Because of our reverence and respect for religious institutions, the cloak of the pious can provide cover for the bigot and refuge for scoundrels. I have no problem with pure hearts doing good works, guided by enlightened clergy. But I fear the influence of those who use their pulpit to teach anti-Semitism, foster hatred against the LGBT community or slander Muslims by suggesting all Islam is infused with the pathology of twisted jihadists. Indeed the flames of war in the Middle East are fed by states where dogma guides their body politic, but that should point to the problem of non-secular religious government, not a blanket indictment for the largest religion on the planet.
The United States of America has a carefully defined separation of church and state, but the "God is on our side" attitude that is such a comfort when we are under attack has a negative aspect that comes into play when demagogues try to lead us into aggressive action. We have a great need for the kind of excellent secular public education that will create a morally intelligent populace, keep our foreign policy free of religious bias, and teach critical thinking, lest our own sociopaths, the svengalis of talk radio and the obfuscaters who propagandize televised news will succeed in creating a puppet majority acting against their own self interest in support of the corporate controllers behind the curtain.
I just took action by writing to my U.S. Representative and Senators asking them to oppose private school voucher legislation! Support public schools by using this link to send a letter to your representatives in national government:
www.au.org/our-work/legislative/action-center. And consider supporting Americans United For Separation of Church and State:
-- Don Baraka
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