True Separation of Church and State
Separation of Church and State.
Something that I have mentioned more than a few times, yet something that is so readily debated by both sides. I believe it is time once and for all, to have this clarified. We need a clear definition for the separation of church and state, and we need complete and clear separation of church and state.
Currently the IRS prohibits any 501c3 religious organization from being able to make statements in opposition to, or in support of, political candidates. They are not allowed to campaign for or against any specific candidate, yet we see it regularly. These churches and organizations will be reported to the IRS, then brought to the supreme court to lose their tax-exempt status, and to pay back taxes from their first violation to the present date.
Unfortunately, the IRS allows churches and other not for profit institutions to lobby in support of or against legislation. This gives the church a back door to creating policies that force Americans to follow their religious rules by restricting the freedoms granted to us in the Constitution.
For example, Arizona is attempting to pass two bills targeting the Drag Queen community, this would also target our Transgender and cross-dressing citizens as collateral damage.
Indiana is trying to make allowing gender affirming care for transgender kids a form of child abuse.
With over 75 anti-trans bills submitted since the elections.
They are trying to target who we can marry, what we can wear, what health care we get, and our religious freedoms. With the rise of mega churches where pastors are treated like celebrities, and the emergence of Christian nationalists who seem to go hand in hand with Maga Republicans and other fascists groups.
The encroachment of the church into our politics is spreading like a poison from the genocide of our Indigenous members and BIPOC community through slavery, to lobbying for legislation today to limit our freedoms. I believe we can not fully heal from the trauma inflicted by the church, until we have real and true separation of the church and state. This does not mean that an individual cannot practice their religion and hold an official position, this would make it so they cannot use their political advantage to pass legislation based on their religious identity. They have shown us that they know it is wrong to force their religion on others through policy by them joining the majority of Americans who condemned the Taliban's religious persecution and forced religious reformation as terrorism.
We all should be able to freely express ourselves in America without backlash, without threats, without ostracization. When a religion infiltrates society so thoroughly that even non-religious people claim intolerance the stems from religious propaganda, like the hatred of Witches and other Pagans, gay marriage, and more, we have a problem. Until we can truly express ourselves, we are not free.
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