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PRO: Left and right need to find middle ground
By Jeff Snyder
Do you know what (if any) religious beliefs your friends hold? How about your coworkers or fellow students? Does it make a difference to you? Do you listen for an invocation given before a graduation ceremony? Does your blood boil every time you read the words “In God we trust” on American currency? For most of us, the answer to all these questions is a resounding “No.” This is not Kabul, Dublin, or East Timor. America does not have a big problem with religious intolerance or persecution. We are in no danger of having a state religion forced down our collective throats by the government.
I submit to you that the whole litigious melee over this issue is about politics, not the Constitution. Individuals (supported by special interest groups) have filed lawsuits claiming that invocations at graduation or the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance is illegal. They state that the wall of separation between church and state (which comes from a letter by Thomas Jefferson and not from the Constitution itself) prohibits any organized mention of God in schools or at school functions. The rights of the minority, they say, are being violated even by voluntary prayers or pledges. It is true that the Bill of Rights is intended to prevent the majority from crushing the minority using the government as a tool, but the minority also is not able to deprive the majority of their right to freely exercise their religion as guaranteed by the First Amendment. The key elements are coercion and funding. If the state forces people to participate or uses public funds to purchase the religious message, then the government has crossed the line. An invocation by a minister, priest, or rabbi working for free is acceptable. So are student organized and led prayers at sporting events. The special interest groups that love to push their idea of separation (without mentioning the origin of the term or the context in which it was originally used) cleverly ignore what Jefferson also said, in Notes on Virginia in 1781. “The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God.” Basically, you cannot outlaw voluntary religious expressions.
The ACLU and other ultra-liberal groups are leading the charge against religion, but not all religions. They seem to be targeting only conservative Christianity. The political left is up in arms anytime a conservative with strong religious beliefs runs for office. So, where is the outcry over Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton? Both are religious leaders, ostensibly with their primary allegiance being to God. Perhaps it is only okay to be both a reverend and a politician if you have illegitimate children or have falsely accused someone of rape. Bill Clinton had spiritual advisors to help him overcome his addiction to sex. No complaints from the left. However, when John Ashcroft has voluntary prayer meetings before work those same liberals scream about separation. Maybe they think that the boss should only organize activities that involve golfing, drinking, or chasing interns.America has not always been a nation of religious tolerance and we should never return to the days of persecution and discrimination. It is our duty to insure that the political extremists on both sides are not able to swing the pendulum too far from the center in either direction.
CON: Uncle Sam is trapping the boar known as religion
By Jason Kratzwald
Once upon a time in a small farming community in southeast Louisiana, clans of wild boar ravaged the country side and cost many residents great financial hardships. Many of the residents of this small town attempted to shoot and kill the boar they happened upon and even attempted a massive hunt against the beasts, with no eventual luck. Just then, a man by the name of Sam in a rusted old pickup truck offered his services to the community.
Sam did not own a gun. The only items he brought were a post hole digger, two wooden posts, and a bag of corn. Sam had heard that the boar were congregating at night in an area of the parish known as the Badlands. He traveled to the Badlands just before sundown and spread the bag of corn in a relatively small area and dug the posts in the ground about 10 feet apart. He packed up and headed away from the area. Sam continued to return to the area nightly, distributing another bag of corn and digging more posts into the ground until after about two weeks, had made a makeshift corral. He built the corral over time to avoid frightening the beasts and scaring them away. During this time, he noticed more and more of the corn was disappearing over night. Upon completion of the corral, he placed the last bag of corn into the corral, tied a rope to its gate and waited in a nearby tree. Around 1 am, 16 wild boar entered his corral and started to feast on the offerings. Sam waited until all the boar were in his trap, yanked on the rope and closed the corral gate behind them.
This story is based upon true events, and was told to me by a friend and mentor. Sam’s struggle with the boar is a great facilitator of my argument concerning the separation of church and state. Sam had used the boars dependence on a free hand out to lure the animals into his trap. By building the corral slowly over many weeks, he limited the amount of resistance to change from the boarsê point of perspective. The boars liked what they were given and became dependent on Samês corn offerings every night. This lead to their capture and thus the animals no longer ravaged the farm land.
Under George W. Bush’s faith-based initiative plan, the United States Federal Government will give tax payer dollars to religions that provide a faith-based service to others. Many religions will gladly take this new money and provide services to the less fortunate. But, at what point will the federal government follow up with the religious beneficiaries to see if the money is truly being used to benefit others? How dependent will the various religions receiving financial offerings under the faith-based initiative become upon the United States Federal Government? Once dependence is achieved, the (Uncle Sam) has in effect trapped the religious boar and controls the outcome of the animal. If religion becomes dependent on the financial backing of the government, who will truly run your church? Free handouts are attractive for many, but I believe that the government has no place in religious, social welfare and should leave this practice up to private charities. Governmental dependence in any form is clearly not part of the separation of church and state as defined in the United States Bill of Rights, and we should be weary of federal assistance.
Originally the separation of church and state was established to protect the government and the people from religion. On the other hand, I also believe that the separation of church from state offers freedom of religion and practice thereof from the weapon known as the federal government. I propose that the separation policy in the Bill of Rights is justly needed, and should be upheld in the highest courts of the land. It is time for America to realize that government has no place in the church, and the church no place in government. We have lived peacefully without interaction and control, and the boar and Uncle Sam lives happily ever after.
