Religion has historically been a two-sided issue. On the one side, it is about belief in a God, a higher power, and hopefully that God is a guiding force toward tempering the human character. That God requires human kindness to strangers, and it requires human beings to help others carry their burdens in times of need. That God requires each person to take moral responsibility toward other human beings. On the other side of this issue is the application of religion to totally dominate the body and soul of human beings who inhabit the same world and space as the oppressor.
The existence of this dichotomy is particularly noticeable in this administration. The Senate, as the governing body, is supposed to represent the core values of our nation. Our government is not exercising its moral responsibility; instead, it is exercising its religious prerogative when it suits their political ambitions.
They self-righteously deny the rights of women, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community. This nation is in grave danger of losing its moral compass. Every citizen who cares about the United States should be seriously concerned about the direction to which we and this country are being driven by the present administration.
This Senate is ruled by oligarchs of the extreme right-wing, by Mitch McConnell, by Lindsey Graham, and by conservative born-again Christians. Their avowed Christianity and religious orthodoxy is in direct conflict with the basic tenets of the Constitution of the United States. Our forefathers, who saw the dangers of religious domination in government, made it very clear to all and sundry that this country was not to be dominated by a coalition of Church and State. They were two distinctly separate entities.
Clearly, clearly, this administration, with the acquiescence of Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham and the Senate, is allowing and encouraging the imposition of their religious beliefs into the governing process. The line between Church and State is being blurred.
Do they completely abandon their religion, or does their religion completely abandon them, when they have to deal with complicated issues such as immigration? Is their religion totally unrelated to the question of human rights?
Of course illegal immigration is a huge problem and this country has never created a proper immigration policy. But, does their religion shelter them and the president from inhumanity, to turn our government into a body with no sense of humanity, without Godliness, and without respect for human rights? This is what our government stands for today.
What kind of religion do these people observe? Certainly not the kind that demands that they be kind to strangers and love their neighbors.
When a nation loses its sense of righteous indignation, compassion, decency, and morality, when it denies people freedom of speech, when it strips people of their basic human rights, it is no longer a great nation.
America is not great when it retreats behind its borders and fails to recognize and observe its own constitution.
America is not great when it fails to maintain the separation between Church and State, and America is not great when it allows fear, ignorance, prejudice and greed to diminish the values of the nation.
America is not great when its governing body aligns itself with the most oppressive governments in the world, and isolates itself from those who have joined together to make a peaceful world their central issue.
We the people must take a stand to preserve our Constitution, and to deny rights and privileges to the perpetrators against humanity, represented by our government today.
This country is facing clear and evident danger.