separation of church and state?

One of the main reasons our ancestors broke away and started this wonderful country was to be able to start a country based on freedom.  Freedom of speech, freedom of religion.  We hold dear the right to be able to make our own choices and voice our own opinions in any way we choose.  Men died to earn that right for you as an American.

We have the freedom to believe in and worship whatever Deity we choose.  We can worship God, Allah, Buddha, or even Satan.  We have the right to do that.  We can even choose to reject them all and become an atheist.  We are proud to be able to say we can freely worship our god in any way we choose.

I can be a Christian and you can be a Muslim and Joe down the street can be a Satanist.  That is our right as Americans.

Ok, with me so far?

My husband and I CHOSE to get married in a church.  We CHOSE to believe in God, we CHOSE to invite God into our lives and our marriage.  We CHOSE to be married by a pastor and we CHOSE to read scripture and pray during the ceremony.

We could have just as easily CHOSEN to get married by a judge in city hall, never utter a single prayer and we would still be just as married as we are today.  LEGALLY both options get you the same LEGAL rights in the eyes of the law.  All you have to do is get the licence, get someone legal to sign it and boom - you are married.  You are afforded all of the LEGAL choices and options that any married couple has, REGARDLESS of your religious views or beliefs.  You can be an atheist and still get married.  God does not have to be involved at all. 

Ok, so I CHOOSE to believe in Jesus and that the Bible is a guideline for which we are to look toward to live our lives.  This is MY belief, but I cannot force you to believe it.  You may believe just as strongly in satanism as I do in Christianity.  That is our rights as Americans.

I may believe that the Bible is true, but you might think it is just a book.  You might believe in the Koran or another book I may not have even heard of.  Take Bob down the street, he is a member of a group that worships the sun, moon and the stars as his gods.  He is free to do so.  He has a book that he calls the book of X.  He believes that the rules and the set of guidelines in it are holy and meant for him to live his life by.  In this book of X, it says that it is a sin to eat beef.  It is in fact an ABOMINATION to eat beef.  Bob truly believes this in his heart because that is what he has been taught, that is what his life is built around.

Bob's group gains a lot of notoriety and press.  They want to enact a new law that says nobody in the whole country can ever again eat beef because it is wrong.  They are telling all of us that their belief is the right one, and that it should be outlawed to eat beef because it is an ABOMINATION.  Most of us would think this is unfair.  I don't believe that, I think it is totally ok to eat beef, my set of beliefs and guidelines that I have chosen to live by say it is perfectly fine to eat meat, so you shouldn't make me subscribe to your ways of thinking just because your chosen set of beliefs are different than mine.

Bob's group's only reason for this new law is that it is based on the book of X. I don't believe in the book of X, but Bob does.  He doesn't believe in the Bible but I do.  Who should say whether we eat beef or not?  Shouldn't each of us get to decide on that issue as we see fit?  Based on the book of X it is wrong, but based on the Bible it is ok.

Hmmm....so making a law to say that gay people cannot wed based on what you have chosen to believe in the Bible is ok?  You don't have to be a Christian to get married, so why should you have to believe in the Bible to regulate it?  Isn't this the ultimate separation of church and state issue?  Don't we leave religion out of the argument?  You are free to worship and believe in whatever you want, but isn't outlawing gay marriage infringing upon their right to believe or reject whatever they want as well?

I can believe whatever I want based on whatever I want.  I can personally believe it is right or wrong but LEGALLY it shouldn't matter what my personal beliefs are when it comes to the law.  I don't want Bob's group to force all of their beliefs on me anymore than he wants me to force mine upon him!  What if they wanted to enact a law that would forbid me to take communion or to sing hymns?  Those are intrinsic to my worship and my religion.  Perhaps they want to make everyone bow down to the statue of Buddha in the town square....once you let religion govern legislation you are getting into some dangerous territory.  I want to have the right to always practice whatever religion I want.  But don't others have that same right as well?