Constructive gadfly
Published on November 1, 2004 By stevendedalus In Philosophy

Separation of church and state is somewhat like separating the mind from the brain. The mind might very well be the inspired corner of the brain, giving it fresh insight into normal observations managing the mundane, or even leading to an entirely new concept and direction. Some would be tempted to call this inspiration the spiritual quality of thought and thus attribute this to divinity or a single God. However, they would be wrong; for it would debase divinity as just another element of the space-time continuum of which God cannot be. Temporal spirituality grows out of the rarefied, and often delusional imagination of the mind, from which many religions are derived without help from God, who, to have any true existence, must be divorced from the mundane affairs of the world. Those who attribute religious doctrine to God is on shaky ground as no self-respecting god would indulge in the muddled affairs of humanity.

Albeit in the main Christian, the founding fathers dismissed religion as a force in the shaping of a nation’s principles for good reason. They were all too aware that religion, not unlike the Puritans, took pride in the officious meddling of behaviors requiring injunctive morality , which subsequently would unravel the sustained quest for a united front in the foundation of a nation espousing individual freedoms under material law. The founding fathers, given the freedom to grow under friendly law, envisioned the individual within the framework of a dispassionate community, capable of an enlightened pursuit of life. They were willing to risk the shiftless rogues that would probably never change.

Still, the founding fathers did not rule out the freedom of worship, preferably private, as they, being religious to a degree themselves, recognized the individual was affected by tradition and conscience, and could not entirely block out the inspirational precepts of one’s beliefs, provided this disposition did not interfere with the maxims of the state, which admittedly was partially founded on the generic inspirations implanted by the tradition of the Christian faith that capsulated free will within the general welfare.

Today, however, with organizational religion returning to the fray and impudently hijacking a disinterested God as now frowning on the “sinners” of the United States, secular justice is in jeopardy. These self-styled prophets are denigrating the supra-high mindedness of a Deity by bringing Him down to their temporal level to serve as a divine lawyer in defense of subversive trends toward theocracy.

Copyright © 2004 Richard R. Kennedy All rights reserved. Revised: November 1, 2004.

http://stevendedalus.joeuser.com


Comments
on Nov 01, 2004
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on Nov 01, 2004
Great post.
on Nov 01, 2004

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on Nov 01, 2004

with that outta the way...


excellent post...once again!

on Nov 01, 2004
Steven: *Standing Ovation* I am in complete agreement.

Kingbee, don't you find it just absolutely amazing that if you disagree with the christian-right's politics they automatically assume you know nothing about religion? I guess it never occurs to them that perhaps their interpretation of religious doctrinal beliefs is narrow, selectively biased, and rigid? Yet it is we who are presumed to know nothing about Christianity as if we grew up in the Amazon or in a cave without the benefits of religious teachings or access to a formal education not to mention in possession of a post-graduate degree. The arrogance of their assumptions just blows my mind. Particularly when Christianity teaches humility...but I guess they just skim over that part and jump straight to the one or two phrases in the Old Testament that supports their anti-gay rhetoric.
on Nov 01, 2004

The arrogance of their assumptions just blows my mind.
Mine too!

Thanks to all that have no compulsion to wear religion on their sleeves and stick verse on their bumpers.

on Nov 02, 2004
"Thanks to all that have no compulsion to wear religion on their sleeves and stick verse on their bumpers."

Exactly! As if doing so somehow makes us "better" or "wiser." I think it is an exercize of patting oneself on the back more than anything else. I refer back to my "humility" statement.
on Nov 08, 2004
Humility is for real Christians; pride and power for egocentric Christians.