Religion and Politics

Does it strike anyone as odd that todays politicians are completely ignoring one of the things this country was founded on?

The Puritans came to this continent because they were persecuted and were not allowed to practice their religion in England.

Now we have many politicians telling us that we need to make sure this country gets back to it’s Christian roots. While the Puritans were indeed Christians, the reason they left, and one of the roots of our constitution, is the the right to religious freedom.

If our politicians believe so strongly that we need to be a completely Christian nation, then we are really no better than the Taliban from the stand point that one religion must be used to come to every answer needed by the country and the population.

For those that are now jumping up and down and screaming, I am in no way saying that I agree with the way the Taliban treats its people and particularly the women but the mindset (religious views ruling all) is the same.

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Happy New Year

I was on Facebook very shortly after midnight local time here watching and commenting on some of the many Happy New Year posts that were coming through. A young man that I worked with pointed out that no one was giving thanks for the year that had past and what we had been given or what we had endured.

He was right. While there a few mentions from some of my friends overseas, they were rather few and far between.

I suspect in part this is because of how politically and socially charged religion has become. We have the Westboro Baptist Church which uses the 1st amendment of our constitution to say unspeakable things at the funerals of people who have died while the family and friends of the deceased person are still coming to terms with their grief.

We have groups that condemn anyone of Middle Eastern origin because they might be followers of Islam even though it is the radical few within Islam that are the terrorists and not by any stretch the majority.

We have people that will never vote for a Mormon for President.

What does this say about us all as inhabitants of the world. And we are inhabitants of the world. We must learn to all get along together because the world has become such a much smaller place.

It says to me that every single church must step back and look at its congregation and see what direction should be taken to try and bring things under control and to stamp out the hate as much as possible.

I am not against Religion. I do not go to church very often any more because listening to the all the completely unfounded gossip that comes with groups of people does not do anything at all to make Sunday a day of worship.

I am actually rather glad at this point that my job requires that I work on Sunday.

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