On seperation of Church and State.

Subtitle:  
Bam!  Politics!

Just wanted to share this with you all.  This is a quote from an interview on This American Life, first broadcast in 2005 (so it is quite old but this man still advocates this).  I first heard this about a year ago and I just keep coming back to it so finally, I'm going to say something about it.  This is Rick Scarborough, a former Baptist preacher from Texas turned political campaigner explaining why he is against the separation of Church and State in America:

"I think the culture was better off when a woman - a young lady - who got pregnant out of wedlock was shamed.  It prevented such widespread sexual abuse, likewise with homosexuality.  I think our culture was a much better culture and a much more civil culture when homosexuality was generally agreed upon as a sinful act."  

The idea that this man advocates shame as - what? - a force for good just stuns me.  And shaming unmarried mothers did not prevent unmarried women from becoming pregnant, it led to a culture of adoption (frequently coerced) and decades of trauma for both the mother and child.  It led to women being isolated from their communities and parents.  It led to babies left abandoned on steps and in bins. I know so many Christians who would be appalled by these comments so I am in no way posting this to damn Christianity as a whole but simply to say, Rick Scarborough and others of your ilk, these comments are precisely the reason we should be rejoicing at the separation of Church and State.  Your views seem completely at odds with (what I was told were) the Christian ideals of compassion, love and forgiveness.  Not that I believe getting pregnant out of wedlock or being gay is something that requires forgiveness but you do because of your Christian teachings and so I would urge you to be retaught a more compassionate, generous reading of the Bible and one that is actually applicable to the society you are living in.  

The full episode is well worth listening to and can be found here: www.thisamericanlife.org/radio…