I saw this in the news today. Like the case of the woman in Saudi Arabia, this is sure to have lots of Americans wringing their hands in rightful indignation.

What's darkly funny, however, is that a lot of people who will condemn this vocally (and don't get me wrong, I DO condemn it) are folks that want to see America made a "Christian nation", as they will tell you it started as, officially. Many more are supporters of the Iraq war, which is also laughable.

They will tell you that this is why Islam is a "gutter religion." I say it is exactly why NO religion should be in any government whatsoever.

After all, does anyone with any objectivity in the matter actually believe that if the separation of church and state were removed, that this could not happen here?

Look at the things that HAVE happened here. Slavery. Women as second class citizens. Jim Crow. The Japanese-American prison camps. The weakening of the Bill of Rights. The loss of habeus corpus, the very cornerstone of liberty. Terrorist bombings on American soil, mostly by Americans, and many by Christians.

The fact is, anything, be it good or evil, can happen here. There is no such thing as "It can't happen here." People who say that are not just wrong - they are lying, and they know it.

I have no doubt whatsoever that if this becomes an official "Christian nation", we'll see similar things happen here. Perhaps not flogging, but what religious country is NOT going to outlaw disrespect for their God? Do we think that the same people who get upset every year because December is not strictly about Christmas will not stick you in jail for a week or so for saying "Happy Holidays" instead of Merry Christmas? Is it so unlikely that church attendence would become mandatory?

I mean, it must be what these people want. There are already laws against Biblical wrongs such as murder, theft, and perjury - those things that harm others. What else would the religious right want in tearing down this wall, if not  mandated respect for their religion, and  all Commandments codified into law? What other point could there possibly be to this excercise? What else do they have to gain by it?

And Iraq  now has a more Sharia-based government than it had four years ago, thanks to us.  Sure, we saved them  from Sadaam, only to turn them over to someone worse - themselves. Many of the people who claim that this is exactly what we're fighting against will miss the fact that this is exactly what we've helped to spread.

So while I think that the sentence - hell, the law itself - is a travesty, I must argue against those that will see this as an example of Christianity's superiority over Islam. People are people, and religious people are religious people. If we had no separation between our government and religion, we'd have the same type of laws here. 

To put it succinctly, "There but by the grace of the Founding Fathers go we." I really wish more people could appreciate that.