Religion and Politics

Religion and Politics – now where shall the twain meet? I was raised in a culture that based everything it did on religion and spirituality. I never knew that life could be any different until I came to this country. In Jamaica, every school is attached to a church, the parliament opens with a prayers, we have an official denomination – Anglican – based on the Church of England. Everything in Jamaica always revolves around religion of some sort. Our laws are based on Christian principles and everyone understands that our life is governed by a sovereign being and it’s certainly not the Queen.

When I moved here some 15 years ago, I wasn’t shocked that Church and State were separated, it made sense to me and I understood that different countries had different rules. The longer I lived here, the more I thought it was a good practice. Religious fanatics could not get a hold of the system and then tweak it to serve their purpose. Laws were based on the good of everyone and not just for a specific few who believed in one specific thing. This made more sense when you realize that the US is not a melting pot as people like to say but rather a salad bowl of different cultures attempting to co-exist in harmony.

It is beyond my scope of understanding why residents of this great country are not rising up in protest at what is happening today. Religion has begun to enter every facet of life in the US and it isn’t a generic religion, it’s a very specific religion. It’s a religion that believes in preserving life by keeping you alive artificially and forcing women to have children they don’t want or can’t afford, but is cavalier about throwing away lives in war. It’s a religion that will attempt to censor any opinion that does not coincide with what they believe.

Recently Church members were told not to come to church if they didn't believe that their church should be politically active. Pharmacists have declined to sell birth control because they believe that all life is precious and women don't have the right to control the number of children they give birth to. What has become of the land of the free and the home of the brave?