Church and State - the other side of the coin

I went to a presentation last night given by my nutrition professor, Dr. Mohey Mowafy, on Islam; "Islam and the World."

The things that we discussed have been bouncing around my head, and this morning I had an epiphany:

I have always thought of the function of separation of church and state to be to protect the people from being forced to practice a state's religion. This morning, I suddenly saw the other side of the coin --

*Separation of church and state also protects the religion from being hijacked by the politics of a state.*

Over and over again, probably as long as there have been religions, people have usurped and corrupted the message of religion to bolster an otherwise unpopular political cause.

Last night Mowafy said, "Islam is a religion of compassion and peace; a deeply spiritual, prayerful religion. The suicide bombers, the kidnappers, the torturers -- that is not Islam. That is politics. That is men using Islam to gain power."

What I do not understand is why the United States would play into this type of dynamic. When Bush calls the people who are using Islam for their own political agenda "evil", he is playing into *their* agenda. His label "axis of evil" only inflames ignorance and prejudice, and subverts the Christian message of tolerance and love for our fellow men.

If Bush's aim was to use Christianity's intolerance for Islam as a tool to go to war, it has succeeded on many levels. Many, many people across the US fear and hate Muslims. What I still don't understand is why Bush thought that a war in Iraq would be good for him, his political party, the people he represents or the people of Iraq.

for my nutrition class

( a couple of recipes )