I am not going to focus on my religious beliefs here. Partly because they are conflicted, at best. I go between believing and wanting proof. I classify myself as an agnostic. Which simply means I want proof. Ok, that's all I am going to say on my personal beliefs.
My question today is how much should organized religion get involved in their members lives? I started wondering this when I read that the pope has asked that members of the church name their children more Christian names. This is of course the latest in a long line of edicts from the leadership of the catholic church. They have been involved in members lives on a great many topics. From birth control to marriage to divorce to sexuality and now baby names.
Of course the Catholic church is not the only church to do this. The Quaran and the Muslim faith have strong opinions on a lot of issues such as the role of women and how women should act. The church of Scientology has plenty to say about how their members should act and how they should live their lives. All religions think they should be able to set mandates for their members lives.
My dad grew up Catholic, my mom Episcopalian. My dad was divorced. My mom and dad wanted to get married in the Catholic church. They were told no, because of my dads divorce. Of course a church has the right to marry who they choose. But since my dad was also kicked out of the church shows that at least at that time the church not only told their members how they should live their lives but also got rid of them if they did not go along with the plan.
Again I ask how far should religion get involved in people's lives? More importantly, since this country has a seperation of church and state, how involved should organized religion be involved in the political process? Should religion play any role at all when the government is deciding any issue? For instance religion comes up a lot when it comes to abortion and gay marriage. Of course some private citizens are going to base their opinions on their religion. That is fine, they have the right to do so. But when are politicians are voting on an issue, in my opinion, religion should not come up at all. Like I said, we have a seperation of church and state. If a person does not want the government to get involved in what their church does, then a church should not get involved in what the government does. And if they do? Well, if religion is to be part of our governemt, they need to pay taxes. You can't have one part of a situation, yet say no to the rest. Either religion is a part of our government or it isn't. And if it is, it needs to go by all the rules that any business goes by. But that is not how our forefathers set up this country. Religion has nothing to do with the government and government has nothing to do with religion. It is time this to become a reality instead of just a principle that this country is based on that is not followed. Or like I said, get rid of the theory and make all religious entities follow the rules of every one else.
Janet Lee Smith
01/15/10
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