Oppressive freedom

As long as anyone is oppressed, no one is free. -Unknown 

With the presidential election looming in just a few short weeks, there's a lot of talk, and a lot of hypocrisy going around.

I'm going to get right to the point here.

Too many people believe America is a Christian nation.

It isn't. And this is coming from someone born and raised Catholic: to have any laws passed reflecting religious beliefs is unconstitutional. How? Well, read the 1st amendment of the Bill of Rights:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

There you have it. As much as you want to claim that America is a Christian nation it's not; it's just that Christianity is the predominant religion practiced here. Remember that the people who founded our country came here fleeing religious persecution. They came here, in part, because where they were from, you had to worship a certain way, and if you didn't, you were screwed. Here, they made sure that no one had to worship the way the government told them to. You could worship anyway you wanted to, or not at all. The 1st amendment gives us freedom of religion, not to protect religion from government, but to protect government from religion. The government, through this amendment, cannot impose religious beliefs on the country.

So, that being said, when you have crazy social conservatives who want laws passed that reflect their religious beliefs, they're becoming the very obstruction to freedom the founding fathers opposed.  They're using religion to oppress others, and when non-religious people protest them, religious people hypocritically claim their religious freedoms are being violated when, in fact, it is they who are violating others' freedoms by wanting laws passed that align with their religious beliefs, thereby imposing them on others, hence oppressing anyone who doesn't subscribe to their faith.

Take bullying for example. When anti-bullying legislation had been considered being put into law in several states, it was religious people who protested it saying their religious freedoms were being violated. They claimed THEY were victimized through this legislation because they thought such legislation would prevent them from expressing their beliefs towards others in the event of a disagreement over a hot topic issue. It could've been a Christian student harassing a Muslim student. More than likely, it could've been a Christian student harassing a gay student.

Jews can't eat pork. Mormons cannot consume caffeine or alcohol. Catholics are to abstain from eating meat on Fridays during Lent. All of these are beliefs each individual faith practices, and yet, we have no laws from either of them being passed forcing others to live the way they do. Southern Baptists baptize new members through full-body immersion while Catholics baptize with simply pouring holy water over the baby's head. Neither practice is being legislated.

Given all these examples, WHY are these same religious group protesting anti-gay bullying, or marriage equality? Whatever happened to "live, and let live"? If you want someone to believe the way you do, invite them to a church service. If they're not interested, respect that. Everyone's journey of faith is different, and should be respected.

You can't support religious freedom unless you support ALL TYPES of religious freedom, including freedom FROM religion. 

I'm going to conclude this post with two different quotes, both of which I saw on Facebook, one wittily funny, one irreverently funny:

Being against gay marriage because of your religion is like being angry at someone eating a doughnut because you're on a diet. 

Religion is like having a penis; it's okay to have one, it's okay to be proud of it, but there's no need to display it in public, or shove it down other people's throats.