Incoherent Bible Law Manages to Slur the BibleLaws introduced by right wing members of Congress to try to establish Christianity as the official religion of the United States are not only unconstitutional, they are inevitably incoherent as well. Consider the resolution introduced by Missouri Republican Todd Akin that would, if passed, call upon President George W. Bush "to designate an appropriate year as The National Year of the Bible". This resolution would simultaneously establish religion, in violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, and set up a schedule for the disestablishment of the same religion. Just think about the very concept that there would be an "appropriate year" to be the National Year of the Bible. That's praise for the Christian Bible, of sorts, but it's really a backhanded insult to the quality of the Bible. After all, though one year would be an appropriate year to celebrate the Bible, all the other years before and afterwards would be inappropriate for celebrating the worth of the Bible. Maybe 2008 would be designated as an "appropriate year" for celebrating the Bible, but that means that the government would also be declaring, in a way, that in 2009 it would be inappropriate to celebrate the Bible. It's not the job of the federal government to go around declaring which years are best to participate in religion or another. The President of the United States shouldn't be issuing declarations that it's a good year for Christianity in 2008, but not so much in 2009, and that 2010 is a good year to be Buddhist, while Zoroastrianism is just the thing for 2011. Thanks to Congressman Akin for providing a perfect example of why it makes no sense to mix religion and politics. He may not have meant to give us this educational opportunity, but as they say, ignorance is no excuse. |
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