Christian greed and hypocrisy

‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.’

Those are the exact words as presented in the U.S. Constitution’s first amendment. It gives everyone the freedom to practice their religion, not specifically Christianity; but any religion. It also gives everyone the right to practice freedom of speech and the right to assemble peaceably.

This is all well and good and I am in complete agreement with this amendment, but contrary to what many think, Christians don’t see this in the same light as the rest of us. They want the right to preach, teach, and practice their beliefs but they refuse anyone who opposes their views those same rights. Christians want to have their cake and eat it too.

Just like their predecessors the so called church fathers and the Roman Catholic Church who instituted the bloody inquisitions, today’s theists demonstrate the same hatred for freedom of thought and speech. Just like their predecessors they seek to silence those that expose the myths, lies, and folktales behind their beliefs.

They want the rest of the world to accept and respect their myths yet they refuse to do the same with all other religious or non-religious groups. They claim absolute truth based on faith in ancient works composed over two thousand years ago mostly written by anonymous authors. These works are comprised of folklore, ancient myths, and oral tradition and have no supporting evidence whatsoever.

They want the state to stay out of their affairs but like their ancestors they want to tell the state what to do and how to run this country. Being a majority group here in the states they manipulate politicians and through them influence politics and legislation. They want to impose their so called divine morality on the rest of mankind.

The methods may have changed but the goal remains the same, world domination. The church would love to make the U.S. a theocracy although we have already tried that and seen where it has gotten us. The inquisitions, witch hunts and many persecutions suffered at the hands of the Church should be enough to warn us of the horrors of giving the Church the power of the state. It has done nothing but hold back the progress of science, knowledge has been curtailed in the name of religion.

It is time that we put religion in its place and not let it influence our private lives and affairs. I am all for freedom of religion but those same freedoms that they claim should be available to everyone regardless of what your beliefs may be. As an atheist I cannot accept the Bible as the inspired word of any god. Nor can I let it be used as a means to regulate my life and dictate to me what is “moral” or not. Freedom of religion or lack thereof is a two way street and it should never be compromised for any reason.

Whether I believe in the biblical god or not should not be a criterion for me to swear in a court of law, run for a position in public office, obtain a job, or to judge whether I am a moral person. I should be able to stand on my own merits as a citizen in good standing with the state in which I reside. I should not have to endure being discriminated against or called crazy, immoral, or untrustworthy simply because I refuse to accept a belief in god.

The U.S. implies a separation of church and state in its Constitution but yet we have the words ‘In God we trust’ on our currency and in our court rooms. We have state holidays that are based on religious high days. We have bans on scientific research based not on morality but on religious beliefs about morality. Laws prohibiting same sex marriages; claiming that marriage is a sacred institution, but this sacredness comes from what the church believes not from secular beliefs. In this hypocritical country the state has always been in bed with its whore the church, and as distasteful as this may be I don’t see that bond dissolving anytime soon.