What exactly is it that liberals like myself object to when we

Summary: What exactly is it that liberals like myself object to when we object to the mixing of church and state or the state appropriation of religion to its own ends I ve argued that the two biggest but perhaps not only problems with blurring the line between church and state occur when 1 a pluralist society freezes out a minority by sending an exclusionary message through religious acts or symbology sometimes with or when 2 the state s decisionmaking process is tainted by subjective religious beliefs Unsurprisingly the problem with the latter type of church state blending is ably presented by sitting president George W Bush who in 2003 refused to give condoms to Africa as part of an because his religious views mandated abstinence only education Obviously reality refused to bend to Bush s religion and AIDS in Africa has continued to rise apace all because Bush couldn t remove his biblical blinders Note also that maverick John McCain has a July 10 2008 10 41 am Filed under | Tags But the law is powerless to stop politicians from making religiously motivated errors of policy we as citizens have that job And on the first point it s tough to tell when a state use of religious symbolism crosses the line from expressive to impermissibly exclusionary get out non Christians Where exactly is that line What exactly is it that liberals like myself object to when we object to the mixing of church and state or the state appropriation of religion to its own ends I ve argued that the two biggest but perhaps not only problems with blurring the line between church and state occur when 1 a pluralist society freezes out a minority by sending an exclusionary message through religious acts or symbology sometimes with or when 2 the state s decisionmaking process is tainted by subjective religious beliefs Unsurprisingly the problem with the latter type of church state blending is ably presented by sitting president George W Bush who in 2003 refused to give condoms to Africa as part of an because his religious views mandated abstinence only education Obviously reality refused to bend to Bush s religion and AIDS in Africa has continued to rise apace all because Bush couldn t remove his biblical blinders Note also that maverick John McCain has a July 10 2008 10 41 am Filed under | Tags But the law is powerless to stop politicians from making religiously motivated errors of policy we as citizens have that job And on the first point it s tough to tell when a state use of religious symbolism crosses the line from expressive to impermissibly exclusionary get out non Christians Where exactly is that line

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