Puritanism in America

I have been around for a long time and I have enjoyed watching the religious right wing zealots slowly lose their choke hold on individual freedoms. From the dark days of the fifties where you couldn't even say pregnant or show a toilet on TV to the present where you might even get the chance to see bare bosoms (even if only after ten PM) we have made great gains. However, these people are still out there waiting to pounce on your freedoms. There are constantly looking for a chance to rally their troops for the attack. I know this 'silent majority' can no longer be a majority and still they are influencing political leaders on both sides. I look in awe at the power they wield even now and you know the average age must be eighty. As I saw the congregations getting older, I foresaw them dying out and America becoming a truly free country. Of course, I was wrong and the only sense I can make from this is it must be, a 'circle the wagons' mentality. This tight grouping makes their numbers appear to be so strong, while freedom-loving people tend to splinter into different groups according to their individual ideas.

Let me just insert right here that I am not anti-church and I would fight for your right to worship as you please. That is, as long as my freedom is not compromised by your religion. I was raised in the church by two very religious parents and when they were alive, I would never argue religion with them. Once I was old enough to make my own decisions, I quit going to church and my parent accepted my choice. What I'm trying to say is if I choose a secular life that should be my right as much as going to church is yours. Now after saying that, where do I start? Does it bug you as much as me, to have a somber group of people knocking on your door to, 'talk to you about god.' It seems the only way you can get rid of them is to be rude. I believe they think politeness is a sign of weakness as they try to wear you down. Have you seen them at the bus stops? Now that is sadistic, here you are waiting for the bus and they're there preaching to the captive audience. It makes you wonder how these poor bus riders keep from going berserk and really doing damage to these street preachers. I know this sounds as I'm getting off target here but where do they get the right to take away my freedom to stand unmolested at a public bus stop? What about their children that they drag around with them, all dressed up in their little suits and dresses? This has to be at least close to child abuse, and yet has anybody done anything for these children, or are they afraid of offending the church?

I guess what bothers me the most with these zealots is that they lump what they call sin with morality. They say I can't commit a sin and be a moral person and that is where I disagree. I feel that I am moral, among other things, I believe in the 'golden rule', I believe in helping my fellow man, and I believe in trying to save the environment. However because I might smoke a little pot now and then and not only do I like some kinds of kinky sex I like to write about it even more. To the church, this makes me immoral and they don't care what I do for my fellow man or the universe. Unbelievably I still feel this is their right to believe this way but what I don't believe is that they have a right to make what I do against the law.

Abortion is another hot topic and I really hate to get into it but I must. Again, the churchers have made this a difficult subject to defend. Who can be pro-abortion, who can say they support the termination of pregnancies? To hear the pro-lifers you are nothing but baby-killers if you support the right of a woman to choose. Yet if you talk rationally, how can you not support a woman being able to choose if she wants to bring a child into this overcrowded world we live in. How could someone in his or her right mind say it's all right to murder somebody who works in a place where they perform abortions, it just ludicrous. I live close to a clinic that must perform or at least give counseling on abortions because there are protesters out in front almost every day. This is their right and there is no way I would deny them their protest. It is just if I happen to drive by and I see them berating some poor scared female I just want to jump out of my car and escort her inside. What a woman does with her pregnancy is her decision and hers alone. The father of the child, her parents, or even the church has no right to try to influence her. I not saying they can't give advice if asked but to push your beliefs on someone whose life will be forever changed by this decision has to be hers to make.

I realize this piece is going to get me a lot of hate mail but that is something I can live with. I have wrestled with all this for a long time now and I feel it is time to get it off my chest. As I have already stated I have no problem with people following any religion they feel comfortable with, my problem begins when people try to make me accept their beliefs and their beliefs alone.