Days of Change

The State Can’t Control Religion Either

I’m actually going to link to a Huffington Post story about the city of Houston suing pastors after a lawsuit against the legality about a law that allows transgender people to define their gender in any way they want, including bathroom access. The article is relatively even-handed for Huffpo, especially since the subpoenas are for sermons from pastors who are not even suing the city and Houston is already walking back the legal actions.

There is a fundamental understanding of both the freedom of speech and the separation of church and state. Only a few centuries ago, state religious were common throughout Europe and other countries. In many cases, the only state religious are the ones in Muslim countries that follow Sharia as a law. In the United States, religion was considered a right not to be infringed when our founding documents were written. Since the power of the government is so great, it needed to be protected from the ability of government to influence religious practice. Of course, churches had to follow the law, but those laws had to apply equally.

These actions are an attempt to make religion bow to the will of the state. If churches violated the law and made a biological man use the men’s room, there might be a case. However, the churches are still part of the country and they can advocate for whatever laws they want without the threat of going through sermons with a fine-tooth comb in an attempt to bury them in lawsuits, the new method of bankrupting the enemies of the state.

I am saddened that this kind of situation is even possible. The people of this country have made their choice of the government they want without regard for what they would actually get. Laws cannot endure, only ideas. If we don’t believe in the ideas that founded this country, it is only a matter of time before this country falls.