Jan 02 2009
In regards to a Secular Society
The question of the separation of church and state is an issue that brings great frustration’s too many people in the United States in regards to the position religion should occupy in a given society. Both the conservative religious right and the liberal secular left have different ideas in respects to what principles society should govern by, and the role religion should play in governance. I personally agree with the idea that society should rule separately from the powers of the church, but I must say that the lack of understanding on the side of the left frustrates me, especially since I fall on their side of the arguments so often. They argue that when a ruling goes against the principles of a free society, and embraces a religious stance that we are not enforcing the constitutional right to the separation of church and state.
A good example of such an instance would be the recent ruling on proposition eight in
California in which the citizens of the state ruled against gay marriage, opponents of this decision argued the church has too much power in this country. They also say that here in the United States we are far behind the secularist policies embraced in
Europe. My frustrations stand from the idea that people are so naïve to think that we can actually separate ourselves from something that is such an integral part of who we are. The Only reason why so many people in Europe and
Canada have such secular views is that religion plays a minor role in their lives in comparison to Americans. Studies indicate that 90 percent of Americans believe in God and roughly half of Americans go to church on a relatively regular basis where as in
Europe respectively only 50 percent believe in god and a measly 10 percent go to church regularly.
The point I am trying to make is simple we can only separate our societies from certain institutions and ideas only to the extent in which individuals exist outside of these ideas. Therefore, secularism can only exist truly in a society in which the citizens yield little faith in God. Secularism and freedom from the ideology of church guiding government can only exist when the people of the society free themselves from religion.
Wow great article…..I wholeheartedly agree with you……I think that if people and especially politicians embraced thier faith more openly then people would see the real blessings of religion instead of them keeping it private. Now this can be dangerous just like how George Bush used his religion to promote his agenda and people on the far right like this have totally hijacked Christianity to serve there own purposes but they have been found out and they will deal with the punishment…..I think people in America, especially religious people need to reevaluate their faith and figure out how to integrate it responsibly in this modern secular world….People will be judged by thier fruits and if politicians invoked the real will of God in modern society then I think our country can go back to having the blessings it used to have…..Sorry to go on and on but you just got me started on this great post…..Keep it Ruthless….