I'm taking a break from humor today...
I hear all too often the moaning of people complaining about Christian morals dictating America’s legal system and society. I’ve sat idly for years, having no way of combating the ignorance that sustains these complaints. But, I now have a popular website, which attracts thousands of visitors a day. I finally have a means of (hopefully) educating people on the true nature of religion, and in particular Christianity, in America.
I would first like to point out the common misperception that the Constitution bars the government from participation in any sort of religious activity. This could not be further from the truth. What the United States’ Constitution says is this:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
This, quite clearly, states that there cannot be a law establishing a national religion. That means that there cannot be a required religion in America. The second part says that the government may not bar the practice of any particular religion. That means that all religions may be practiced (within the confines of the law) without persecution.
No where does it say that the government is forbidden to use qualities of religion in its activities. For those of you on the dense side: the government has the full legal right to use the morals and values of religion as basis for creating laws. The governing body also has the legal right to practice religion as it chooses. In fact, that is unmistakably one of the aspects of “prohibiting the exercise thereof.”
Ignorant people often claim that government should not use religious morals as basis for creating laws, because the law would then only be fair to those practicing that particular religion. I have one question for these people: without these morals, who is to say what is right and wrong?
Whether the morals or the religion came first is of little importance; in either case, they go hand-in-hand. Religious morals are no different than secular morals. Don’t believe me? Can we agree that both an atheist and a Christian think murder is wrong? How about rape? What about theft? The list goes on.
Human morals are, in their very nature, universal to everybody – otherwise they would not be human morals. Of course we all believe that murder is wrong, but why do you believe that? It is impossible to know why we think these things are wrong, we just do. Does it really matter if we believe murder is wrong because of religious morals instilled in us since birth, or if it’s simply instinct?
No, it doesn’t. So, how can we condemn the morals of a particular religion? Why is it a bad thing that religion is ingrained so deeply in our government? Our founding fathers obviously didn’t think there was a problem with it, or they would have made that evident in their writing, and in their activities.
If you will, let me propose a scenario for you: You get home late from work one night, and as you pull your car into the driveway at home, you notice something is wrong. All the lights in the house are off, and the front door is ajar. Worried, you hurry inside and turn on the lights in the house. As you walk into the living room, you see it. Lying coldly on the floor of your living room is the lifeless body of your spouse.
After a thorough investigation by the authorities, your spouse’s murderer is captured. Although your grief still envelopes you completely, you are at least content to have justice served on the guilty.
But, to your dismay, the killer goes free. Following a lengthy court case, that garnered much publicity, the judge came to the conclusion that the murderer of your spouse committed no crime. Why? Because “murder” is not a legally a crime, as it is based on the principles of religion; the morals of religion are no longer acceptable as the basis of laws.
Does that sound like a world you want to live in?
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