Remember when it was okay to lynch a black man for daring to look at a white woman because according to white theology and sociology, the black man was always either a "boy" or an "animal"?
Remember when the socio-religious conscience of some white folk permitted them to exclude people of color from their establishments... And they could appeal to the law to back up their warped sense of humanity?
Remember how the exercise of their "religious freedom" led the European "explorer" to rape and pillage and decimate whole populations of "New World" peoples and their civilizations... Their guns and swords in one hand, and their "holy books" in the other?
To be sure, the use of religion to justify the subjugation and dehumanization of those considered "other" is not the exclusive purview of any particular race. Since the beginning of time people have solicited the approval of their gods for all kinds of atrocities. Gods have given their permission for the conquest and theft of lands and the possessions of the inhabitants by the conquering horde. Gods have given their permission to kill the inhabitants of towns and villages, and the men, women, and children therein. Gods have ordered that having killed the human inhabitants, their pets and other domestic animals should not be spared the edge of the sword, the blunt force of sticks and stones, and the brutal fingers of believing brutes.
Throughout time our co-dependent gods have wreaked havoc among us. They have brought death and destruction to those who are identified as being threats to the order of things as they have "ordained" them. Gods have reflected the warped sense of justice of their worshipers. They have vented their rage against those who dare to represent in their experience, other ways of being. Our gods have reflected the hypocrisies that we carry in our hearts and minds. They have represented the myopia of our selfish ways of perceiving the world and those with whom we are required to share it. They perpetuate through their followers every frailty and foible of the human experience. They bid us go to war to vent their insecurities. They spread poverty among the disadvantaged to satisfy their greed. They spread hatred to mask their fears and jealousies. They have monuments built to mask their lack of substance.
Progress toward the establishment of Justice in our society has rightly forced many of our gods out of the public domain into the parochial cubicles where they belong. The separation of religion from our most important political constructs is a necessary feature of this process. But because it is more true that our gods serve us as a first principle than that we serve them, there is always a pining among some for the "good ole days"... For a return to the advantage that slips away when society becomes more just. They are constantly seeking to graft their own corrupt nature into the budding tree of Liberty. There will always be those among us appealing for the supremacy of their most primitive inclinations. In order that they may gain the advantage they once had, they want to bring back the days when their God reigned unchallenged. Well... those days are gone. We recognize the truth that our alter egos want to obfuscate; that all persons have a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
The moral contradictions exposed in the hypocrisy so evident in our religious practice will not be covered over by any insistence on doing the bidding of our various gods. Equal protection under the Law is the prevailing tenet of our emerging civility. We will no longer permit the whims and fancies of unjust or supernatural forces to determine our social, economic, and political life. The declaration of our Human Rights and our insistence on the establishment of Justice in accordance with these Rights is the Way forward. We are done with specious tenets of being that victimize those who aren't privileged enough to assume universal compliance with the wishes of some unspecific being. The butterflies in the boxes of those who want to rule through supernatural means have been exposed as nonentities. We will not bow down to the "powers" that used to be... Bigots and their gods can go to hell.
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