2008 Woodie Awards
People see the world through their religion, attorney says
By Alan Nieschwietz
Last update: 5/17/06 at 8:20 AM CST
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This country has little separation between church and state, an attorney and a government professor agreed March 22 at a Hot Potato lecture. Only one of the two had a problem with it.
Taylor Boone, attorney and minister, and political science Professor Asslan Khaligh addressed a group of 85 students in the chemistry and geology building.
"It's my contention that there has never been a separation of church and state. ... It's like a pair of glasses: You tend to see the world through your religion," Boone said.
The phrase "separation of church and state" originated in a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to a minister and does not appear in the Constitution or any other founding documents, he said.
The Constitution prohibits only the establishment of a religion, which appears in the First Amendment.
Religion helps shape one's point of view, and he included atheism, which he said is the third largest religion in the U.S.
As an example, he told the audience he was going to court the next day to defend a homeless man who was arrested for sleeping on the sidewalk. "It's a law I believe to be sinful," he said.
Boone also questioned some practices in education when he asked, "Is there something wrong that says we can teach about voodoo in public schools, but we can't teach about Christianity?"
He also said religion has been used as a political power base.
Khaligh agreed there was no separation of church and state, but added, "I would like to see one, though."
He later asserted that "in the name of God, we have killed more people than communism, socialism and all of the other isms" combined. He did not explain this assertion.
Khaligh stressed as an individual practice, religion is "great," but combining it with politics takes it too far.
"We can find God in any matter and use it as a tool," he said, citing as examples the Iranian government and others claiming God is on their side.
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