In April of this year, Governor of Texas George W. Bush declared that June 10th 2000 would be officially be "Jesus Day" in his state. Oblivious to the breach of the separation of church and state, George W. is apparently more concerned with garnering the votes of Christian conservatives.
& Some might think this issue
is a Republican vs. Democratic one, but unfortunately Al Gore has made
statements to the effect that he would support "faith based initiatives"
that would lead to taxpayer money going to churches. These initiatives
would allow churches to use taxpayer money to proselytize while ostensibly
helping drug addicts
recover or helping the illiterate. The goals
of helping the needy are laudable, but allowing religious indoctrination
with public money is a very bad precedent.
& This issue affects us all,
whether we are Atheist or Catholic, Agnostic or Protestant, Muslim, Jewish,
Buddhist, Hindu or any other belief system. Our government has no
business recommending one religion over another, or sending our tax dollars
to religious organizations that we may disagree with. We need to
send a message to the candidates that we
want the wall of separation preserved.
Thomas Jefferson instituted this wall. It is one of his finest legacies
to us. It is the best way to insure that each of us is truly free
to believe as we wish, and we aren't compelled to fund theologies we do
not support.
& Freethinkers of Upstate NY is an organization dedicated to supporting the separation of church and state, and representing non-believers in the public sphere. We can be reached on the Internet at www.funygroup.org