At the Corner of Church and State
By Keith Boykin, in spirituality
Wednesday, October 5 2005, 12:02PM
While American politicians debate evolution, wild gorillas in The Congo have shown us just how much (and how little) we have evolved. A new report has found gorillas able to use tools on their own, much like humans. Two female gorillas were photographed using sticks as tools to get through swampy areas, the first time the apes had been seen doing so in the wild, according to researchers.
But while the gorillas are evolving, humans are still fighting over old issues. Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts writes, "I would argue that faith and science are in some ways more complementary than contradictory. But it's telling that where they do conflict, as in the question of human origin, it's always people of faith who beg for validation. I mean, when has any scientist ever sued for equal time in the pulpit? There is an unbecoming neediness about these constant schemes to dress religion up as science. Why are some people of faith so desperate for approval from a discipline they reject?"
Maybe we should keep religion and politics separate. That's what the framers of the Constitution meant when they created a wall of separation between church and state. And we're not just talking about Christianity. Whether it's the fatwas and jihads of the Islamic fundamentalists, the vainglorious land-grabs of the Israeli Jewish settlers in Gaza, or the red state religiosity in America, religion is having a devastating impact on our society.
In fact, according to a new study in the Journal of Religion and Society, an overemphasis on religion can actually be harmful to a nation. Religious belief, according to the research, can contribute toward all manner of social problems that we once thought religion was supposed to help us fix. "In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy and abortion in the prosperous democracies."
Religious fundamentalism is as much a threat in Afghanistan as it is in America. One man's fatwa is another man's faith. And one woman's "cult" is another woman's church. Let's do ourselves a favor. Keep church and state separate.
Comments conceal
cody
October 5 2005, 1:06PM
Keith, you must not have read this in today's Times. We got an evangelical on the High Court now.
Speaking of Miers the Times writes:
"She decided that she wanted faith to be a bigger part of her life," Justice Hecht, who now serves on the Texas Supreme Court, said in an interview. "One evening she called me to her office and said she was ready to make a commitment" to accept Jesus Christ as her savior and be born again, he said. He walked down the hallway from his office to hers, and there amid the legal briefs and court papers, Ms. Miers and Justice Hecht "prayed and talked," he said.
She was baptized not long after that, at the Valley View Christian Church.
Ms. Miers, born Roman Catholic, became an evangelical Christian and began identifying more with Republicans than with the Democrats who had long held sway over Texas politics. She joined the missions committee of her church, which is against legalized abortion, and friends and colleagues say she rarely looked back at her past as a Democrat.
In an interview Tuesday on the televangelist Pat Robertson's "700 Club," Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the Christian conservative American Center for Law and Justice, said Ms. Miers would be the first evangelical Protestant on the court since the 1930's. "So this is a big opportunity for those of us who have a conviction, that share an evangelical faith in Christianity, to see someone with our positions put on the court," Mr. Sekulow said.
Kenneth Winfrey
October 5 2005, 1:25PM
I've often felt like a small child unable to raise my voice or stature to the level of the adults in a crowded room. For example, on many occassions I've presented scientific evidence that homosexuality exists throughout the animal kingdom (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/07/0722_040722_gayanimal.html), but to no avail. The animals, however, do not seek to harm the gay animals in particular. On that, they do seem more evolved than us. It is also shown that there are scientific explanations (http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~kripston/homosexuality/Biological.html) for homosexuality in humans. These arguments are anatomical, not psychological. So we know it's not a choice or just some acting-out behavior. Yet, these comments have gone largely unacknowleged and I wonder why.
Even though the church accepted secular opinions regarding the treatment of leprosy, than say those found in Leviticus, they were slow to do so. The church's position on so many issues are designed not to educate people, but to avoid isolating them by presenting ideas that the general public is not accustomed to. If you had a room full of paying congregants taking care of you, providing you with luxurious "accoutrements," and treating you as if you were the next best thing to God himself, then why would you want to violate their comfort zones?
This is where politics meets religion and as long as the church has been in existence, it has always been a political force. The church IS the original political party. Europeans thought that their monarchs were an extention of God. The Romans deified their emporers, and the Egyptians called their pharaohs Gods. Humans have always sought to rationalize their political behavior with the wishes of the highest order. But why isn't enough that we can just tell each other that we're hurting, or feel afraid in order to effect change among us. Do we really have to get God involved in these issues? Isn't he busy enough already?
Troy
October 5 2005, 2:06PM
but is the Ms. Miers gay or just your run of the mill fag hag...one wonders.
cmoney
October 5 2005, 2:22PM
Has anyone noticed that the societies that are the most "faith based" have the highest incidents of AIDS, discrimination, and violence? Where is AIDS most prevalent? In the African-American, bible thumping community. In Africa. In Brazil (heavily Catholic). Haiti. Jamaica. Which countires have the highest number of murders? The United States and (again) Brazil. What nation has the higest level of incarceration bar none? The United States. Until we get away from the flat earth bigotry and wilful blindness that religion forces upon our way of thinking, we are doomed to continue down the path of destruction.
Kola Boof
October 5 2005, 4:16PM
I agree with Keith.
Let's PLEASE keep church and state separate.
In my country---the Mosque runs the nation on every level.
Fanaticism and hatred runs amok, the nation is dead to dying.
I had to start my own religion just to get free.
A lot religion is about control.
And about people's insecurities.
Kola
Wise&Young
October 6 2005, 12:56PM
You know I think its important to keep in mind that we all have our preferences, as far as evolution is concerned. The theory does have certain holes that creationist point out, and that even the most ardent supports of Darwin will concede. Now, if you think about it, why expose on faulty theory over another, why not just present the information as it stands and let the people take it for what it is.
Just my thoughts
Kola Boof
October 6 2005, 2:43PM
Youn&Wise,
I wasn't agreeing with the Theory one way or the other.
I was expressing my contempt for MEN's models "period", whether they be religious or scientific---we need a balance of beliefs.
Both theory and religion, however, are major components of Racism---Science says that Black people evolved from Apes and that White People are the EVOLUTIONARY IMPROVEMENT over the African. That's the message that is ALWAYS implied. Meanwhile, Men's Religions (none of which are African) ALL SAY that Blacks were meant to be Slaves.
I reject White Supremacist Structures and have created my own makeshift African ones. I think our entire race is damned because of the beliefs we hold and protect---which are not our own.
Kola
NOTE:
Someone emailed me asking about the link to my Autobiography Preview. I'm posting it just once more and won't be mentioning it again until the book drops Dec. 27th, but you can read the first 2 chapters now:
http://doorofkush.50megs.com/photo2.html
Regan DuCasse
October 6 2005, 4:55PM
Well, further study BEYOND Darwin, has shown that WE'RE ALL Africans!
No white DNA is different from black, nor Asian, meaning WE'RE all the SAME race.
Heterosexuals and homosexuals are indistinct from each other as well. No family pattern or culture...nor genetic distinction exists.
WE'RE ALL sexual, period. Homosexuals are not more or less superior to heterosexuals and ALL share pathologic aspects.
Gay or straight, both are homo normed...and this is confirmed.
But look at all the denying self righteous people who'd never and don't want to BELIEVE that much evidence.
Which is further evidence of the moral and intellectual cowardice in some humans.
See, some people prefer the dark...that way they don't really have to see anything.
And they slap at the hands poised on the light switch!
ReganDuCasse
October 6 2005, 4:56PM
Leonard Pitts is my HERO!!!
Kola Boof
October 6 2005, 7:12PM
If we're all the same race---then why aren't we all treated the EXACT same?
"Ideals" and "good intentions" don't erase the reality of what I stated.
The THEORY of "evolution" basically implies that White European are an "Improvement" via evolution on the original African human beings.
And if Africans are considered to be just as human as everybody else....then why are they being BRED and encouraged to BREED themselves off the planet?
IDEALS about "we're all just one big human race" don't mean shit if it's not being practiced.
And it's not.
I stand by what I said.
Kola