Religion and politics - should it be separated?

There is a lot going on in our politics nowadays, isn't it? One thing is the matter of religion and politics. I think we need to look back in history. What brought all the people over here from Europe? I do not want to go into deep history, but we all know that many came because they had no religious freedom and just arrived with a Bible in their hand.

The Bible was the only thing to hold on to for them during the first settlements, often families left behind far away in Europe. There was no phone and no email to make us feel a bit closer to each other and to make this world a bit smaller. So, all they had was their Bible, faith and God. I see this as some sort of foundation of this country, because that is what gave those people the strength to build this country.

Then look through history and look at all the presidents. Was there any one in those old days who did not live by the Bible. Yes, they still might have made mistakes and have sinned. Still there is no doubt that their faith was a big part of who they were and how they made decisions for the country.

Now take a peek outside the US and let's take a brief look into other countries of the world....Look around yourself. Do you think there is any political figure, any king, dictator whatever...who is not influenced by their faith? Can you really separate the political figure from their own belief, from who they are, which means also being a christian, hindu, muslim etc...?

I believe separating these two is nearly impossible. What makes it difficult in this country is the mixed cultures - not many other countries have such a wide range of cultures to deal with. But I think the problem is in our thinking or believing we have to make it right for everyone. Can we make it right for everyone? No, never. Can we respect other believes? Absolutely.

Is there any other country that adapts and adapts over and over again towards other beliefs coming into their country from other places? No, they remain a country of their origin beliefs, while respecting other religions. But they stay firm in what kind of nation they are and what belief is woven into their culture.

This is where we need to learn to stand up - we are a Christian nation. There is no shame in it, nothing to be embarrassed about. Yes, we also have some atheists, as every other nation has. That is their choice - but they should respect the foundation of the country and not try to destroy it.

The laws have made it complicated, by allowing other religious groups to make it an issue, like in no other country. They take advantage of our liberal rights in the wrong ways. I read of stories where people want crosses that were standing there for years to be torn down out of a sudden because it "offends" them; schools are no longer allowed to pray in the morning, because it was offensive to some who were non-christian. These are attacks that should never have taken place in first place - it shows disrespect for this nation and disrespect for other religions and beliefs. They want attention for their religious concerns and supposedly "offended" feelings, but show little respect for those they "offend" by taking the crosses down or no longer allowing prayers in school.

It is obvious to me that something is out of tune with our religion. While we can respect other religions and by law have to - the basic foundation of our christian belief which helped the first settlers is questioned. Does that sound right? Not to me. Something is wrong here, very wrong. And that is why more and more people have problems with other religions, because they finally see and realize that this is drifting out of control. Muslims try to tell our country what to do and how etc, they want to carry on their laws in this country, a christian country. Off course it colides - but who has to make adjustments?

The country is a christian one - and you have to accept that and work your way around it if you choose to live here. It starts with the language. I can tell from my personal experience - if I had chosen not to learn English - insisted on my mother language - I would not have gotten very far. If some other foreigners come here, they get everything presented in their mother language and never have to learn the language of this country. I adjusted because I chose to live in this country and to adjust to it.

I don't think there would be many issues with other beliefs in this country if the foundation of the christian religion would not be offended by others, and if the respect for our religion would be supported and defended by the government. It is still possible to respect other religions, but it is not the responsibility of a nation to make all kind of adjustments in our christian lifestyle just to make it right for others. The other religions have to adjust and respect - so that we are able to respect each other and live peacefully side by side.

We respect so many religions here and have very little issues with them, even though we know very little about them. But they adapted and respect this country and don't judge our christian foundation, neither do they question it.

Different story when it comes to Muslim. I understand that since 9/11 the Muslims don't have a good spot in this country, a terrible thing that happened and we connect it with the Muslim, because it was caused by Muslim. We still should not forget, that not every Muslim represents what happened. We also need more education on Muslim, because there are differences. We need to distinguish what happened - it was not all Muslims. I know it is hard and the more you see and hear about other Muslim countries - it is harder, but I still believe there are also good Muslims.

I actually spent some time to get a better understanding about the Koran. It was interesting to learn that the true Koran is so very different from what influences our political turmoils. I was actually very surprised to learn how respectful the true Koran is. But what we see daily on the news does not reflect that and very few are educated enough to learn that there are two different groups of Muslim. It does not make things better, the news won't look more optimistic either, but maybe it opens your mind a bit more, not to judge just by what you see on the news.

And these news again show...other nations politics are influenced by their religion. "In God we trust" - everybody knows these words. And now they are becoming a political issue. Why? Do you really think politics and religion will ever be separated? I am even going that far to say, that I believe that right now especially with all the turmoil and pressure on religion, people are longing back to the old days when our religion was not questioned at all. They want it back in place like it was before - they want it to be part of our politics, because that is the foundation of the country. Back to the roots.

Back to where politics and religion worked hand in hand. And it still can work these days. It does not mean that the government can judge and decide what we believe in or not, but it can help to get the country back on solid ground when it comes to religion. I even believe in can give a president strength to be a good leader, if you are serious and work hand in hand with the bible and a broad open mind and respect for other religions and the non-believer.