Build that wall - of separation, Part I

For those of us who are secular-minded, the notion of separation of church and state is not difficult. When government stays silent on religion in its policies and upholds the rights of all citizens to hold their beliefs in speeches, religion does not become coercion and means of repression.

For certain groups of Christians, to the extent that they are sincere of course, Yahweh seems to require omnipresence in our communal life. Their "closely held beliefs" extend to political life and policies that threaten other people's ability to act on their faith.

What is "freedom of religion" anyway? Are Christians being "persecuted" for their beliefs? Well, that second one is easy: not in the USA! But does freedom of religion mean you can treat people however you want because of your beliefs? If you held a religion that allowed human sacrifice, should that be allowed? I think we can all agree that the right to practice your religion stops at the point where it interferes with other citizens' ability to live their lives. Actually, this particular statement gives you the parameters of freedoms in general: freedom extends to the end of your fist.

A discussion for another day is that our freedoms come with responsibilities. It is easy to find discussions about what we have the right to do, freedom, liberty and so on, and many of those people are quick to shirk what they owe to others. But we need to recognize too that the boundaries of our actions need to be negotiated and defined. Our actions do impact others, and we need to measure and gauge to what effect: if, when and how we enact legislation around our actions.

But to return to freedom of religion. There are some simple questions to ask to determine if you are suffering persecution: Are you able to attend the place of worship of your choice? Are you able to attend study sessions and lectures for the religion of your choice? Do you know people who share your belief and are able to discuss your religion openly with them and others? If you answered yes, you are not being persecuted.

What doesn't constitute persecution is that you live in a place with laws you disagree with, people say they don't share your belief, people call you close-minded for your belief. Criticism and lack of agreement are not persecution.

In our culture, religion permeates all of life, so Christians might not even recognize how present their beliefs are. It is a trite stereotype to make a character in a show or film Christian to demonstrate how humble and good they are. It's a shortcut and lazy strategy so you don't have to build the character's personality. Even a simple comment like the character prays is enough to establish this is a good person. Politicians feel they have to say they are praying for victims of various tragedies, and if they don't there are plenty of Christian conservatives across the media ready to criticize them for their arrogance and godless communist tendencies.

But there are so many examples of how Christianity pervades all aspects of our culture. When I drive anywhere, I see Christian billboards. Some of them merely have Bible quotes; some are about a local church; some denounce sin. There are channels on tv dedicated to Christian broadcasting. Wherever I drive, churches take up acres of land. People on my Facebook and Twitter talk about how #blessed they are because their spouse brought them coffee in bed.

I'm not bringing these issues up to say they shouldn't exist or that we need to remove them. I am merely saying that there are plenty of appropriate places for our religious speech in the private realm. It doesn't need to be in every nook and cranny, and it is illegal and a violation of the constitution for our government to express a preference for one belief over another.