Getting Government Back In Our Religious Lives

ONE OF AMERICA'S CHRISTIAN LEADERS, Warren Jeffs, leads his congregation of thousands from the inside of his jail cell, wherefrom he rules, as ever, with an iron hand. Perhaps his keepers consider it amusing, and allow it, or perhaps Jeffs has a battery of hot shot Christian attorneys ensuring his God given constitutional rights. Several years ago, you'll recall, the feds busted the reverend Jeffs for, shall we say, "dallying" with teenaged American females, and the reverend will thus be, let us say, "away" for a spell. This unfortunate state of affairs appears not to faze his faithful flock, demonstrating, for the millionth time, the mortal origins and subjectivity of all human religiosity. If you happen to move to Colorado City, Arizona, and choose not to join Warren Jeff's church of Latter Day Saints, a Mormon knock off, forget about making friends, being accepted, finding a job, or given a chance. (might be best not to move there at all). A totally church run town, inside and out, like a little fiefdom, or separate kingdom, on American soil. There's where the feds come in, again. Uncle Sam has the church in federal court for civil rights violations, and they mean business, as usual. If it is legal in America for a church to own, control, and govern a whole town on American soil, then by definition Congress has allowed a religion to be established within government, which violates the first amendment. Case closed, one would think. I don't know about you, but I am tremendously comforted by Washington sticking its nose into this quagmirac private religious matter, in defense of freedom and the U.S. Constitution. To hell with getting government out of our lives. Better government than a nest of religious fanatical nuts. Warren jeffs might end up getting another life term, which probably wouldn't matter one whit to him; he's in charge, and in the hooskal, either way, with nothing but time, legal resources, and a church to run. As for the rest of us, particularly including his church members; we all might want to consider deep sixing the twisted, ritualistic nonsense, relegate all the dug up gold tablets, scientology, and reliquaries to history's proverbial dust bin, and embark on careers of spiritual individualism.