Freedom of Religion

Do not tell me what to do.

     In America, people fear Sharia law. We are paranoid of it. People here are so fearful of Muslims taking over our country. 

     We see people being beheaded. We see people being burned and drowned alive. All because of Sharia law? ISIS is not following the Quran. They are even murdering people who are Muslims. If one does not have a beard and is not in the company of a male guide the person is punished. They hung children for eating during Ramadan for Christ sake! 

     What about us though? Did our ancestors not murder those who were not Christian? Did we not lynch those who followed a different faith? Think Native Americans. Think witch hunts. In America, we are supposed to have freedom of religion. Many think it means forcing others to follow their faith. What exactly is freedom of religion when we do not have that freedom to practice whatever faith that we want? Is this not why people fled other countries? 

     Women are supposed to be free here. We have the right to smoke. We have the right to wear pants. We have the right to vote. Do we have the right to our own body? No. What is shocking that some women try to restrict women's rights. We have the health care reform that grants us access to free birth control and exams, but there are people trying to deny the rights we were granted. 

     I wrote to the Idaho government once about how they should allow abortion because it is a woman's right. I received a letter back stating that he was against it because of his religious beliefs. Really? What about my religious right to not follow your faith? The matter of church and state should remain separate. 

     Planned Parenthood is in danger of being de-funded and shut down because people are too ignorant. People believe that Planned Parenthood is strictly for those who are seeking an abortion. Really? I went in for my yearly exam at Planned Parenthood and you are telling me that I went in for an abortion each of those times. Not to mention that the one in the state of Idaho does not provide any support for abortion; they charge too much money for everything they do and they refer you to a different doctor when you can't afford their services. You are an idiot. 

     Then we have religious zealots trying to control the pharmacy. Thankfully, the morning after pill does not require a pharmacist. Before it was over the counter and a pharmacist believed that they can deny this pill. They do not care if someone was raped. They do not care about the humans who were born. They only care about the fetus. They want to create as many fetuses as possible and not take care of anything after the birth. 

     They even made it challenging to prevent anyone access to birth control...and condoms. In Emmett, Idaho, condoms were locked up in a glass cabinet. It is not simply a matter of protecting life. In most cases, they are not protecting a life at all. They are merely protecting their religious belief and trying to run the community with it. There is a law against fornication in Idaho that was written in the 1920's. In the 1990's, they enforced the laws on teenagers. In addition to violating religious rights of others, they are also committing agism. 

     So, same gender marriage was legalized. "Christians" are chastising those who have gained these rights. Again, they are being judgmental when they do not have that right. There were a couple of things that dawned on me when Kentucky was threatening jail time for Kim Davis. 

     If you think about it, Christians are also being attacked in America. They may not be getting murdered by those who feel threatened by them. Which does make us look different than ISIS. The thing is that Davis was arrested because of what she believes in. It is not simply because she broke the law. If she is not fulfilling her position, she should simply lose her position. 

     If someone in the state of Idaho replace an elected official for not fulfilling his or her position, why can't Kentucky? If an elected official thinks they can attack others because of their religious belief, why can't they be replaced before the next election? If we were doing this, it would mean that Butch Otter would be replaced. This would probably remove a great deal of stress from Idahoans. 

     People try so hard to butt into someone else's business. They are being so judgmental when I thought God was the only judge. ISIS is trying to play the role of God; guess what that makes these people? There is a witch going on in Iraq and Syria. ISIS just kills to kill. I am certain that the people they accused as gay men were probably not even gay. ISIS is on a mission to bring Nazis from the dead. 

     I am not against providing anyone rights at all. I believe that a woman should do what she wants. Gay people should do what they want. Everyone should have the right to get married. Everyone should have the right to their own religious beliefs. 

     We shouldn't be afraid of Sharia law. It was already here. Sharia law is the foundation of Islamic law and what we are doing is very similar. People are trying to enforce laws based on Christian belief. This is restricting the rights in general for everyone. It is restricting the religious rights who are not Christian.