Blogs Against Theocracy

I wouldn't be much of a pirate chaplain if I didn't stir things up every now and then. So, this weekend, I direct you to Blogs Against Theocracy, a clearing house of links to posts relating to the defense of the First Amendment to the Constitution. These aren't anti-religious stances, at least most of them aren't. Rather, these are posts written in defense of the notion that religion is, as Thomas Jefferson stated on numerous occasions, "a deeply personal affair" and one that the government should play no part in organizing or supporting. Similarly, religion should not play a part in government, for if it does, than it is possible for the religious views of one group to dominate the religious views of those that the government is supposed to serve.

I have no idea what's going to pop up in the blogosphere over this weekend, no doubt chosen for this event because this is the time when certain groups of Christians tend to swing towards anti-Semitism while celebrating the arrest, torture, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (The Passion of the Christ, anyone?). But it should be interesting. And I'm of the opinion that any discussion relating to the relationship between religion and governement can be good for the nation. We have one party that has been controlled for years by the religious right, a president who has openly stated on a number of occasions that God told him that he was to be president, and a war in the Middle East that is often compared in many ways to the Crusades of the Middle Ages. Religion and politics are linked, and this isn't always good - most times, I feel, it's not. We need to talk about that, and this may be a good place to start.