Life Without The Influence of Religion Would Be Happier
June 5, 2024
The Only Light [2013]
One of the many things that have raised my ire this week, separate from computer issues, has to do with the manner in which religion is obstinately and intentionally interfering with people’s lives and, ultimately, in government. For example, the head of the Ethics Committee for the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) said on Monday (June 3) that IVF is immoral and that Baptists should oppose it. First of all, the idea that Southern Baptists, those stalwarts of sexual abuse and denial, have a committee addressing ethics is laughable. Secondly, the statement mirrors that of the Catholic church, which the SBC has historically positioned itself opposingly on almost every issue.
But more ridiculous and harmful than the insidious idiocy of the SBC statement is the fact that this bullshit ends up having an influence on legislation. The chairman (of course, it’s a man) of the ethics committee wrote in a letter to the U.S. Senate: “We urge legislators to develop and implement a system of federal oversight that protects and informs women and ensures embryos are treated with care, even as we oppose the general practice of IVF.”
What the living fuck is going on with that? Why would a political body even give a shit about the SBC’s stance on anything?
Because, while the First Amendment limits Congress from the “establishment” of religion, it does not limit Congress nor any other political body from inserting religious inference into their governance of any and every issue to which someone thinks it might apply, and 99.99% of the time, it is a Christian influence that policymakers assert. Over time, that influence has grown, especially through the 20th century. The phrase “one nation under God” was not added until 1954 in an effort to distinguish the US from communist states. And while God is never mentioned explicitly in the US Constitution, which is the way it should be, it is mentioned in the constitutions of all 50 states. By invoking the name of any deity at all, those states, and the nation, are implicitly establishing a religion, which makes the whole mess unconstitutional.
Now, we find ourselves in this mess over reproductive rights, which no religious document explicitly mentions in any way, shape, or form, and in the name of some make-believe deity women’s rights are being taken away. First, it was the right to abortion, which the Supreme Court stripped under the influence of the Orange Felon, and now, invoking the same mythology and absence of reasoning, they’re going after IVF!
Consider what Vice President Kamala Harris had to say to Jimmy Kimmel last night (June 4):
There are better ways to run a country than to do so under the misguided influence of a mythology. In fact, if we extrapolate existing research, the argument can be made that we would be happier if we were not governed under the influence of any religion. Consider that persistent annual research has shown that the following countries are among the happiest:
Norway 7th
Sweden – 4th
Denmark – 2nd
Finland -1st for the seventh year in a row
Iceland – 3rd
Meanwhile, the United States isn’t even in the top 20, coming in at a dismal 23rd place. While the research does not directly target religion, it is worth pointing out that the countries I’ve listed are all explicitly secular in their governance. Religion is forbidden from playing any part. That does not mean the people who live there are not religious, but they do not allow their religious beliefs to interfere with how the country operates, how its laws are formed, or how its people are treated.
I can’t imagine what it must be like, how different it must be, to live full-time, to grow up, be educated, and pursue one’s life’s work, in a country that is not constantly trying to hammer everyone into some form of religious compliance. It would be so very different from the country we now live in. Do you know what country demands religious adherence? Afghanistan. Want to know where they land as far as their people being happy? At the very bottom of the scale. Dead last.
Stop and ask yourself: do we want to become the next Afghanistan? Because the way we’re headed now, that’s exactly where we’re going to end up.
One of the many things that have raised my ire this week, separate from computer issues, has to do with the manner in which religion is obstinately and intentionally interfering with people’s lives and, ultimately, in government. For example, the head of the Ethics Committee for the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) said on Monday (June 3) that IVF is immoral and that Baptists should oppose it. First of all, the idea that Southern Baptists, those stalwarts of sexual abuse and denial, have a committee addressing ethics is laughable. Secondly, the statement mirrors that of the Catholic church, which the SBC has historically positioned itself opposingly on almost every issue.
But more ridiculous and harmful than the insidious idiocy of the SBC statement is the fact that this bullshit ends up having an influence on legislation. The chairman (of course, it’s a man) of the ethics committee wrote in a letter to the U.S. Senate: “We urge legislators to develop and implement a system of federal oversight that protects and informs women and ensures embryos are treated with care, even as we oppose the general practice of IVF.”
What the living fuck is going on with that? Why would a political body even give a shit about the SBC’s stance on anything?
Because, while the First Amendment limits Congress from the “establishment” of religion, it does not limit Congress nor any other political body from inserting religious inference into their governance of any and every issue to which someone thinks it might apply, and 99.99% of the time, it is a Christian influence that policymakers assert. Over time, that influence has grown, especially through the 20th century. The phrase “one nation under God” was not added until 1954 in an effort to distinguish the US from communist states. And while God is never mentioned explicitly in the US Constitution, which is the way it should be, it is mentioned in the constitutions of all 50 states. By invoking the name of any deity at all, those states, and the nation, are implicitly establishing a religion, which makes the whole mess unconstitutional.
Now, we find ourselves in this mess over reproductive rights, which no religious document explicitly mentions in any way, shape, or form, and in the name of some make-believe deity women’s rights are being taken away. First, it was the right to abortion, which the Supreme Court stripped under the influence of the Orange Felon, and now, invoking the same mythology and absence of reasoning, they’re going after IVF!
Consider what Vice President Kamala Harris had to say to Jimmy Kimmel last night (June 4):
There are better ways to run a country than to do so under the misguided influence of a mythology. In fact, if we extrapolate existing research, the argument can be made that we would be happier if we were not governed under the influence of any religion. Consider that persistent annual research has shown that the following countries are among the happiest:
Meanwhile, the United States isn’t even in the top 20, coming in at a dismal 23rd place. While the research does not directly target religion, it is worth pointing out that the countries I’ve listed are all explicitly secular in their governance. Religion is forbidden from playing any part. That does not mean the people who live there are not religious, but they do not allow their religious beliefs to interfere with how the country operates, how its laws are formed, or how its people are treated.
I can’t imagine what it must be like, how different it must be, to live full-time, to grow up, be educated, and pursue one’s life’s work, in a country that is not constantly trying to hammer everyone into some form of religious compliance. It would be so very different from the country we now live in. Do you know what country demands religious adherence? Afghanistan. Want to know where they land as far as their people being happy? At the very bottom of the scale. Dead last.
Stop and ask yourself: do we want to become the next Afghanistan? Because the way we’re headed now, that’s exactly where we’re going to end up.
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