Tradition!

Traditional. How often do I hear this word used to defend something that may not be in the best interests of many people? It is as if calling it “traditional” makes everything okay; as if saying it has always been this way, justifies it.

People who use this defense are often trying to push controversial facts over to their side, but I doubt if most of them would really want all the old traditions that we have already disposed of, back.

Take church and state, our country began on the premise that these two should be separate. Now I hear all sorts of people trying to explain why this is not quite so, or how this really was meant to lean a different way. And I say beware.

Look at countries where the church runs the state. Americans who don’t believe we could suffer the same atrocities are not really thinking this thing through. First of all, whose moral theologies should take precedence? Don’t believe your church, or religion would be any different in the long run. Power is intoxicating. It draws the fanatical and it corrupts.

There is too much room for conniving on a grand scale. Let’s keep the conniving and bigotry and hate confined, as much as we can, to the places who feel they are best qualified to spew them out and deal with them. Let the state step in if there is a clash between the bodies inside, or outside of these places, but don't allow the state to become the perpetrator.

If you believe God is talking to you personally and sending you out on missions of hate, take care. Remember God even sent an angel to talk to Mary and she was carrying his son. The souls can wing it on their own. After all, they belong to God and I suspect he can deal with them quite efficiently if he so desires. If you don't believe this, take it up with him, or your church, or your family, but don't try to legislate it. Remember too Jesus' words, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." I doubt he just meant gold coins. I don't really want to argue theology, it's not my specialty, but it isn't the government's either and it shouldn't be. It can't be without violating some of our basic rights.

Tradition? Tradition shows that people do not always think rationally, especially when it comes to power, politics and religion.