Friday Odds and Ends

Texas Gov. Rick Perry either had a recent meltdown, or he truly believes that the doctrine of the separation of church and state is a myth devised by Satan to drive Christians from public life. He also said, “American families are under siege and that Christian Warriors must defend the nation against secular attack.”

Separation of chrch and state has often been misinterpreted and misused, depending on who was touting it. Athiests have said that it means there should be no mention of a God, or higher power, or religion in schools, governement offices, courts or any other place where it might offend someone. People of faiths other than Christianity have lobbied so no mention of Jesus or any holiday associated with Jesus can take place in a public venue that might be construed as government sanctioned.

What most people forget is that Thomas Jefferson first invoked the separation of church and state to assure a group of Baptists in Connecticut that the state’s Congregationalist majority could not use government to impose its religious views on everybody else.

Think about what that means. It is not that we can’t practice our religion. It is not that we can’t have prayer in school. It simply means that the government cannot tell us what kind of religion we should practice.

Now here’s a funny from Non Sequitur:

Two men are sitting at a bar and one asks, “Why can’t anyone running for office ever be honest about what they really stand for and what they intend to do?”

On the bar television a politician is saying, “I stand firmly on any divisive issue we can’t do anything about to keep you distracted from the fortune I rake in from lobbyists for doing nothing.”

To that the first man replies, “Geesh, I’d never vote for that guy…”

The second man says, “Which answers your questuon.”