Keep it in your house

I have been reading more and more articles in the news about this religious group decrying that religious group and about evangelical-types who want to mold our society to their values and ideals. It hurts my stomach to read these news pieces. Why is it okay to air your religious views in public as if they were as important as other political and social ideas? Whether or not you do or don't believe in god or you do or don't want jesus to be your friend should have nothing to do with whether children should have health care, the price of a barrel of oil, or how I live my life. I think that most people will agree that on a human level, politicians, athletes, movie stars, teachers, plumbers etc. in America all subscribe to the basic tenets that keep our society running somewhat smoothly: don't hurt other people, be as honest as possible, don't take things that aren't yours. I'll even concede that these tenets came from a moral, call it religious, base. Okay, we all agree with these, now let's work on how to make things better for everyone. Let's work to bring more tolerance and acceptance. If I want to believe that when I die, my body becomes dust and returns back to the Earth and that's it (which I do believe), or I want to worship a rubber chicken (which I don't), but I am kind and respectful of others, what the fuck is it to another person???

Do people in America realize that this type of religious one-upmanship is what causes civil strife? It's not okay to kill someone because he steals your lawnmower, but if he believes in a different form of "god", it is okay to persecute, limit and judge him? I cry foul! Don't want Mitt Romney to be governor because his jesus isn't yours? Think that the state has to be "returned to jesus" because you don't like the fact that two people who think differently from you love one another can make it legal?
Put that shit down.
Look around at the realissues like unemployment, rampant child abuse, particularly through the state-run DSS system, the lack of books in urban classrooms where the students are expected to pass "standard" tests, the cost of oil because we would rather financially support a war in a country where we cannot (or did not) begin to understand the people's needs from a cultural perspective before depositing thousands of our fellow citizens, many of whom, at 18-22 years old, are literally the future of our country, there to "defend" our "way of life". Which is what? The right to believe and practice what we feel is best for ourselves, again within certain sensible societal constructs? I have NO problem with people who love god, jesus, allah, buddha, that ol' rubber chicken, but there are places called meetinghouses/churches/temples where similarly-minded people are allowed to gather to celebrate that love. Don't bring it to the public court, statehouse, school, classroom, icerink and tell me that I have> to love him/her/it too, because that is an affront to my beliefs, which thanks to years of shed blood and passionate debate, I am allowed to exercise as fully as you.