Religion and legislation

A young (20something) man in my movie group is a devout Jew. In addition to movies, we both follow baseball* and politics. He has educated me on what his religion has taught him about the LGBTQ community, explaining he is called to "acknowledge the sacredness of every human being and rededicate ourselves to creating a world where every person can live with dignity, safety, and pride." 

His rabbi has told him that abortion must be seen not as in absolute terms but reviewed on a case-by-case basis. My friends Nancy and Mindy, also Jews but of my generation, have said that they were taught once a fetus is born, it's a baby. Until birth, the mother's life and decisions are honored.

The First Amendment states Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, ensuring the right to practice any religion or none at all. 

You know where I'm going with this: Why does the Religious Right feel it can/should pass laws that go against the sincere beliefs of other established religions? What about the rights of Americans who don't believe in God at all? Why is this group so willing to celebrate the Constitution yet so eager to blur or downright ignore the separation between Church and State?

At a time when Tucker Carlson is comfortable giving Nick Fuentes a platform, and Donald Trump defends Tucker for this – while demanding Jimmy Kimmel be taken off the air – this looks darker and darker. Need more state-sanctioned toxicity? The Coast Guard is about to change its policy about displaying swastikas and nooses.  

America should belong to all of us. Our tent should be big enough for everyone. As a Christian, I have no problem with inclusion. After all, my faith has taught me about love and activism. If I believe abortion should be rare – and I do – that's what sex education is for. That's what adoption advocacy is for. That's not what legislation is for. 

Apparently Catholics are the wrong kind of Christians in Trump's America, too. Immigrants being held here in Chicagoland are not only deprived of due process, they are not allowed to take communion. Convicted prisoners on death row get to observe their faith, but not detainees here. Maybe I'm wrong about this. Perhaps it's easy to ignore the human rights of people who have yet to be found guilty of anything not because they are Catholic but because they aren't white. Either way, I find this chilling. And more than a little hypocritical. 

I also am not for telling consenting adults what they should be able to do in the privacy of their bedrooms. Denying tax-paying gays the legal rights that come with marriage? How can that possibly be fair? What's next? Denying gays jury trials because you don't like their lifestyle? Maybe transsexuals should no longer be allowed to vote because some (by all means not all) Christians don't "approve."

To me, this is the scariest thing about MAGA: It's made us comfortable with intolerance from people who claim patriotism, but aren't willing to live it. We're complacent and don't see where we're headed. As my late friend John liked to say, "People living in Berlin before the war didn't know they were living in Berlin before the war." Of course, he was gay, so why should we listen to him?

 

*He and I disagree on the AL MVP, though. Fond as I am of Aaron Judge, I'm just in awe of what Cal Raleigh was able to accomplish with his bat this year while playing more than 120 games as catcher. What a player!