Separation of Church and State
Content Updated October 9, 2007
The Problem with Religion in Schools
Imagine your child comes home from school and tells you that he has had to practice religions different than your own throughout the day. His Muslim teacher instructed the entire class to bow and pray several times to remind the children to focus on God. His Wiccan teacher set up an altar and had the children cast a spell to increase their learning ability. His Hindu teacher had everyone present food offerings to a sanctified picture of one of the Hindu gods for protection. His Satanist teacher teaches the class Satanic life principles to help them have more personal power. His Christian teacher tells everyone to be saved to avoid burning in hell for eternity. His Buddhist teacher teaches them that they must follow the Eightfold Path to release themselves from suffering. And his Atheist teacher teaches that there is no God, and all the other teachers are foolish.
There is nothing wrong with teaching our children about various religions if only to teach that different people have different beliefs and those beliefs influence culture. But forcing children to practice a religion is an obvious violation of their freedoms. Forcing an Atheist student to say "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance is a violation of his religious freedom, just as forcing a Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or Hindu child to say "there is no God" every day is a violation of theirs. Likewise, forcing a child to pray, whether by direct instruction or by peer pressure, is also a violation of religious freedom.
The moment anybody decides that religious ideas, like intelligent design and the Ten Commandments, should be taught in a school (whether or not the word religion is attached to those teachings), we are depriving our children of their freedom to think for themselves, free of religious doctrine.
The Problem with Religion in Laws
Imagine a large part of the population decides to become Jehovah's Witnesses. Their voting power succeeds in banning Christmas and Halloween. Imagine they convert to Islam and create laws forcing all women to cover themselves. Then they convert to Wicca and have the Pledge of Allegiance changed from "under God" to "under Goddess and God." And then they all become Atheists and create a law prohibiting anyone from even mentioning the existence of any god.
Religious principles do influence the laws of or society, but we must do our best to ensure that our laws are not based on religious teachings. Instead, we must focus on creating laws that are logically necessary regardless of religious teachings. Logically, we should make it illegal to commit murder, not because it is forbidden in many religions, because it robs an unwilling victim of life, destroys stability and security, damages families, and creates an unstable society filled with fear. Child molestation must be illegal, even if some religions condone it, because it physically and psychologically damages the victim child and creates mental instability.
The moment somebody looks to a passage in a religious scripture or consult a religious leader to help them decide what / who they will vote for, that's the moment that they cross the line, the border between a government based on freedom for its people and a religious dictatorship that tries to control everyone.
Questioning Religious Leaders and Government Leaders
One of the things I often hear from people who want to incorporate religion into government is that their religion is the perfect government. This may be true for those individuals; it may truly be perfect for them, but that doesn't mean that the leaders of their religion are perfect. Many religious leaders have been convicted of things like child molestation, rape, domestic abuse, child abuse, murder, robbery, and genocide. Some of them even have done these acts in the name of religion, and their followers didn't question their actions because they believed the leaders were given authority by God, or some other divine being, to do these things.
To keep a government from becoming a dictatorship, the people must always have the right, and the duty, to challenge their government and question leaders and laws. When religion becomes a part of government, the people following that religion are less likely to question the actions of the leadership and more likely to let imperfect leaders make huge mistakes.
Religion Will Survive Separation of Church and State
Some advocates of having religion intertwined with government believe that it is their duty to spread their religion, even by legislated force. But if their religion is actually the right path to travel, then it doesn't need to be legislated or voted into office to spread. People will see the right paths for themselves without anyone forcing them, and if your religion is the best one for them, they will convert without government involvement.
...by Feed