Quote Originally Posted by tedteague View Post
I'm going to offer a new perspective here on this whole "church and state" that seems to be popping up.
America has a democracy (for the sake of staying on topic, let's just suppose this is true) or a democratic republic, but the point is the same
No, the situation is NOT the same. The US is NOT a Democracy, but a Democratic Republic, by design.

A democracy is defined as citizens determining the public policy of their own nation: a majority will win
If the majority happens to be religious, then why is it not within the limits of the US Constitution to impliment religious social policy? That's the democratic thing to do.
Which is why we are a Democratic Republic. We elect leaders who are expected to make sure the country does the RIGHT thing, despite what the majority might think. And by the right thing, we mean constitutionally right. Let's face it, if we had to abide strictly by the majority then blacks would still be forbidden to vote or intermarry, women would not be permitted to vote, non-Christians would not be allowed to hold office, etc. It's because in the past our leaders had the strength of character to do what was RIGHT instead of what the majority wanted that America has a fair measure of equality today.

For example, I'm sure Thorne here would be all about pro-choice, and would say that a minority of right-wing religious fundamentalists are out to restrict the proceedure, but if we go by a recent poll, where 59% of americans identify as pro-life, then they should get to determine the public policy that says "no abortions"
Yes, I am pro-choice. And despite what they claim, the anti-abortion groups are not pro-life, but pro-forced-birth. Many of them would ban abortions under any circumstances, even when the life of the mother is in jeopardy. And another example of where the majority can be wrong, taking away the rights of women to control their bodies for the sake of POTENTIAL humans.