Thread: Separation of Church and...

For those who see this as an appropriate role for a state Governor to be assuming (i.e. the promotion of a faith community gathering ostensibly for the purpose of curing society's ills) would you feel the same if he was of another faith?

If Governor Brownback called you to join him and the Imam of Topeka as he preaches Jihad against society's ills (remember Jihad is a very broadly-defined term that can represent struggle of all kinds, not just an armed struggle) would you still think it a good thing? Perhaps you would, inch'Allah.

If Governor Brownback called you to join him at the Topeka Temple in meditating on the wisdom of the Buddha, the impermanence and suffering of the material world, the absence of God, the Eight Fold Path, and how society can cure its ills by rejecting materialism and seeking enlightenment and the cessation of the cycle of rebirth, would you still think it a good thing? Perhaps you would.

If Governor Brownback called you to join him and his fellow Pastafarians in repentance to the Flying Spaghetti Monster for the purpose of curing society's ills, would you still think it a good thing?

Do you believe that his doing this is good because it engages peoples' spirituality, or because it is a Christian message? Or more specifically a message tailored to a very specific subset of those in the world who would call themselves Christian?

My opinion ultimately counts for nothing in this as I am not a resident of Kansas and therefore have no personal stake in this event. But like many others I am instinctively uncomfortable when elected officials who have been elected to serve all members of a particular constituency publicly espouse of favour a particular faith group.

Maybe the Gov should have phrased it something like "Collective repentance to the Higher Self Day" but that would have PO'd a whole lot of people too...

Scandal! Govenors Jim McGreavey, Eliot Spitzer, Mark Sanford, and now Sam Brownback!