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Carnes: Organized religion deserves better

America is not a Christian nation, but one is certainly free to be a Christian in America, along with every other form of belief in a divine supernatural power magically controlling human destiny.

So I feel compelled to respond to Lauren Boebert’s latest attempt at intellectual eloquence: “The church is supposed to direct the government, the government is not meant to direct the church … and I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk, that’s not in the Constitution. It was in a stinking letter and it means nothing like what they say it does.”

Such scholarly articulation simply speaks for itself.



Colorado’s national embarrassment went on to say the man who bragged about his ability to grab little kittens was anointed by the deity she happens to believe in to be the U.S. president.

Good grief, that woman has no concept of government, much less representation of her constituents, with absolutely no dignity or respect for the position.

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The only thing she brings to the table is a gun.

Which leads us straight to that open-minded baseball team of judges, the ones who just last week stripped away women’s rights over their own bodies and said not enough New Yorkers are packing heat on the subways.

The United States Supreme Court, wearing robes with only a thin patina of credibility remaining, last week limited the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to protect the environment, public school funds can be used for religious schools and public school staff members can lead religious prayer sessions on school grounds.

Oh, but only those wishing to participate.

I guess it’s a good thing peer pressure and the never-ending desperate need for conformity has zero effect on American teenagers (bullying is for sissies!).

But (and this is a Kardashian-sized BUT), just imagine Battle Mountain football coaches being split between a Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Buddhist and let’s toss in a Satanist just to liven things up.

Would parents be OK with five separate prayer sessions before and after each game?

I can only hope most of you realize that was a rhetorical question.

Our Constitution makes no mention whatsoever of a deity or deities, and although I have close friends that are deeply religious, blind faith not only replaces, but is the antithesis of logic.

Yet we’re all still friends.

I simply have no respect for supernatural belief systems, however, I certainly acknowledge their existence and notoriety on the world stage, and will never stop supporting their right to flourish inside our borders, so what an incredible disservice the Supremes have perpetrated upon — come on, let’s admit it — upon all but one of the major organized religions.

Yep, that one.

Most organized religions clear their conscience of immoral acts by simply asking forgiveness from an imaginary friend while claiming their religion is a trump card to control everybody else’s behavior, and the Supremes, in spite of the vast majority of Americans disagreeing, seemed to be determined to justify the old saying: When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross.

Regardless of how silly some of them are (Scientology comes to mind) or how embarrassing a few elected officials are, all religions have a right to exist in America, but none deserve a seat at the head of the legislative table, nor should any Americans be forced to adhere to the tenets of any individual faith.

When it comes to religious-based rationalization for interpreting constitutional law in America, it’s usually been better to keep quiet and let them be publicly wrong, their self-righteous absurdities eventually exposing their hypocrisy.

This is not one of those times.

Richard Carnes, of Avon, writes weekly. He can be reached at poor@vail.net.


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