Take Religion Out of Politics

Whatever happened to ethics? We do not need to believe in a ‘higher power’ to figure out what is right and what is wrong. We do not need to ‘have faith’ to know what to do in response to something that is wrong. All we need to do is look and act. Look and see those of us who are homeless, poor, oppressed, and terrorized right here in our country. This is going on in the same country where others of us have more wealth, power, and safety than will ever be needed.

Is this right?

If the answer is ‘no’ then we have the moral responsibility to act. We must use the resources we have to change things. We have the moral responsibility to encourage and unite with other people who are also working to change things.

Whatever happened to examining how our actions impact others? We do not need to belong to a church, synagogue, mosque, or temple to do this. All we need to do is look and speak. Look and see what is going on in Iraq, for instance. We bombed and invaded this country under the banner of establishing freedom and ending terrorism. Now the people there have less freedom, less safety, and a new generation of ‘terrorist’ is being formed through our actions today. We need to speak up and ask: what does this act of aggression reveal about the values of our country? In addition, we are claiming to fight in Iraq to bring the people there freedom, democracy, and to stop terrorism all while people in Africa, South America, parts of Europe and Asia, the Caribbean… are, and have been, living with oppression, political corruption, and war. We need to ask: what does this say about who and what we value?

We need to remove references to religion, faith, God, Manifest Destiny, Yahweh, Allah… from political discussions. References to religion and faith are what brought our country to this point in history. The point where women are facing the threat of losing their right to personal freedom, gays are facing the threat of never obtaining first class citizenship, blacks are facing the threat of losing the battle to full equality. Faith, religion, dogma, and religious rhetoric all belong in our private lives.

Faith and religion are important to many of us, myself included. In a pluralistic country, though, religion cannot be the standard for civil action. The first question we have when we try using religion in this way is whose religion is the standard. In addition, when we include religious beliefs in the process of deciding what is right and what is wrong, we end in confusion, bickering, name calling, bullying, ostracizing, and shunning--sound familiar?

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands; one nation, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.