Right now there is a lot of buzz on the news about the separation of Church and State. Some of the flak is just a continuation of stuff that has been going on for quite a while. It seems that there are some folks in this country who don't like the fact that most people in this country identify with one faith or another. Actually most folks in this country identify themselves as being Christian even if they have more fingers than the number of times they have been in a church...on one hand. So the number of people who think they are smart because they have done everything they can to remove God from their life are bitter that people not as smart as they are don't share their views.
What has really brought the buzz though was the recent election here in California. The biggest hot button on the ballot was Prop 8. Basically the question was whether or not homosexual couples would be allowed to marry in California. In spite of a massive advertising campaign linking the homosexual community's efforts to legalize homosexual marriage to civil rights struggles of the past the prop was passed by about 52% of the popular vote. Both sides of the issue drew a massive amount of funding from out of state. One of the biggest contributing groups was the Mormon church. Most of the funding did not come from the church itself but from Mormons all over the country. Evangelical churches were also involved in campaigning on a traditional family values platform. When the prop passed religion and the Mormon church in particular drew the wrath of the homosexual community and their allies.
No we are seeing more and more debate on the separation of Church and State. The argument is that people's religious views have no place on politics. By voting according to their religious views they are imposing religion on the rest of the country.
Actually, Church and State are indeed separated in the United States. The government of the United States does not endorse any religion. Instead the government subscribes to a concept of religion that resembles the Judeo-Christian religion but is inclusive of all religious views. The government recognizes the right of the citizens and residents of the country to practice their religions as long as they do not violate the law of the land.
So here is the thing. As a person of faith my faith affects the way I see the world. It affects my political views. Divorcing my political views from my faith would create a hypocrisy that would go beyond the hypocrisies that we are often accused of because we would be asked to deliberately vote against some of the things that we hold to be important. When I vote as a person of faith I am not voting to impose my religion on the people around me. I am not telling everyone that by law they have to espouse my religious views. No, what I am doing is voting according to what I believe in, which ironically is exactly the way the people who are telling not to vote according to my beliefs are voting.
So I guess what we see is that there are people out there who do not like my belief system. Rather than respecting that we all vote according to our belief system they expect me to suspend my belief system when I'm at the polls. Supposedly if I can suspend my belief system my values will align with theirs.
This is a representative democracy. No one tells us how we are to vote. That is the way democracies are supposed to work. This is why we are allowed to write in candidates. This is why we are not required to vote.
Please, stop pestering people about their religion and their vote. It is the freedom of any American or member of any democracy to vote however they wish. While we may not always agree with the way the majority vote we should respect their votes. That is the price we pay for living in a democracy.
Enough said.