There are many people in the world who get really bent out of shape about the First Amendment and what they perceive as a corruption of its meaning by those of us who support complete separation of church and state. These people claim that the original intent was nothing of the sort, that it was limited to meaning only that the government would not establish a "national religion," or some such thing.
The fact is, this belief is pure wishful thinking. If one takes the time to actually read the writings of the framers of our Constitution, one will see that separation of church and state is exactly what they meant. You can easily learn the history behind it, the documents that inspired the First Amendment, and so on.
But you know what? I don't care what they meant.
I don't. Not really.
I support the total separation of church and state not because that's what Jefferson and Madison and others meant, but because it is the right thing to do.
We must bear in mind that our government is ostensibly "of the people, by the people, and for the people." And that means all the people. Not just some of them. Not even just the majority of them.
It is for theist and atheist alike. It is for man and woman alike. It is for heterosexual and non-heterosexual alike. It is for everybody.
But there are always those who want preferential treatment, and one example of this is those who oppose separation of church and state. They want to impose their religion upon others, and they want to use the government as their tool in effecting this imposition. And when people point out that the government isn't allowed to be that tool, these people weep and wail about how their religion is being persecuted.
Religion in America, especially the Christian religion, has been treated like a spoiled child for too long. They whine and whine until they get what they want, which is almost always a form of preferential treatment not available to other groups or individuals.
The wall of separation between church and state is seriously eroded in America, largely due to this weeping and wailing of the Christians. Many of them would like nothing more than to see it fall completely. They already believe the fallacy of America being a "Christian nation," and such a collapse would truly make it one.
This, of course, is the goal of anti-separationists. America, the theocracy. Anyone who denies that this is their goal is living in a fantasy. And the thought of an American theocracy should scare the snot out of each and every one of us.
