Religion versus Belief

There is an intellectual game going on. The game is one where "religion" and "faith" are redefined as "belief". I have discussed this before. The freedom in the Constitution is a freedom of religion, not of belief. We are currently seeing an attack on religion, not by stopping it but instead by saying any belief can be a "religion". It is a backdoor way of undermining your freedoms.

Religion requires a belief in the afterlife. The freedom was guaranteed because people will die for their religion knowing that there is something greater to come. The freedom was guaranteed so that people would know that they could live in America and have the right to practice what they believed so dearly.

The Pilgrims came to America to practice their religion, they were willing to die to come here, they gave up everything they had. Now we are downgrading this type of faith to belief. A young lady in North Carolina was told that she could not have a nose piercing while in school, she said it violated her religion. She belongs to a "church" that believes body modification is an expression of self, they believe in no Deity, no God. This is not a religion.

Every belief is not a religion. I have no problem with saying that the girl is acting on her freedom of expression; but, they chose to call it a religion and that is simply a lie. Atheism is not a religion, it is a belief. The founding fathers knew the difference and that is why they talked about freedom of speech and expression.

It is the most cynical thing in the world to classify all beliefs as religious, it shows a true disregard for peoples faiths. Faith and religion are based on worship not like. Faith is not belief, the word used in the bible for faith means to rest your whole weight on, to risk everything for it. The same word used for faith in the old testament is used to describe leaning on a walking stick. It is about a faith that you rely on and act on, a trust that cannot be denied. I doubt this girl has faith in the nose piercing.

Father Damien was a priest who moved to a leper colony to help them when nobody else would. He contracted the disease and died. That man had faith. To compare some child who wants to wear a nose ring to Father Damien or someone who is truly living their faith is disgusting to me. It takes away from what people have done for real faith.

I disagree with her school telling her that she cannot have a piercing, that is a violation of her freedom of speech and of body. She is forced to go to school (and I have discussed this before), because the state requires her to go to school (a restriction on her rights in and of itself) it should be limited in what it can require of her in other ways. She has not violated societies laws.

There will be some who will attempt to compare the restriction on her body piercing to the outlawing of burqas in France, they are not the same and I have already discussed the burqas. Both are an attempt to obfuscate and confuse the real issues. In France it is about her religion and the media discussion is about clothing, in the United States the issue is about clothing and the media wishes to discuss religion.

Our ability to define words, to use them with precision denies the ability to make good judgements. The truth is that most people will read the article and take sides not based on what the Constitution meant; but, instead it will be based on how it effects them or how they feel about burqas or piercings. If we willing chip away at the constitution by ignoring it's intent we have no law.