Monday, April 27, 2009

Seperation of church and state

I've been thinking about what this means to me. Some have really strong feelings about it and are seriously missing the mark I feel. Here is what I think. The state has no say how a church runs its self as long as the church as a hole does not promote breaking laws. The church does have some say in how the state runs as its members are citizens of the state and its ideals represent in some cases large numbers of its citizens, our government should run by the people and for the people. However the state does have the responsibility of running its self based on the wants of the general public as a majority as long as those wants do not oppress the rights of others and as long as those rights do not negatively effect the general good of the community.
I also believe that the government is owned by the people and is a servant of the people. All government buildings are owned by the people and should be used as the majority of the people want them used, for example if the majority wanted prayer in school the school should allow it to be done. If a minority or individual does not wish this to be the case they are not forced to participate. If the people wish to have things like the 10 commandments displayed inside or outside a government building then they should be. If an individual feels they do not want them to be there they need not look at them. There is no statement in the constitution that an individual has the right to not be offended and we need not run our government based on this idea. If there is sufficient numbers of people that want something removed they have a right to petition and if they meet the requirements that item should be placed up for a vote. I am tired of small groups of people taking away the rights of the majority and forcing their will on the rest, this kind of thing is what causes the fall of a nation.

2 comments:

Shelly said...

I, too, am all for public displays of the 10 commandments, since they were the basis for our legal system. The intention of separation of church and state was that there was not to be a "state sponsored" religion. It should not be hijacked to mean NO religion!

yomama said...

Hear!! hear!!