Sunday, November 3, 2013

Fear & Loathing In The Separation Of Church & State Debate (Debacle?)


What is the Separation Of Church And State? Well, according to Wikipedia:
"The separation of church and state is the distance in the relationship between organized religion and the nation state.
Although the concept of separation has been adopted in a number of countries, there are varying degrees of separation depending on the applicable legal structures and prevalent views toward the proper role of religion in society. While a country's policy may be to have a definite distinction in church and state, there may be an "arm's length distance" relationship in which the two entities interact as independent organizations. A similar but typically stricter principle of laïcité has been applied in France and Turkey, while some socially secularized countries such as Denmark and the United Kingdom have maintained constitutional recognition of an official state religion.[1] The concept parallels various other international social and political ideas, including secularism, disestablishment, religious liberty, and religious pluralism. Whitman (2009) observes that in many European countries, the state has, over the centuries, taken over the social roles of the church, leading to a generally secularized public sphere.[2]
The degree of separation varies from total separation mandated by a constitution, as in India and Singapore; to an official religion with total prohibition of the practice of any other religion, as in the Maldives." ..... Ok... (Personally, I would have said separation mandated by a Constitution, such as here in America, or an official religion with the prohibition of any other religion, such as some Arab nations... But it is what it is.)

Whatever the case, here in the land of "Freedom and Opportunity" we have a Constitution, which is supposed to be the supreme law of the land, although the politicians have been wiping their collective ass with it for many years now. And, in our Constitution it states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ...."   This brings us to this story: http://news.msn.com/us/ny-town-at-center-of-church-state-battle which basically is a couple of women getting upset because a town decided to open their town hall meetings with a prayer. Two separate political organizations have since gotten involved, and now it is going before the supreme court. (Who apparently have nothing better to occupy their time with..{?}) What the fuck? Another prime example of bureaucracy in action, it seems. Hmmm... I don't know, man, but wouldn't it be simpler to open the town hall meetings with two minutes of silence wherein everyone present may pray to the deities of their choice, or just sit silently if they choose not to pray? I mean, someone please correct me if I'm mistaken, but wouldn't that eliminate the mountain of bullshit which is piling up over this?   Yeah...

Maybe I have a jaded view of things.  I don't have a very high opinion of religion as a whole.  Spirituality, yes.  Religion, no.  Religion is just another means of control, a way for the elitists to force their will upon the ignorant masses.  If you ask me what my religion is, I'll tell you I don't practice one, but I'm not an atheist.  I call myself a Pagan, because I have views which are contrary to most established religions.  I don't believe in dogma.  Certain rituals do serve certain purposes, but living one's daily life by strict, inflexible rules is just OCD, and is about as effective in altering the "reality" around you as farting in a windstorm.  Try this exercise, pray to your god for gold dubloons to fall from the sky into your front yard and see what happens. Go thru all your dogmatic rituals, whatever they may be. What happened? Are you now swimming in gold? Why not? Hmmm...

Now, try this one out: Go out and find someone in need of help, then help them. (Buy the homeless guy a cheeseburger, go to the local animal shelter and pet all the critters, pick a street and walk down it, and every expired parking meter you see, feed it some change so that the person who parked there doesn't get a ticket. Go visit the elderly shut-in folk at a nursing home and spend some time with them. Sweep up all the garbage from the street and put it in a trashcan...) {And Don't tell anyone what you've done!} There. Feel good inside now? You should. If you don't feel good after that, then go on back to your dogma. At least you did something worthwhile.

Fuck rules and restrictions, they serve as much purpose as tits on a boar hog. Give me Anarchy. (Or give me enough weed to make me sleep.)

This has been one man's opinion. Like it or lump it. I have spoken.

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