Just because the majority goes under a certain set of beliefs doesn't mean that these beliefs should be applied to the laws the govern everyone in the country, even those who don't believe in the majorities set of beliefs. Laws should be based on facts, not a belief system that isn't followed by everyone, and thats my main problem with church interfering with state business.
got it! thx! this is crazy--i doubt the forefathers ever foresaw such a conflict as this.
it seems to be really an issue of the philosophy of government--what's democracy? who interprets the facts? government? the individual (who then has the responsibility of making informed choices)? God? who is really responsible?
and really, how do we please everybody? cuz the religious feel like their voices of influence are drowned in the protests of the frustrated beliefless, who in turn believe they are the ones oppressed... ugh... you chose a good, tough topic... :-/
Actually it was set up to keep government out of religion not religion out of government. You should read Stephen Carter's "Separation of Church and State."
We can see what our Fathers actually intended by referring directly to James Madison's own explicit description of what he meant when he began to draft the prohibition against religious establishments that eventually became the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the Constitution in the Annals of Congress, Sat Aug 15th, 1789 pages 730 - 731...
In the first part of his exposition, Mr. Madison expressed the need for a prohibition against a national religion, and in the second he expressed the concern of the people that sects might seek the assistance of the government to force citizens to compel and support religious beliefs with which they did not agree. Your interpretation here is simply not supported by the facts, my friend.
TTFN,
Blackout
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Yes, I've changed my username from "percivale" to "Blackout." Go here if you want to know why.
Agreed, we are a very confused country. It seems to me we scream "separation!" when we don't want a law passed that would hurt our beliefs, but we're all for stepping over the line when it works in our favor. I guess that's just politics.