Remember Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Puritan society in his novel, The Scarlet Letter? Poor Hester Prynne violated the laws of the church, which meant that she broke society’s laws, too. At the beginning of the novel, the reader joins Hester as she leaves the safety of the town prison and makes her way back into the society that jailed her. Reading the book for the first time in the 11th grade, I had a hard time understanding how, in a free society, the religion of one group could also form its judicial system. That makes the laws of God the same thing as the laws of man. Separation of church and state was also an 11th grade U.S. history lesson, so we students figured no more Hesters could be jailed for breaking the laws of her religion . Or so we thought. We fought a war 250 years ago to separate the colonies from a king who was not only ruler of the government but leader of the church. A quick walk through British history shows what a mess that ideal leads to: remember Henry VIII
In the last 2 weeks Nancy Pelosi and the House of Representatives Democrats have passed a number of bills detailed below: HR 8373 - Right to Contraception Act - this bill that protects an individual's ability to access contraceptives, engage in contraception, and protects a health care provider's ability to provide contraceptives, contraception, and information related to contraception. HR 8404 - Respect for Marriage Act - this bill protects same-sex and interracial marriages. HR 8296 - Women's Health Protection Act of 2022 - Prohibits federal, state, and local governmental restrictions on the provision of, and access to, abortion services HR 8297 - Ensuring Access to Abortion Act of 2022 - this bill that prohibits anyone acting under state law from interfering with a person's ability to access out-of-state abortion services. HR 6538 - Active Shooter Alert Act of 2022 - this bill that requires a designated officer of the Department of Justice act as the national