Non-Religious Reasons: Part 1 - Separation of Church and State

I can't find the original, but these questions are attributed to maswartz:

I honestly think people forget that the church and state are supposed to be separate. Give me one non-religious reason against same sex marriage. One non-religious reason against stem cell research. One non-religious reason against safe abortions. Go ahead.

Enough of my friends have been sharing this lately that I thought I'd take the time to actually write down the reasons rather than just thinking, 'Just one? Okay.'

Before we jump into the specific questions, we need to address the larger issue first: Separation of Church and State.

You need merely type the phrase into Google and it will reveal to you (from Wikipedia) that:

1. It's not actually part of any official government documentation, but rather is a phrase from a letter written by Jefferson.
2. The text from the First Amendment specifically restricts the State establishing a religion...
3. and prohibits the government interfering with religious expression.

In other words: The idea is that government must not interfere with religious experience whatsoever. It says nothing about religious people being part of the State or their involvement with government.

And when it comes to questions of marriage, research, and terminating a fetus ("an unborn human baby more than eight weeks after conception") I plan to show that the State has at least one non-religious reason to be concerned. Moreover, for those who want greater separation between government and religion, you have my wholehearted agreement if you've read the above and think, "Sheesh, yeah, let's stop having the government infringe on religious practice."

Even if you don't agree, I urge you to click here to move on to the non-religious reason against same sex marriage.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester