I apologize for the quality of this image, it was taken from my cell phone as I was driving down the road. I chose to insert it as a thumbnail so that you can open it to view it fully without losing this post. A little background on this image: Maine, where I live, no stalking please 
, has a law called something to the effect of “Keep Maine Beautiful”, among other facets of it, billboards are not allowed in the state, except apparently for this religious based one. This billboard has been around for many years, 20+, and I have always wanted to comment on it so I decided between this image and a post I have been drafting about the inequality of the idea of “Separation of Church and State” I had a pretty good article to write.
I’ve never understood why it is so possible for the church to be so active, and persuasive in government, but the first time anything even remotely comes about that appears to go against their beliefs they scream bloody murder. For this to be an effective stance it needs to work in both directions or you wind up with what we currently have, a broken system.
All to often people bemoan the influence of government on religion, i.e. the current issue with contraception, however, these same people miss a lot of the influence that the church is permitted to have outside of their designated sphere of influence. If the church is so unwillingly to change their ways as to allow basic human rights, then they have no place is our modern society. Americans have proclaimed clearly we do not want religion in our public schools, in our medical decisions or in fact in our government at all. While I can agree that the 10 Commandments provide a good base for laws for society, history shows that a government based on religion rule never works out as well as it is proclaimed.
It is not for me to decide if Jehovah, or any other god is real or not, but the numbers show that people are moving away from organized religion. Through actions of their own the church is losing followers because the church itself is not adhering to its own doctrine! The Bible is a great book if read as literature or from a life lesson point of view, I truly find offense in the idea that it describes how we are supposed to live. While a somewhat poor analogy it still serves the purpose, if I as a parent treated my kids as the Christian god treats his followers I would lose my children and wind up with jail time.
The church needs to be held accountable for all its actions. If they want to become a political force then they need to lose their tax exempt status. Opinions are one matter, supporting certain candidates with money or words is something else entirely. We are so afraid of going against the church for fear of what exactly? I am not denouncing religion, I never have it is for each person to have their own beliefs, however when they try to force their beliefs on me, tell me I am damned because of my own beliefs, then they are doing wrong and deserved to be punished.
Tax the churches, hold them accountable for their actions and make everything they do transparent to the public, and you know what, if they don’t like it the sanctimonious assholes can go back to Rome.
Related articles
- Separation of Church & State (visionary102.wordpress.com)
- Rick Perry Makes Harder Push To Kill Separation Of Church And State (inquisitr.com)
- Separation of Church & State: Our Blessing (elishasvision.wordpress.com)
- Separation of Church and State is a Must in America! (socyberty.com)
- Santorum’s Expertise: Imposing your values on somebody else. (amandatheatheist.wordpress.com)
