Discourse Without Religion

NMB, Florida September 6, 2001 A.H. Schectman

THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on Issues, Ideas and Reflections on the Times. Published Now and
Then. Opinions Pro or Con Are Welcome.

DISCOURSE WITHOUT RELIGION

One would think that a nation founded on its distance from European
religious wars of preceding centuries would have distanced itself from
involvement with religious expression of any sort. Well, the new United
States did just that in the last years of the eighteenth century. "Congress
shall make no law with respect to religion" or some variant expression which
meant just that.

Our current President side-swiped Congress when he made the pitch for
"faith based" charitable action bulwarked by infusion of federal cash. We
know he did that because he is backed by the Religious Right in this
country. Witness the on-going pressure for this kind of governmental
activity - mostly because most Americans aren't interested after elections
to oversee that what they wanted from their politicians is delivered. I got
to thinking about how much of my discourse is about religion.

I go to Temple regularly to accompany my Trustee wife, Carol. We both sing
in the Choir and really enjoy Rabbi Sam in the Ruach (Bible) study class on
Saturday mornings. I also cannot resist making comment on the ongoing war
in Israel and Palestine over ownership of religious homelands. From where I
sit it looks as though Israel is persecuting Palestinians over land while
the Palestinians are persecuting Israelis over religion. The amount of Arab
anti-Semitism is overwhelming.

There is the persecution of little Catholic girls on the way to school on
"Protestant" streets. Then, too, there is the persecution of Christians who
preach their religion in an Islamic country and there is the circumcision of
girls and woman as part of the religious beliefs of peoples living in
nations far away from us.

In America we are adjusting to the facts of non-heterogeneous people. We
should note that "gay" men in Egypt will be given a show trial because their
lifestyle is against religious practice in Islamic and fundamentalist Egypt.

In other words, the universe of discourse also includes discourse about
religion. I wish it were otherwise. There is so much to talk about.
Carol's Evaluation: 10 out of 10.