Separation of Church and State?

As a conservative Christian Republican, naturally I voted Yes on Proposition 8 in this past election. I voted according to my morals and my religious beliefs; my belief that marriage is only to be between one man and one woman, as God originally and still does intend it to be.

While watching a political talk show last night, the panel began discussing Prop 8 and my husband and I got to talking about it in a way we never had before. The views presented on the show were contradictory to ours, and although the following ideas were not represented in the dialogue, the panel's conversation did open the door for the ideas and conclusions we came to. I must add that what I am about to say is not necessarily the view my husband holds; I have expanded on our original discussion and do not want to press onto him any ideas I hold that he may disagree with.

Here in the United States, we have a separation of church and state. That means government has no bearing on religion, and religion has no bearing on government, or at least it's not supposed to. The phrase "separation of church and state" is not explicitly stated in the constitution or any other supporting document, but the idea is there, in the First Amendment. Thomas Jefferson reaffirmed that this amendment creates a "wall of separation" as stated in his 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists. This idea has since been enforced in a number of Supreme Court rulings beginning in 1878.

As a Christian, I voted according to my religious beliefs to alter our state constitution. Now, where's that separation? Okay, so no one ever said individuals had to keep it separate, but the management of this country and the laws that are passed are suppose to keep it separate. Which leads me to my next question...What was the proposition doing on the ballot in the first place? I would say that a one man-one woman marriage is a predominately Christian ideal although there are many non-Christians who support this view as well. If we stayed true to our American heritage, Prop 8 never would have made it to the ballot.

I have to wonder how I would feel if Islam was or became this nation's influential religion, and the Muslim religious beliefs began to be pushed onto me. For example, the Quran (the sacred text of Islam) states that a husband shall beat his wife if necessary. What if people began passing laws about domestic violence against women not only allowing it, but encouraging it? I, along with many others, would be pissed. No, pissed doesn't even begin to describe it. There are so many arguments that can be made against it. I won't get into it all, but here's a thought: If it became a lawful and acceptable thing to beat on women, what does that say about women in general? That we are inferior to men? That we don't have the same rights as men? That we don't deserve to have the same rights? That we hold a lesser worth or value as a human being? That we are no more than property? I could never go for that and there are many others who wouldn't either.

And that's the beauty of having a separation of church and state; with true separation, that could never happen. But do we really have it? What about the people in this country now, who aren't Christians, or who do not hold Christian values? Is it right to impose upon them our religious beliefs? Is it right to frame our laws around those beliefs? Don't they, as humans in America, deserve the right to live their lives according to their own values and not those of someone else? (As long as they are posing no physical harm or threat to others, of course) By passing Prop 8, we have imposed our Christian values onto those who do not share them. That is wrong from an American political point of view as I previously discussed, and it is wrong from a Christian standpoint, which I will now explore.

Christians are called to show God's love to all people and to reach out to those who are in need of His saving grace. As a Christian, Jesus is my perfect example of how I should live my life and interact with others. For those who don't have Jesus yet, we as Christians are all they get to see of Him. Jesus made right and wrong very clear, but everything He did, He did in love, never forcing anything on anyone; He always gave people the opportunity to choose the right thing. If we as Christians are forcing our beliefs onto others, other who don't know anything about Jesus except what they see in us, why would they want Him? Nobody likes a dictator.

The God I serve is the farthest thing from a careless dictator, but how would anyone know that by the way so many of us have been acting? It should be our mission to befriend homosexuals (and non-Christians, in general) and love them and show them the heart of God and give them the opportunity to understand and to choose Jesus. We shouldn't just tell them or try to force them to conform to our beliefs; Jesus never would have done that.

So no matter which way I look at it, I did a very hypocritical thing by voting Yes on Prop 8. But if I was given the chance to go back in time and change my vote, I most likely would not change it. What does that say about me as a person in light of what I just explained? As a Christian? As a person who believes in freedoms and choices and that everyone deserves them? That is an entirely different blog altogether...one that I will probably never write. But I will say that I still have a LOT of growing to do.


http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9806/danpre.html (Jefferson's letter)

http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/church-state/decisions.html
(Supreme Court rulings)

http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/Quran/003-wife-beating.htm (Quran text)

Hallelujah!

Just months ago we were paying close to $5.00 per gallon for gas, now we are down to this; I never thought I'd ever see this price again! Last time we were here we were all freaking out about how expensive it was getting. And that was so long ago that I can't even remember when it actually was. Now we are excited about it...How long will it last?

Where were you when...?

History is full of "Where were you when's?" Where were you when Kennedy was shot? Or Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? Where were you when the first man walked on the moon? Or the morning of September 11th? There are more, and when people live through such events, they can tell you many years and even decades later exactly where they were when it happened, how they felt, what they said, or couldn't find the words to say. They can tell you who they were with, even what they were wearing or eating.

I just watched tens of millions of Americans elect a black man as the 44th President of the United States of America. This election transcended race! No...an election doesn't do anything on it's own...the people of America transcended race in this election. For generations, we have lied to our young people; we have taught them that in American anybody can be anything they want to be, and today that is no longer a lie. We have risen from a nation once wrenched with slavery into a nation where all men truly are created equal. It has been a long, hard journey to get here, but we have reached another milestone...one most of us never thought we'd live to see take place. What about our grandparents who are still with us? They have seen much, much worse times than we have...I'm sure not one of them thought they'd ever see it in their lifetime.


I never stopped believing in Barack Obama's ability to lead this nation to unity, but I did stop having faith in the people. But I watched people celebrate last night. All kinds of people, all together (maybe not a whole lot of Republicans, but I didn't see the bitterness I thought I would see). In the midst of all the celebration, I was reminded of how much "coming together" it took to make this happen. (I'm just going to throw party unity out the window because I don't know that that will ever really happen, although there were many Republicans that crossed over for Obama in this election). But I watched people, young and old, black and white, rich and poor, all crying and jumping for joy and hugging one another. In those moments, there was no demographic that mattered to any of them. I didn't see any fights, or smoke in the distance. All I saw was unity. I saw people put their differences aside and come together for a common purpose.


I've got to come clean and say that although I did vote in this election, I chose not to vote for a President. Choosing not to choose was not an easy conclusion for me to draw. Policy-wise neither candidate had my full support, and that's the only way I, in good conscience, can vote. But my heart always wanted to see Obama stake his claim for America.


This country is forever changed...and we ARE headed in the right direction. If you read my previous blog, right now you are probably thinking I'm bi-polar; I assure you I am not. I just see things happen sometimes, awful things that make me shudder, things that quake me to my core. And when I'm lucky enough, I get to see something that contradicts it, and calms me down reminding me that it doesn't have to be as I imagined. Last night I was lucky enough to watch people come together, and I listened to our President-elect talk about change one more time. And all the fear and turmoil festering inside of me subsided. I have complete faith that this man will change America for the better (he's already surmounted tremendous obstacles, therein starting that cycle of change) and I once again have faith that the people will do what they can, too. I know we have to take it one baby step at a time, but we have just made a huge leap forward. I don't know how there can be anyone that isn't excited about that!


Many times I have expressed my gratitude to God for choosing this country and this period in time for me to be born into. I don't think I could have made it in any other time or place. I'd be too "soft" or too "rogue" or too any number of other things. And I have even more reason to be thankful today. I was born with this strong desire to see true racial equality. I can't even explain it. It wasn't something I had to be taught, I just knew what was right and what was wrong, I knew what should matter about a person and what shouldn't. And today a piece of that desire was satisfied. This is not only an important event for Americans in general, but this is an especially important event for black Americans. I could never begin to explain the depths of it's significance for black people in America because I will never be able to fully understand their struggle. And I would never cheapen it by pretending.


So, where were you when the people of America voted the first black man into the Presidency of the United States of America? For me, it was 8:01 PM PST on November 4, 2008 when Keith Olbermann announced the winner. I sat on the couch in my living room next to my husband, with a laptop in my lap and tears streaming down my cheeks. I wore a pink shirt with pink tweety bird pajama pants and stared at the television in awe, in disbelief, in amazement and pride and joy and hope. I could hardly speak; all I could say was, "America did it." Then I watched Barack Obama walk across the stage like he was born for this very purpose; he was born to break the barrier. This is a story I look forward to telling my children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. And I hope that as I tell them this story that it will blow their minds to even imagine that we once lived in a world where the color of a person's skin was such a big deal. Now, someday I will be able to tell my mulatto children that with dedication and hard work, they can be anything they want to be...even President of the United States. And it won't be a lie.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27546437#27546437 (Obama's victory speech)

A Nation Divided?

Here we sit, on the eve of one of the most important, history-making Presidential elections...I would say THE most important one in my lifetime. I'm pretty certain about who our next President will be; if it turns out that I'm wrong, I already have several theories about how and why the numbers would swing in the other direction, but I'm not going to get into that. What I really wanted to talk about today is what this election has done to our country.

I feel like we have been divided during this race. Republicans hate Democrats, Democrats hate Republicans. There never has been unity between the parties, but at least we used to be somewhat civil towards each other. All decency and tact has now been thrown out the window. So much hate with regard to party affiliation, race and religion has surfaced and escalated.

Towards the beginning of the Primaries, both McCain and Obama advertised themselves as agents for change. Obama talked about change in many different areas, but the one I particularly liked was for party and racial unity. It just struck a chord with me; it's something I'd really like to see happen. Because of his background and his way with people, I thought that if anyone could do it at this point in time, HE could. But as I've watched this Presidential election unfold, I see that we are running full speed ahead in the opposite direction. I see a divide much greater than the one previously there. A divide between parties, races, religions, socio-economic classes...Maybe it was always there and it's just been masked or maybe I've just been blind, REALLY blind. But has it always been this bad? Have I been naive? Living in a fantasy world? Or has it gotten much worse, as I suspect?

It's great that this election has inspired so many; that so many have found their passion because of it, but how did that passion cross over into hatred? Have you ever heard of a group of little old ladies ganging up on young men and beating them down for supporting the opposite ticket? Well, it happened. And that doesn't even begin to tell the story of the past year. I don't even want to get into it in detail.

This country is not coming together at all. Will that POOF! just change overnight when we finally know who our next President will be? I doubt it. Tomorrow we find out which man that will be, and I could bet that no matter who it is there will be riots and fights in the streets all across this nation. There will be fires and vandalism and chaos. And there will be hate run rampant. There will be hate and there will be no such thing as being too naive to see it. It will be like the red koolaid stain on your new white carpet. Not only is there no possible way of missing it when you walk into the room, but when you close your eyes and try to pretend it's not there, you still see it, etched in your mind's eye. Even when you blot it up, soak the carpet in club soda and stain remover and everything else that you can think of, the stain remains. There is no way of going back to the pre-koolaid stain days...your carpet is forever changed. And so will be our country. No missing it, no ignoring it, no fantasy worlds. That's change alright, but not the type of change I wanted to see.

All I have left to say at this point is that I sincerely hope that I am wrong...REALLY wrong.