This has been said many times: “more people are killed in the name of religion than anything else.”
Europe had religious wars, 1517-1648. The Indian subcontinent divided between Hindus and Muslims – often at war.
“Crusades” attempted to “take back” the “Holy Land” from muslims – committed many atrocities en route.
Muslims divided between Shiite and Sunni. Various “Inquisitions” occurred in Europe over centuries. Jews and Muslims argue over who should be there, in possessions of Palestinian holy sites. “Witch hunts” occurred in Europe over centuries – people accused of working with the Devil. Buddhists expelled Muslims from Myanmar. Anti-Semitism, centuries old, led to Nazi Holocaust. Genocide occurred in the Americas, often in the name of “Christianizing savages.” In World War I, Germans and their opponents both claimed “God is on our side.” Religion justified slavery, then segregation, now discrimination. 1692’s Salem “witch scare” occurred in an atmosphere dominated by fundamentalist religious outlook.
Professor of religion and Middle East religion expert, Charles Kimball’s 2002 “When Religion Becomes Evil” stated “The Five Warning Signs of Corruption in Religion.” They are”. absolute truth claims, blind obedience, establishing the ‘Ideal Time,” the end justifies any means, declaring holy war. “..One or more of these five signs always precedes any instance of religiously sanctioned evil.”
Kimball put the American “religious right” and the Taliban on a continuum; condemns religious extremists of all kinds. He noted, in many ways, Osama bin Laden and Jerry Falwell “seemed to agree” on interpreting 9/11 events.
Kimball”. “Christians who say they take the Bible literally are either ignorant or self-deluded. No one takes the Bible literally.”
Stacy Schiff’s “The Witches” details the 1692 Salem witch scare. “When the colonists established a legal code, the first capital crime was idolatry. the second was witchcraft. ‘If any man or woman be a witch, that is, hath or consulteth with a familiar spirit, they shall be put to death,’ read the 1641 body of laws, citing Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. Blasphemy came next, followed by murder, poisoning, and bestiality.”
Founders were students of European and English history – well aware of destructive religious events. Some ancestors were refugees from religious persecution.
Founders had four major fears: abuse of power [corruption], slavery, religion, and mobs. The Constitution and Bill of Rights were to prevent these causing trouble.
England’s 1573 law required people in government taking an oath supporting the Church of England. Article VI of the Constitution: “..but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public trust under the United States.” To a “reasonable person” this is rather obvious and clear, right?????
Considerable effort has been made to distort the First Amendment; have it “say” what Founders explicitly denied. The most egregious of efforts to twist “freedom of speech” into an excuse for many things, including political corruption [the number one Founders concern]. The other most egregious falsehood: deny the Founders intended “separation of church and state.”
First Amendment language is very brief. Too brief to state what many Founding generations. DEMANDED. – TOTAL “separation of church and state.”
We have much the Founders said recorded on documents, speeches, letters, etc. Among the best summaries is Edwin S. Gaustad’s. “Faith of the Founders…Religion and the New Nation, 1776-1826.” On pages 134-145 Gaustad has excerpts from 1776-1799 state constitutions. Every American who questions “separation of church and state” needs to read the very exacting language. These state constitutions are THE explanation what the Founders meant by: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..”
Consider: 8 of 13 original states prohibited ministers serving in their government. Delaware, 1776, Article 29: “There shall be no establishment of any one religious sect in this State in preference to another; and no clergyman or preacher of the gospel, of any denomination, shall be capable of holding any civil office in this State, or being a member of either of the branches of the legislature, while they continue in the exercise of the pastoral function.”
Some religious zealots want YOU to pay for their beliefs and churches. Consider North Carolina constitution, 1776, Article XXXIV: “That there shall be no establishment of anyone religious church or denomination in this State, in preference to any other; NEITHER SHALL ANY PERSON, ON ANY PRETENSE WHATSOEVER, be compelled to attend any place of worship CONTRARY. TO. HIS OWN FAITH. OR JUDGMENT, NOR BE OBLIGED. TO PAY, for the purchase of any glebe, or the building of any house of worship, or for the maintenance of. ANY. minister or ministry, CONTRARY. TO. WHAT HE. BELIEVES. RIGHT, or has. VOLUNTARILY any personally engaged to perform; but all persons shall be at liberty to exercise THEIR. OWN. MODE. OF. WORSHIP.” [my capitalizations]
Madison and others in the Founding Generations believed to require a person to support THE CHURCH HE HIMSELF attended – violated his religious freedom.
There is NO. doubt “whatsoever” Founders believed any and all recent “voucher” or “scholarship” schemes to get taxpayer support for churches and religious schools are all unConstitutional. All tax exemptions are also unConstitutional – why should YOU pay for a church YOU don’t attend, a church which might be violating YOUR religious rights?
The Founders didn’t believe you should – as above. If requiring YOU to support the church YOU attend was wrong, why should YOUR taxes go to a church possibly hostile to everything YOU believe in?????
Past gifts by American governments to churches have been done on the. ASSUMPTION all churches are “good” for the community. American churches have a long list of exemptions from laws others are required to obey – on the. ASSUMPTION all churches are positive forces for “good.” This is demonstrably untrue.
Note Founders’ language on many documents indicating without doubt – religion was a. PRIVATE. not. COLLECTIVE right. Part of the 1765-1800 American Revolution was against the Church of England – why replace that with another?
The American experiment was the first governed by the people – not royalty, not an official church.
The 1797 Treaty with the Barbary pirates stated America was not a Christian nation. Negotiated by the Washington Administration, signed by the Adams Administration, it sailed through a Congress full of Founders virtually without dissent.
II. The consequences of violating “separation of church and state>”
In 1980-2021 America, we’ve seen the Founders’ wisdom repeatedly proven – by violations of it; by constant attempts to blur the line between church and state.
The American Taliban, the “religious right,” has conducted religious war against mainstream America. They’ve murdered doctors, vandalized and blown ip medical facilities. They’ve conducted a war of suppression against women – demanding women run their reproductive lives according to fundamentalist demands.
In 2021 Texas, we have, so far, the ultimate in “the state” controlling people’s bodies. Texas law allows “private citizens” to become “bounty hunters” of other Americans. Texas now on par with Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia in creating an atmosphere of fear and suspicion, of neighbors turning in neighbors. Texas is on the continuum with Afghan Taliban thugs.
Much of 1980-2021 America is the result of violation of the Constitution’s Article VI, prohibiting a “religious test” for public offices. Republican governors and presidents repeatedly promised “pro-life judges.” The result is thenRoberts Supreme Court. All 6 Republican appointees were raised in one “conservative” church, vigorously anti-abortion.
Much of American politics is determined by candidate’s position on abortion and/or homosexuality. These are. RELIGIOUS DOCTRINES, supposedly forbidden from being enacted American laws.
Why should a church YOU DON’T. BELONG TO. control. YOOUR. life??? Why should this church have. ANY. SAY. on how. YOU run. YOUR. life???? The Constitutions says they can’t. The Founding generations were very clear. NO. NEVER. NOT. AT ALL, UNDER. NO. CIRCUMSTANCES. WHATSOEVER. would this happen. Yet it has.
Without full control over YOUR. body – YOU. have. no rights. If the government, pushed by a church, can dictate YOUR. SEX. and. REPRODUCTIVE. life. – YOU. have. no. privacy. The Puritans own YOU.
Welcome to 1621. – or is it. 1692. – ‘AMERICA”??????????????
With Justice For All 