Saxon Road Church

The Empowering of Religion in America Post 9/11

The September 11 attacks on America shocked our country into dealing with the fact that radical factions of Islam have gained control over governments in Arab countries. The solution sought by America and its allies is the right one - put government back in the hands of the people. This solution by itself, however, cannot cure the root problem, which is a breakdown of the separation between religion and government.

Separation between religion and government is essential to world peace, not because religion is evil, but because each of the world's great religions have powerful people within who would use their religion to do horrendous evil. Once power is in the hands of the people, the real danger is that people will give that power to those who claim to be guided by God, who will only lead them down a path of destruction.".

What is good and what is evil? Throughout the history of the world, good has often meant oppressing women, discriminating against minorities, and punishing people who break religious laws. All we have to do to realize this is look around the world today and see the evil that is wrought when this form of religion prevails.

In America, where Christianity is predominant, people should understand that there is just as much of a potential for religious people with evil intentions to prevail as is the case in countries where Islam or Judaism dominate the religious landscape. The reason is that the roots of each of these faiths trace back to the religious laws given by Moses. Not that the Law of Moses is evil - they just don't understand the purpose Moses had in giving it.

The books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy tell the story of how God took the essence of religious and moral laws devised by mankind since the beginning of time and gave them to Moses to present to the people. Then he had Moses make them choose whether they wanted to be like God, who is full of mercy, loving-kindness, and righteous judgment, or continue to follow after what was righteous in their own eyes.

According to Moses, the people continued to sacrifice animals, stone women caught in adultery, judge one another over immorality and do according to all the religious and moral laws he gave them. So, he told them before he died that God had set before them life and death, and they chose death.

It is ironic that America is reacting to attacks from religious fanatics abroad by giving our own religious extremists more influence over government. There are two sides to the coin when it comes to the war on terrorism. We must first work to turn power over to the people in countries where oppressive religious leaders have gained autonomy, and hope that they do not give it back to religious zealots. At the same time, we must make sure that we ourselves are not overtaken by our own religious extremists who would impose their religious views upon all.