Evangelism and My Freedoms

For evangelicals, "born again" Christians, the ultimate religious authority is the Bible. Evangelicals feel that they have a mission to convert others to Christ, whom they believe is the sole means for salvation from eternal damnation through the forgiveness of sins by none other than the deity who created the universe and still rules it today. I am not an "evangelical". I believe there are many paths to salvation, or not, all being equally valid.

Evangelicals are free under our national Constitution to hold and to act on their religious beliefs. They are free to attempt to get others to accept their religious ideas based on their literal interpretation of the Bible. They are free to proselytize when invited, but not when unbidden. An example of the latter is their effort to promote and introduce the teaching of creationism as real science into public schools. To prevent this unwanted intrusion of a religious-based pseudo-science into our public schools, public advocacy of literal interpretations of the Bible should be banned. Evangelicals should not be free to spread their biblical nonsense, which is no more free speech than yelling "Fire" in a crowded, dark theater.

Evangelical, fundamentalist Christians cannot be stopped from interpreting the Bible literally, but they should be stopped from attempting to impose through public policy decisions the faulty ideas that result from their literal interpretation of the Bible on others. If an evangelical is elected to a legislative post and they vote for their religious beliefs, they violate the time-honored separation of church and state.

Simply put, the Constitution guarantees my right not to hear their evangelical B.S. and protects my right to freedom from their religion.