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Exemplification Essay: Separation of Church and State

Decent Essays

Because of my strong beliefs, I have been called the Antichrist, a witch, an atheist, and a Satanist. Fervent Christians have told me that my “kind” is solely responsible for the downfall of American morals.

Actually, none of these labels fits me. I am not a witch because the only modern religion to practice witchcraft is Wicca (American Heritage 1381), and I am not a Wiccan. I am not a Satanist because modern Satanists do not believe in Satan as an actual entity; instead, they follow a "religion of the self," as the founder of the Church of Satan, Anton LaVey, put it. (LaVey 1) Satanists also belong to an organization such as the Church of Satan or the Temple of Set, and I do not belong to any such organization. I do not …show more content…

In practice, however, this is not the case. Many laws and governmental practices impose the morality of a group of people on the people in general. For instance, "blue laws," which are slowly disappearing from the law books of cities and counties across the United States, are passed to keep people from doing business on Sunday, in order to preserve the observance of the Sabbath. (Blue Laws 13-5) Until it is proven that young children or other members of society are harmed by what consenting adults do behind closed doors, any law prohibiting sexual acts between those consenting adults can only have a religious motivation. Similarly, tax breaks for married couples that are not given to non-married couples living together are religiously motivated, and the tax-exempt status of churches also blurs the line between Church and State. If churches are tax exempt because they provide guidance and spirituality in people's lives, then 1-900 psychic lines should also be tax exempt businesses; if churches are exempt only because they provide people with something to do on Sundays, then movie theaters should be tax exempt also.

One common justification that people, such as Pat Buchanan, who attempt to legislate Christianity use is that the founding fathers of our country were Christian, so the Declaration of Independence and

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