by Andrew Riggio | February 10, 2012
The
American Constitution and Declaration of Independence inscribe an idea--that everyone is equal--into our nation’s soul.
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| John Trumbull's painting, Declaration of Independence. |
As foundation
documents for the creation of a nation, these stand apart as some of
the most revolutionary works of all time. Despite the grandeur of the
ideas contained within, little has sparked greater conflict
within the hearts and minds of American citizens as discrimination
against other citizens.
History of hate
One
of the nation’s most beloved presidents, John F. Kennedy, had to
fight an uphill battle to win the election because he was a Catholic.
He gave a critical speech addressing Americans' concerns about
this, in fact, as it was such a liability to him. At the time
Catholics were heavily discriminated against by the mainly Protestant
population.
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| Posthumous official presidential portrait of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, painted by Aaron Shikler. |
One
need hardly mention the challenges faced by our black citizens.
They’ve faced a centuries-long fight--to first strip away slavery,
then win equal rights--and still face racism from many white
Americans. Slavery and Jim Crow laws were reinforced from the pulpit by clergymen waving Bibles and proclaiming religious justification
for oppression of people with dark skin.
Modern resurgence
The
demographic du-jour to be hated and reviled today is the homosexual
community, and once again religion rears its ugly head to bellow
hatred from the mountaintops. The venom spewed from the forked
tongues of men at the altar remains as deadly to open hearts as it
ever has been.
It
seems that for every state, like Washington, that embraces our national
ideal of equality there is another, like North Carolina, seeking to
crush a minority under the hob-nailed boot of oppression. While
Washington State legislators just voted to allow gay people the right
to marry, North Carolina is seeking to permanently enshrine bigotry
in its state Constitution.
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| Protester letting Minnesota state Senators know his position on gay marriage. |
North
Carolina is putting Amendment One, which would define marriage as
“between one man and one woman” to a general referendum. The
right wing backers of this movement appear to hope the citizenry will
vote with hatred coursing through their veins.
Sadly,
they may get their wish. It has always been easier to motivate people
to action to destroy than to create. Our petty prejudices are easily goaded into making otherwise decent people act out of malice. On
the other hand, those who have good and decent motives can be harder
to motivate, partly from their inability to imagine just how readily
the armies of evil will march against freedom.
Religious sources
Of
particular note is that this hate stems mainly from religious
sources. It is only in “holy books” that one finds the
inspiration to destroy others merely because they love differently.
We can see in theocratic nations, like Iran, the power of religion
over real-world concerns.
While
Americans generally disdain the idea of living in a theocratic nation, what they appear to really mean is that they don’t want to live in
some other religion’s theocracy. They’re perfectly willing to
employ theocratic totalitarian methods against others when their own
religion is calling the shots.
This,
then, is the danger of failing to completely separate church and
state. When religious people can influence public policy they will,
by definition, feel their religious beliefs hold higher importance
than real-world concerns. The religious feel they serve a higher
power than the civic body to which they belong. So long as this is
permitted oppression will continue. Religion needs enemies against
which to rally the faithful, and its rallying cries bring out the
greatest horrors of which mankind is capable.
Andrew Riggio is a news commentator on Yahoo! News, a Content Writer and Voice Actor. You can find his work on www.AndrewRiggio.com.
Photo credits: Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons; Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons; Fibonacci Blue/Wikimedia Commons
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