Des DownUnder On Sundays ( Well Tuesday- bit late eh?)

Attacking the Protection of Freedom

By Desmond Rutherford | ADELAIDE -- Almost since the days of Stonewall and the decriminalisation of homosexuality between consenting adults, I have been amongst those who have warned that historically, countries which accepted or tolerated same sex relationships have with rare exception eventually introduced or reintroduced anti-gay laws. This is one of the main reasons why recognition of  same sex marriage is so important. If the state recognises the right of those couples to consent to marrying each other, they attract all the social recognition and benefits of marriage, and it becomes extremely difficult to deny their equality in the secular state.

However, there is a real threat from those forces who disapprove of human rights equality, because of their beliefs, religious or otherwise.

That threat is not solely aimed at the LGBTQ community, it has much larger number of targets and a wider agenda. The very core of the foundation of the U.S. Constitution is under attack, and it seems that the attackers relate very favourably to those who have encouraged Uganda and Nigeria, to mention just two nations, in their terrifying anti-gay legislation.

The real concern, additional to the anti-gay intolerance, is a call to amend the Constitution; even to rewrite it, amounting to little more than a theocracy under which any religion could claim supremacy. 

Think for a moment of the lurch to Right-wing extremist conservatism, observable in so many nations, including Australia, and Russia, as well as the Bible Belt in the U.S.  Reports of calls for a rewrite of the Constitution are very worrying, and if you think they could not succeed then you probably thought that the Tea Party-Republicans wouldn't obstruct the Democrats or the President as they have done since President Obama took office.

Whatever its flaws, whatever its failures to realise legislation that reflects its ideals, the U.S. Constitution is the world's safeguard for individual freedom from religious persecution, whilst maintaining the right to individual opinion. Removing the freedom of, and from, religion is very dangerous, but so too, is the assumption that such freedom favours one religion over others.

For the sake of whatever belief or non-belief has taken your fancy, we need to encourage a massive turnout at the forthcoming midterm elections to quell the ability of those who would rewrite one of the few documents that stops the world from plunging into another horrifying dark age of ignorance and primitive stupidity.

It may not be the separation of Church and State, in the current analysis, that is as important as the separation of Religion and hate.