Keep Church and State Separate
The opinions expressed in this post are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect opinions or positions held by Indivisible Northampton-Swing Left Western MA.
Jains (jaynz), people who follow the religion of Jainism (jaynizm), cannot eat meat because violence towards all living things is forbidden.
Imagine that six Jains, who are Supreme Court judges, rule that the right to eat meat is no longer protected by the Constitution. Imagine the governor of Texas, also a Jain, bans meat and allows private citizens to sue, for a minimum of $10,000, anyone who knowingly “aids or abets” the sale of meat.
Do these hypothetical scenes remind you of the Supreme Court case Dobbs vs. Jackson, which ended the Constitutional right to abortion, and Texas Governor Abbot’s recent law, which banned abortion and turned citizens into bounty hunters? They should. They are all examples of the failure to separate church and state.
The First Amendment of the Constitution reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”. This has been the basis for both freedom of religion and the separation of church and state since 1791.
Compromise the separation of church and state, and any state could ban hunting (Jainism), ban divorce (Sikhism) or mandate circumcision (Judaism).
Followers of every faith believe their faith has the most legitimate morals and practices. Does this give anyone the right to impose their beliefs on others? Pope Francis teaches us to accept diversity of opinion and religion. If the Pope were a judge or a governor, I believe he would keep church and state separate.
So should we.