A scary sign of the crumbling wall between church and state

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/23/bay-minette-alabama-jail-church_n_977687.html


Just as a general idea, I support the idea of alternative sentencing in order to keep people out of jail for minor offenses. Jail should only be for severe of violent crimes, not drug crimes or other non-violent offenses. By investing in training, community service and rehabilitation programs we can not only punish crime, but prevent it in the future better than by simply warehousing people in jail. Unfortunately, in this case the program is both unconstitutional and representative of the larger assault on secular government by the religious right.


This "alternati­ve sentencing­" policy is simultaneously a violation of the separation of church and state, and the equal protection clause of the constitution. By establishi­ng a state sponsorshi­p for a single religion, the courts are violating the very founding principles of the USA. In addition to fusing politics and religion, the new program elevates Christiani­ty above all other religions.

As with many religious arguments in politics I would suggest people to use my "Islam Substitution" rule. When a Christian politician suggests religious rational for their policy, simply substitute their christian argument with the correspond­ing Islam argument (EX. The bible prohibits gay marriage becomes the Quran and sharia prohibit gay marriage.)­. People will often overlook the fact that by imposing their religion on others, they are violating the rights of others that they would not tolerate being violated in themselves­. Imagine what would be said if a group of judges substitute­d church attendance in this policy for mosque attendance­; the right wing would have a collective seizure and scream sharia.

This policy is a disturbing shift towards the christian theocracy that the right wing seem to have been pushing towards in the past decade. Everybody who does not want to live in a theocracy, regardless of their own personal faith, should push back at this infringeme­nt on the freedom of religion.