Today, we are standing in Commerce Place beside West Market Street United Methodist Church. Directly ahead, you can see the Guilford County Court House. Earlier in the week, we brought you a photo of the federal court house which is located on the same block as the above buildings. Lately, with the primary election only two days away, we've been thinking a great deal about the interface between religion and politics.
In spite of the fact that the very creation of The United States was brought about in an effort to keep church and state separate, it can be very hard to do so. If you reflect on your spirituality, how comfortable are you with people of different belief systems? How comfortable are you with efforts to legislate morality? Where do laws to keep people safe, and society orderly, begin and end? When do laws go too far?
Recently, we received a post of a family friend who said, not only did she lack respect for friends of a different political party, she no longer even wanted to be their friends. She sent "unfriend" requests. As a nation, have we reached a point where we can no longer be friendly and civil with people of different beliefs? Where is this dichotomy taking us? My beliefs or yours; all or none. Is their room for diplomacy? We hope so. We owe it to our children. Their seeing adults being civil to each other is the only hope that the future will be better than the present.
Just a little something to ponder.............
Another thoughtful and timely post as we prepare to vote on Tuesday (for those who haven't voted early). I hope all will consider very carefully before casting their vote on Amendment One. I'm one "no".
Posted by: Jane Mitchell | Sunday, May 06, 2012 at 08:49 AM