Bill Moyers recently spoke at the Union Theological Seminary on the topic of religious fundamentalism and the American government. The text of his address is must reading. I'd excerpt and describe the article, but I couldn't do it justice. Just go read it.
Link via the nut.
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3 comments:
I always thought the most compelling argument was two-fold:
1.) Mixing religion and government for any reason, "positive" or "negative" has always ended poorly. Check an encyclopedia and look at the downfall of every empire in history. It's not a coincidence. Religion is the anti-thesis of reason.
2.) America was founded on a "separation of church and state" tenet, and that has always been part of the reason for our success. We've been able to govern based on the will of the people and by good, rational sense, rather than the will of a disembodied God.
Whilst we assert for ourselves a freedom to embrace, to profess and to observe the Religion which we believe to be of divine origin, we cannot deny an equal freedom to those whose minds have not yet yielded to the evidence which has convinced us.
-- James Madison, Memoral and Remonstrance
Well, Atheist, I see that as a rhetorical device more than an exhaustive listing. There are races other than black and white and gender identities other than gay and straight; some people are neither employee nor employer, and many other ilks of religious/nonreligious groupings. But I do like the conclusion in your second paragraph!
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