If you have ever wondered why religions are losing membership, you only have to read about the money sent to the Indianapolis pizza shop that gained notoriety for their stand against participation in gay weddings — $850,000 at last count. The world is becoming more and more educated and tolerant of the individual’s rights to be themselves, without having to experience fear, sadness or rejection. I hope the religious may some day understand the importance of this to all the rest of us and again rethink their ideas about love, inclusiveness and forgiveness.
The hardcore members of religious groups take the book and leaders of their faith to be truthful in their teachings. By following their words and statements to the letter, they think their path to glory land will be smoother than for those who don’t do so. Those beliefs cannot, and never will be, proven, and are far behind modern secular concepts. Instead of leading us forward, they are thinking like they did in the past. The pizza shop funding only proves that bigotry is still a deep seated and deplorable drag on the equal rights of every citizen of this nation. It would be interesting to see just who the contributors are to this fund — not individuals names, but those organizations forming their beliefs and the businesses profiting.
The thoughtful actions from so many younger people in voicing their contempt for the state of Indiana and faith based citizens for allowing legalized bigotry shows the youth of our future are not in lock step with them, but remain idealistic. Our young embrace diversity and will in time bring fair play and justice, with changes in our present laws. They will make a peaceful world more possible. It is sad that a great deal of the support for the negative laws on our books are supported by folks in my own age group, born before 1945.
It is interesting to see that the turnaround in thinking came right after World War Two, after so many of our citizens returned from witnessing the horrors of war. Defending our nation, they received a better education and a more tolerant worldly outlook, to a noticeable extent. That post war group began to question, in greater numbers, many of the standards introduced to them at very young ages. For this nation, it was a new birth of questioning authority, both in the legal system and the religious sector. The effect of this, sadly, has been slower than many of us ever imagined it would be, but it has been in the right direction. I understand I will not see the promised land in dealing with these issues, but, I also know the results of our progress will be there for the benefit of my gene pool that follows me, and that alone makes our struggles so worthwhile.
If you understood the nature of the thinking in Indiana, you would remember that it is the state that had the highest membership in the KKK during those past dark days of our nation, more than those states you would normally associate the KKK’s membership from our high school textbooks of the past. It also is one of the states to pass laws granting employers the right to fire any employee without reason, a so called Right to Work State (the right to work without supporting a Union). I would like to meet anyone in our present day work force who thinks this is a fair law. It’s so unfair an unjust to be employed by a company and go to work everyday, put in a honest and productive day’s work over many decades, and all the time know that you could accidentally rub someone wrong and be dismissed for the act. This law also allows for workers to be fired when qualifying for expanded vacation time, nearing retirement, slowing down due to getting older and being replaced by cheaper labor. That is what the workforce in Indiana and other states. Bells should go off every time you see state governments and corporations attack unions, the only voice for the working class.
Indiana is not and has not been a state to point to with pride for being a champion for working class living standards of our United States. Instead, it is a further example of the danger of putting state’s rights over centralized government. Unjust laws based on faith cloaking bigotry, on the power of the corporation, are now being exposed. I hope it continues. I hope people shine the needed spotlight on other important issues: women’s rights, affordable medical coverage and far tougher regulations on our financial institutions, whose wrongdoing was a disaster to all of us.
Despite separation of church and state, federal law often yields to local standards, many of which are based upon religious beliefs. When a political party openly backs social issues and beliefs of any religious group and writes laws supporting those beliefs, we all must in turn follow those laws. That is not equal treatment and not separation of church and state.
Consider the rules governing textbooks in Texas or the teaching of evolution in Kansas. When the Mormon church spent $25 million dollars here in California against Prop 8, was this in keeping with the law about separation of church and state? Not in my book. When Israel is invited by one party to enhance their agenda, is this separation of church and state? Again, not in my book.
We are a nation of laws, and as so, the law must be followed by big businesses and intolerant groups at the same level they are enforced on us. If we are united as all these issues are exposed and corrected, whether in our own communities or across the entire nation, if we make our votes count, we can bring a positive change to our everyday lives.
Jim Hall is a resident of Clearlake Oaks
