Tuesday, March 6, 2012

NOT TO KEEP HARPING

I wanted to share a very  insightful quote from an article about the attack on women's rights by the right.  In her article on Salon, Sarah Posner writes:

 The Founders intended a secular government protecting the religious freedom of all, but over the past 40 years the Republican Party has evolved as the arm of a movement that insists the separation of church and state is a satanic, secularist purge of the pious. It doesn’t help when political reporters seem incapable of distinguishing Rick Santorum’s rant against church-state separation from a lament over loss of free expression.

On the Sunday Morning show on CBS last weekend, there was a comment that while organized, mandatory prayer in school was ended,  it didn't stop private, personal prayer from going on - especially on exam days!  So true and as it should be.

I agree with Posner that:

The current Republican excesses offer a golden opportunity for Democrats to expose them as not just opposed to women’s health, but to illustrate precisely why religion and policymaking are a toxic mix.

Instead of trying to make deals and compromises with the religious right, it is time to step away from the infusion of religion into our pubic policies, and go back to the ideals of the founding fathers who may have been Christians but knew from experience to keep their personal faith separate from their government.

2 comments:

mkosboth said...

Oh I hear you. I went off on the topic of contraception today in my blog and threw down with someone on FB yesterday. It is RIDICULOUS.

shrink on the couch said...

"precisely why religion and policymaking are a toxic mix"

Hear hear! So ironic, the party that claims to remain so dedicated to a strict interpretation of the constitution has blinders on when it comes to the separation clause.

I love your spot on political opinions.