The Founding Fathers were pretty smart dudes. They crafted a Constitution to preserve our right to freely practice (or not practice) the religion of our choice, safeguard our democracy, and protect our freedoms.

Regardless of how religious you are, there must be a wall separating church from state.

This nation was founded by devoutly religious people, but they were fleeing from theocratic oppression that denied them the right to worship as they saw fit.

Knowing the history of our nation better than most people do today, the Founding Fathers wanted the Constitution to ensure the religious freedom of every individual, so they made it explicit that the government of the United States would take no action to restrict religious freedom and take no action to promote one religion over another.

Once the state takes sides in religious matters, it’s only a matter of time before that religion becomes sanctioned as the one true religion of the state. From there, it’s only a matter of time before the president and congress must all belong to that religion. Or, as is most often the case, a single individual is declared both the chief religious leader of the nation and absolute dictator of the nation because he (or she) has been appointed by God to lead us.

Most religious people would agree that God’s law is more important than man’s law, but even Jesus acknowledged that you render under Caesar that which is Caesar’s.

In other words, if you’re a part of the state, you must adhere to the rules of the state.

For some people, it’s okay to kill homosexuals because they interpret some passage in the Bible as saying it’s okay.

But according to man’s law this is murder. (It’s also murder according to most religions, most Christian denominations, and pretty much to anyone that has half a brain.)

It’s not okay to interpret the Bible and act accordingly if you expect to also be a part of the state. If you claim to be a citizen of the United States, you must obey the laws of the United States. Sometimes this might conflict with how you interpret God’s law, but the New Testament, which I thought superseded the Old Testament for Christians, states that you should obey the laws of the state.

Carrying that just a little further, you either obey the law or seek to change the law. Thomas Jefferson felt that if the law was too out of step with popular belief, revolution was the next logical step.

I don’t like all of our laws (I have a Libertarian side), but I obey them because I’m a citizen.

I don’t want to live in a Theocracy. I like what freedoms the Constitution says I have. I wouldn’t want to take orders from L. Ron Hubbard (founder of Scientology) or Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, nor even the Pope. I like being able to make up my own mind.

I totally distrust religious persons who think I should obey their interpretation of the Bible or any other religious text.

I also take great offence to the notion that folks can put their faith above the law, such as those who feel that even though they work for the state, which says gay couples can marry, feel they can deny that freedom because they had a vision that it was wrong.

If you’re a magistrate for the state and decide you will not issue legal marriage licenses to LGBT couples because of your religious beliefs, quit your job.

And, by the way, Jesus was not an American and did not write the Constitution.

 

Keith Hoggard is a Staff Writer at Roanoke-Chowan Publications. Contact him at keith.hoggard@r-cnews.com or 252-332-7206.