Church-state separation good for all Americans

Where the Constitution draws the line is when government officials, elected or appointed or hired, act to deny others their own religious beliefs. Opposition to abortion and gay rights is a religious decision. And political efforts around these issues are simply and purely efforts by one religious perspective to force its will on people with other perspectives.

This is why the clerk of courts in Kentucky was out of line in trying to deny a gay marriage license. She was absolutely entitled to her own beliefs. But she was violating the law of this nation when she decided that her own beliefs entitled her to exercise them as an agent of the government.

Religious activists really ought to spend a little time thinking about what they risk when they trash-talk the constitutional separation of church and State. Using government to enforce the religious views of one group is what most of us find troubling about the ISIS crisis. That’s not our country and it’s not protected by the Constitution, but it does engage our nation and we do have a moral right to choose to protect people in other countries.

I’m not talking about the Middle East, just using it as an example of what religious activists ought to be concerned with here. The founders of this nation were opposed to people who want to use religion as an excuse to force others to do their will.