Weblog
01/20/01 02:20 PM: What ever happened to separation
What ever happened to separation of church and state?
Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for the first amendment. Freedom of religion (as well as the other guaranteed liberties) is great, but what about freedom from religion? Was the prayer by Rev. Franklin Graham really necessary to kick off the Bush inauguration? Forget about the inauguration, he basically dedicated whole presidency to God. I’m not faulting W. individually for this—I’ll fault him for other things. I have to admit that this is the first presidential inauguration that I’ve ever seen (Give me a break, I was 12 at the time of the last one). But I’m sure the whole prayer thing is something of a tradition, so our dear president was probably just following suit. But what an ill-fitting suit it is! What about those of us who do not buy into the whole “God” concept? Is he our president, too? Or is he only allowed to serve Jesus’s constituents? And what is the big idea of being made to take oaths with a hand on the bible? This is a case of the government showing preference to a specific religion, which is clearly in violation of the law. Can I take my oath with a hand on the Quran instead? Or how about Hillary’s new book? The government is not the place for religion, at least not the advancement of specific religions.
