Why should we insist on the separation of church and state?

'Most obviously the decision about which church would rule in a multi-theocratic nation like ours would immediately throw us into the kind of conflict not witnessed since the Crusades. It's all fair and well to have a Christian code of law if you are a Christian but what about the multitude of Muslims and Jews in SA?

 

That's just the monotheistic faiths, what of the polytheistic Hindus or the plethora of Pagan followers to say nothing of the fastest growing minority demographic and least meddlesome, the Atheists.

 

Party politics is viscous, conniving and divisive enough as it is right now. Can you imagine the compounded sense of entitlement they would have if they were sanctioned by the full might of their respective Gods (Zuma tiptoes dangerously in this arena already with his; "We will rule until Jesus returns.")

 

Religion has its place in society but after eons of senseless conflict, a hand full of sensible fellows got together a few hundred years ago on the other side of the Atlantic and said; "Enough of that." I'm paraphrasing of course but I think it was Carl Sagan who summed it up best

 

“Christianity may be good and Satanism evil. Under the Constitution, however, both are neutral. This is an important, but difficult, concept for many law enforcement officers to accept. They are paid to uphold the penal code, not the Ten Commandments … The fact is that far more crime and child abuse has been committed by zealots in the name of God, Jesus and Mohammed than has ever been committed in the name of Satan. Many people don’t like that statement, but few can argue with it.”

-Carl Sagan-

 

Just in case you thought any act of politics with the support of God would be a positive, just and moral one - please remember that every Nazi officer took the  fuhrer oath; “I swear in the name of almighty God, my loyalty to the Fuhrer?” And on the belt buckle of every Nazi soldier it read 'Gott mit uns,' God on our side?

 

The church has an important place in our lives and our personal relations with our respective Deities and the precepts that they prescribe for us are just that, personal. No one religion can govern us all and when it tries to it invents such violations of human freedoms as apostasy, infant slaughter and suicide bombings.

 

It was the fourth President of the United States and the man dubbed 'The Father of the Constitution' (James Madison) who said; "The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries."

 

 

Every religion claims to be the authority on morality and every church believes that it it is only doing the work of God the creator, but there isn't just one God on this planet and there are many churches or mosques or synagogues or temples...

 

It was Robert Heinlein who put it succinctly when he said;

 

“Almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.”

 

It's not so much the religion I'm worried about or even what it teaches, it's the followers who are all too human and all too flawed and for them we need laws and people to govern them.'