LETTER: Left is not anti-religious
Editor,
Liberalism is not anti-religious. Cy Martz, a prominent Democrat on campus and the writer of “The Far Left Bank” in the Utah Statesman likes religion. In fact, he supports religion so much that he believes there should be more than one.
Irv Nelson based his comments Friday on the premise that liberals were “anti-religious.” Countering Cy Martz’s arguments is different than calling liberals names and portraying them as anti-religious. Whether the liberal ideal “[conflicts] with religious values” is a matter of opinion.
Nelson also portrayed today’s premier journalists as liberal propagandists. Absurd. The Fox “News” Network might be partisan – doesn’t mean they all are.
Liberals are not employing scare tactics in the social security debate; it was President Bush who ran across the nation calling for immediate action threatening a loss of benefits. But seeing as he doesn’t have a good track record when it comes to finances I don’t want him touching the system.
Societal decisions made upon religious mandates tend to be discriminatory. Laws are to protect mankind from itself, not to promote Christianity. The presence of religion is not offensive to liberals, neither are Biblical allusions – institutionalizing religion as law is. On the other hand, secularism allows citizens to choose free from governmental influence.
The left does not portray the religious as “superstitious [or] wacko.” They are simply opposed to the idea of laws catered to a creed at the expense of another as was Justice Black when he said “Neither a state nor the federal government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another” (Everson vs. Board of Education).
While on the individual level religion does great things for society, the leaders of the world have used it to justify everything from the Crusades to the Holocaust. Which is why I agree with the words of Madison when he said “The purposes of the separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries.”
Matthew Blackham