As the holiday season rolls around, religious tensions are sure to follow. Just a month ago, Gov. Scott Walker ignited a slight controversy by calling Madison's holiday tree a Christmas tree in a press release (because pine trees were an irreplaceably sacred part of Jesus' birth in the middle of a desert and have been key throughout 2000 years of subsequent Christian tradition). As you can tell, this particular issue seems quite petty. However, it signals a more important problem: America's inability to properly recognize the separation between church and State and the consequences the joining of the two bring.
The part of the First Amendment that separates church and state reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...."
And yet, in spite of this, America has always managed to meld religion and politics. And religious politics then go on to affect society.
Politicians have always presented themselves as active churchgoers, and the political influence of religious groups makes it almost impossible for a politician who is not pious to gain power. And to many citizens, religion is still considered inseparable from basic human decency.
In fact, in the ongoing Republican primary season, it has become quite popular for a candidate to make religion a defining trait of his or her campaign. There have been three well-known candidates-Herman Cain, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., and Texas Gov. Rick Perry-who claim that God had, in some way, convinced them to run for president. Apparently He believes in quantity over quality.
At first, such religious politics seem harmless or amusing. After all, the first amendment says, "Congress shall make no law," and the politicians are just stating opinions and pandering-not making laws. But if they are elected, their religion affects policy and ends up causing problems in society.
Many of the most controversial public policy issues emerge when religion is involved. For example, marriage is defined in religious terms, leaving homosexual couples unable to legally marry in many states. The inability to separate religious opinions from law has led to ridiculous conflicts over the legality of building mosques. This happened in New York, when the building of a mosque near Ground Zero led to a ridiculous nationwide debate. Creationism, a purely religious concept, still has advocates trying to place it into public schools. Religion's connection to what is secular just ends up causing more issues for those marginalized by it.
Despite these debates and issues, politicians still pander to their religious constituents by calling pine trees Christmas trees despite the fact that conifers have absolutely no Christian significance.
And we buy it. People close their eyes to the obvious problems caused by religion in politics and fervently support it. They think that the name given to a tree is somehow an expression of religious freedom. By misinterpreting the freedom of religion, society unwittingly shoves religion down other people's throats.
If there is one thing society should learn this holiday season, it is that religion has no place in politics.
So, enjoy the holidays everyone. Anyway, commercialization has already made the 25th of December a universal holiday.
Mary Sedarous is a freshman with an undeclared major. Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
