The good news is that the New York state legislature finally approved a law that will allow same sex marriage. The bad news is that in order for this great thing to happen, changes in the law will allow religious sects AND the non-church businesses they operate to discriminate against gays without any legal repercussions. In the zeal to get these new rights for the LGBT community, did proponents give away the farm?
From the NY Times:
Ralph Reed former head of the right wing Christian Coalition, which continually violated federal election and tax laws during his leadership, is back with a new organization trying to link the religious right and the Republican party. The group called “Faith and Freedom Coalition” is holding a conference this weekend in Washington DC. This shows once again that religious right criminals never have to pay for their crimes.
It’s really hard for some religious believers to understand why the separation of church and state is really important. In an effort to advance the cause in support of strong separation I have come up with a good analogy to explain it. I call it “The Sports Analogy”.
Recent court decisions involving church and state have not been ruled in the non-believer’s favor. The reasoning used by the judges follow the thinking shown in the recent decision concerning the National Day of Prayer law:
Of course we all knew the Republicans who stormed to office this past November would continue their effort to cram their religious views down our throats. With close to 10% unemployment and the public demanding attention to creating jobs, Congressional Republicans instead want to stamp your uterus with the motto “In God We Trust”.
This week the US Supreme Court ruled that the Westboro Baptist Church can picket military funerals. Fred Phelps, leader of the church, and his merry band picket funerals in order to advance their sick anti-gay religious agenda. Even though their brand of picketing is tasteless and offensive, the Supreme Court was right to rule in their favor.
