Separation of Church and State

 So this is why you want separation of church and state, or perhaps Freedom FROM Religion.  I have never been drawn to religion, although the older I have grown, the greater has become my disdain for religion.  I think, as one grows old, you are pushed in one direction or the other. I can actually understand why some folks are drawn into the web of religion. Increasingly, my mind wanders to that place wherein a human breathes his last breath, and then all brain activity ceases. With religion, one can make believe that the last breath is simply a transition into the wonders of Heaven.  But logic tells me that there is no transition. That when the brain ceases, there is no more. Why would humans levitate into heaven, but peacocks, lions and elephants simply cease to be? See, it makes no sense to me, and so I reject that thought.  But also, I conclude that whether afterlife is real or fake, we discover whatever we believe.

Long ago, I came to understand that religion has nothing to do with an afterlife. Religion is all about controlling other people within this life.  Control is the sole purpose of organized religion.  Now one might conclude that humans need to be controlled, therefore it is ok for religion to be the control mechanism.  Why not religion?  Well, again, I am old, but I concluded long, long ago that religion might be the least desirable vessel of control humans have ever invented.

At least with government rules and regulations, humans invent them and humans can cancel them.  With religion, humans make believe a superhuman GOD invented the rules, and, therefore, no human is to be allowed to intervene, or change the rules in any way.  Now think on that. Man invents the concept of GOD and then insists that other humans are not allowed to mess with the GOD figure. Because GOD just IS. And then some of those same humans make believe that they are able to communicate directly with the GOD figure. So anything those humans say, or write is also unassailable. What a neat system, huh?

And so the laws of man proceed to be developed, but those laws are often not allowed to disagree with the Word of GOD. Now, the “Word of GOD” apparently depends on who is doing the interpreting. A Buddhist monk, a Hindu or Muslim priest, a Christian priest might each reach different conclusions about various subjects, and so, GOD apparently speaks differently depending on the audience.

And so, we begin to wonder about the GOD thing. Maybe, just maybe, there are only human thoughts and GOD simply isn’t there.  And were that true, then, since I am human, is not my view just as valid as the next person’s?  Well, yes it is.

And so we come to subjects like “abortion”. And what is abortion you ask? Well abortion is a medical procedure in which an early fetus is discharged from a female body before that fetus is a viable human being.  Now sometimes, that procedure occurs naturally, without any outside medical intervention. And sometimes some external intervention is necessary. But in any case, the fetus cannot survive and become a living human and is simply discharged from a woman’s body.

Pregnancy is truly one of the world’s most complex procedures, whether that pregnancy is human, or one of the thousands of other creatures on this planet. It is complex because any living creature, whether it be a human, or a tiger, or a butterfly, is amazingly complex.  But complexity should never be confused with Godliness. And this is where religion intervenes. The leaders who control their religions, and, therefore, their religious followers, endow humans with special, Godly characteristics. Humans are special because we are created in God’s image. We are linked to God.

And so, the process of pregnancy becomes interwoven with Godly motives and characteristics. Humans are not allowed to intervene so as to terminate this Godly process we call pregnancy, regardless of how that pregnancy came into being.  Whether a woman becomes pregnant through a loving relationship, or a violent rape, or perhaps an accident, those who control believe they can brush aside the concerns of the woman and dictate to the woman that she should no longer have any control over what occurs within her body.  And that is truly bizarre, but so much of religion is bizarre.

Now one thing we do know, because science has taught us much about the human body, is that this pregnancy period is fraught with complexity and it often fails to proceed adequately. And sometimes, that process ceases to be viable and self-terminates, or has to be terminated for sound medical reasons.  These situations set up the possibility for a disagreement between knowledgeable medical professionals and ignorant religious controllers. And this is precisely why the “Separation of Church and State” was devised by our forefathers. We do not and should not allow ignorant (delusional?) humans, who believe they speak to God, from intervening in procedures that demand special knowledge, i.e., medicine.  The Pope might know a lot of stuff, but he does not know much about human physiology.

But we have ignored all those little things, like actual knowledge. Instead, we have chosen to allow largely ignorant humans, like Brett Kavanaugh, or Clarence Thomas, to devise rules, or even interpret rules that intervene in procedures over which they have no knowledge.  I don’t know, would we ask Clarence Thomas, or Amy Coney Barrett to intervene in the launch of a space vehicle, to define when it would be safe to launch?  Likely not, mainly because God never told Judge Amy when, or even whether to intervene there. And yet, she has no more knowledge there than she possesses over a pregnancy.

So, there we are. Ignorant people have been given charge to decide matters of life and death, when they actually are ignorant of the details. And that is now America 2022, perhaps more like America might have been in 1622.

Somehow, we need to remove such folks from their benighted tasks. Maybe voting is the answer, although to be fair, it is no longer clear that the American people are trustworthy at this voting thing. Too many Americans have given up on thinking and knowledge, and have reverted to the pretend world of organized religion.  I guess it is easier when you don’t have to think for yourself and can allow the Pope or Judge Amy to do your thinking for you.  That way, you can always retreat to, “Didn’t happen on my watch”.