It is hard to know where to start in on the stupid on this issue, but let's begin on a point near and dear to my heart, the Constitution. The First Amendment makes it clear when it says:
Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.
That means all religions, not just one. There is also the Article VI, Clause 2, the Supremacy Clause which makes the Constitution, Federal Laws and Treaties the supreme law of the land. No other law can supersede these laws, whether they be religious laws or State laws.
This whole "their going to try to impose Shariah!!" hysteria is just that, fear mongering to whip up the base of the increasingly insane Republican Party. What is particularly galling about all of this is the level of unselfconscious hypocrisy that goes along with these fears of religious law being established in the United States.
The very same people that are shrieking about Shariah are the ones who insist that we are a so-called "Christian" nation and want to be sure that the Ten Commandments are displayed everywhere. They are the ones that worry incessantly that there is war on Christmas (a holiday for the birth of their messiah). They are the ones who insist that we can not allow our gay, lesbian and transgendered citizens full rights because their god has said that they are bad people for their sexuality or mis-assigned gender.
As an Atheist I actually have a little sympathy for them. If you are on the outside of a religion it is very easy to see the beliefs as more than a little demented and sinister. The believers don't have to have logic or reason to support their initial position, it is based on faith, then they may or may not proceed from logic but that initial belief is what allows any outsider to say "Just look at what those fuckwits think is the "right" thing to do!"
It is entirely possible that for people of faith in one deity to have even a stronger reaction to other religions proscriptions. After all the Abrhamic religions all have gods which tell their believers that they are the one true god and that they shall not subject their deity to market forces. When you have this as a core item of faith then the sinister nature of another's oppressive beliefs are brought into even sharper contrast.
When religion and politics ride in the same cart, it is almost always a disaster. The important doubt that restrains politicians is removed and then the cart tends to plunge headlong, faster and fast, driven by people who are sure that their god will not let them crash. This is the one of the dangers of the radical Republicans,. People like Delaware Republican Senatorial Candidate Christine O'Donnell are filled with religious zeal and will use that zeal as the basis of their policy. When we are talking about someone who thinks masturbation is equal to adultery, is that so different from Shariah?
The good news is that the trend is away from laws based on religious bigotry. The finding of fact in recent LGTB cases has shown the opposition to full rights to be based on nothing more than base fear and religious based intolerance. The blue laws which kept places like my home state from selling alcohol on Sunday's until just this year are slowly being repealed as people find that they don't really care what their neighbor does if it does not affect them. Even the push to legalize marijuana, the Just Say Now campaign is gaining steam and credibility because the idea of real personal freedom is one that Americans like.
So in the end if whether it is our own homegrown folks who want to impose religious law, or the faux ones they use to keep their base in a constant state of fear, the reality is there will be no religious law in the United States. It is one of the things the Founders and Framers were very clear that they did not want. They had the chance at the start of our Republic to make a national religion or to outlaw other religions and they resisted the temptation. We honor that choice by reaffirming it. Whether you have no faith or believe in a present and vengeful god you have the right to have and express that position in this nation. It is part of what makes us great and we should not play politics with it.
The floor is yours. |
