A lot of the posts that I have written have gotten criticized about separation of church and state. My question is where does this morality come from? In politics there is supposed to be a clear separation between the church and the state. People are not allowed to talk about their spiritual beliefs or let them affect their decision making in politics. Can someone really take the thing that gives them their morals out of the equation? I know that I draw all my morals from a belief in Jesus Christ. Without a belief in something, there can be no objective morals at all. They would all simply be subjective. If morals are considered subjective, than they are based upon personal beliefs on morals. If they are based on personal beliefs than some people could think that it was alright to murder or to rape, and they could not be condemned for their actions. Instead we have objective morals that are based upon beliefs that people do have.
In fact, there was a case where two boys went out and murdered a man because they had heard that morals are simply subjective. They were tried and found guilty of murder. Their defense was that because their was no God, they were not guilty of doing anything wrong. They just simply were doing what their subjective morals were. The judge did not rule in favor of the students however, so does this not say that there are morals that we find objectively true? How are we able to punish anyone for anything if morals are not considered objective?
Many people also believe that, based on evolution and survival of the fittest, the "objective"morals that we have are those in which helps are species reproduce and progress. This idea can clearly be falsified by the example of rape. Rape is considered morally wrong by people, but it helps further the species. Therefore, not all morals are based on this.
For these reasons I do not believe that a true separation of church and state is even possible let alone practical. Too many people believe they are thinking morally while keeping religion out of it, but in actuality, they do not have the ability to have objective morals.
I completely agree with you on this subject. There will never be a true separation of church and state because we all have been taught certain morals. Most of the morals we are taught from a young age come from different religions and faiths. And although they would like a complete separation, this is not possible, because the morals you have learned will influence you in the way you act and the decisions you make. If we had no morals based on religion and what is right and wrong, the country would be in chaos. No matter what the government has to say about separation of church and state, no matter how hard they try to keep them separate, it is just not possible and we need to accept this fact.
ReplyDeleteThe United States was based on a foundation of religion and a belief in God. I believe the Founding Father's would be rolling over in their graves if they knew how little church and state are involved with each other right now. The Founding Father's believed in a separation of church and state and a freedom of religion, but not to the extent it is at today. I truly believe it is impossible for there to be a complete separation of church and state, and it is foolish for people to try and act like they can be separate. The problem lies with how much do the two need to intertwine. I believe we are given the choice by God to follow whatever religion we want, even though I believe Christianity is the one true religion. On line with this belief, I could not imagine what would happen in our country if there were Muslims beliefs which took over the country. It will be an endless pursuit for American's to find a safe and fine line which separates church and state. There must always be involvement of religion in the government and citizens. The day in which religion is no longer a part of politics or government will be a dreadful and horrible day for America.
ReplyDeleteI couldn’t agree more with Tyler on this subject. The thought that the American government could become completely separated between church and state is virtually impossible in the representative based, democratic government we have today. Representative governments are made up of people, not the other way around. People comprise and run our system of government, which means each individual has their own beliefs and opinions. I think we can all agree that the decision making process of human beings is similar, yet also very different depending on factors such as religion, upbringing, and life events. I think that the term Church, meaning the individuals religious identification, could be broadened to just about any religious, or non religious tag. As long as we are a government run by people, for people there will never be a total separation between individual beliefs and state.
ReplyDeleteBrennan Burling