Belief, behavior and belonging

  A few days back I wrote about the Governor of La. mandating the ten commandments be posted in classrooms. Yesterday I heard that the Governor of Texas intends to do the same. I expect it will spread until the court rules it unconstitutional. But I was writing about that and how the founding fathers wanted our government to be completely secular in nature. A noble sentiment. I'd suggest that is the heart of what has been called the great American experiment. Can a government be totally secular and serve all the citizens? It's my feeling that it can't. I've said it many times, and still believe that you can't legislate morality. 

 We are seeing this play out before our very eyes. How much legislation has there been in support of religious freedom? That's what we call it when we support beliefs that we personally may or may not hold. It's an appeasement. To be truly secular we would have to eliminate all of that, all those protections. We are calling a portion of those protections' antisemitism and Islamophobia. A direct religious reference to the non-secular folks in the nation. Religious beliefs are moral standards. It is that simple. It gets complicated when you attempt to defend those religious beliefs (morals) without referencing the religious texts or documents. And that is what a secular society must do. 

 Laws are instituted among men to establish peace, settle disputes and create a sense of unity. We all want to belong to something, be a part of something. In the last decade or so many are reaching to the past for an identity. Calling that, celebrating their culture. The reality is that culture, to them, is just a fantasy, an imagining of what it would have been, and mostly based in stereotypes. You cannot know the culture of a people unless you have lived with those people! All you know is what others have written about that. Every culture had their moral standards. It is an ever-changing thing culture, changing with the times and sensibilities of the people. Remember it was perfectly normal to have human sacrifices at one time in history. A cultural thing or a religious practice? It's neither, it's a moral thing.

 Throughout history people have looked for something more. We call them migrants today, wanderers in ages past. They went looking to discover what was over that hill. If they found something they desired, they would attempt to trade for that commodity. If it came to property they couldn't bargain, buy, or trade for, they took it by force. They did so often in the name of some religious inspiration. It provided the justification needed to satisfy their moral code. In short, they belonged to something. They were a part of something. The something itself began to take a back seat to the justification. It's where we get that adage, "by all means necessary." It's a proclamation, the removal of morality!

  After the battle is over, the victory won, a new system of morality is established. In the 1950's in America about 98% of the population believed in God. Today that number is down to 81%. A definite shift toward the secular. And make no mistake about it that is what is required for a secular society, the absence of religious beliefs. Those under the age of thirty that believe in God has fallen to just 61%. Belief, behavior and belonging, as it relates to religious institutions are at an all-time low. My feeling is the results are before you. Increased crime, unrest, mental health issues, the destruction of the nuclear family and a general degradation in society. Without the promise of reward people tend to wander off, to justify their choices, by all means necessary, and chaos and confusion is always the result. More and more people today are abandoning that promise, forgoing what may be, for the immediate satisfaction of the moment. It's a mistake. I do believe we belong to something more, something bigger.