Government officials: Leave religion at door

Election season is underway and if I hear the phrase “evangelical voter” one more time, I’m going to scream.

England is a “Christian country.” The Church of England is that country’s official church and the ruling monarch is the head of that church. Today that is perhaps an anachronistic formality, but 400 years ago, subjects daring to worship in other churches were persecuted. That is why Puritan worshipers left England in 1620 and sailed to America.

One-hundred seventy-one years later, after winning independence from England and writing a new Constitution, our founders added 10 amendments called the Bill of Rights. Perhaps remembering where we started, the very first 10 words of the very first amendment are: “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion.”

Opponents of abortion and LGBTQ rights usually cite God, the Bible and their own “beliefs” and are members of a handful of Christian religions. Many other Christian and non-Christian religions do not share those beliefs. Legislation supporting these restrictions comes from “conservative” officials who practice those religions or pander to them.

The Constitution is clear. Government officials need to leave their religion at the door. We have the right to practice our own faith. We do not have the right to use the levers of government to impose our religious beliefs on other people. Election season is upon us and religion is not a criteria for choosing a candidate. When candidates say they are “pro-life” and “loyal to the Constitution,” they are lying about one of them. Probably the latter.

Cover your ears. I’ll be doing a lot of screaming in the coming months.

Geoffrey Gidman, West Hartford