You can live your life as religious as you’d like; just let me live my life without religion

Allow me to preface this by stating that I’m not religious. I don’t subscribe to Christianity, or Islam, or Buddhism, or Hinduism, or anything. The things I say here can and should be applied to all religions across the globe.

With that out of the way, I am sick and tired of seeing bigotry and hatred being justified by religion. Because seriously, it is an absolutely massive problem this country has been facing for decades. I understand a ton of people’s moral compass is at least partially influenced by their religious beliefs, and that is fine. Hell, you can be actively homophobic because your god says so. Sure, I’ll literally never willingly interact with you but as long as you’re not actively harassing, marginalizing, attacking, or bothering people who are gay, it’s totally fine. Your acceptance of something does not and will never influence what someone else does. As long as you can accept that, believe whatever you want.

The problem arises when people, especially politicians, use these beliefs to legislate and determine the lives of other people.

So let me propose a hypothetical for all of you out there. Imagine for a moment that perhaps the United States isn’t run and governed with a Christian focus. Perhaps the country is run by totally secular left-leaning politicians. Now, maybe those people start illegalizing marriage, because maybe they believe that it’s a Christian practice, and their religious beliefs clash with Christianity’s. That’s messed up right? Totally unconstitutional. So why can Christian politicians legislate the existence of gay and trans people? It’s the exact same situation.

When it comes down to their reasoning for their dislike of LGBTQIA+ folks, it’s because it makes them uncomfortable. It’s just “yucky” to them. But that doesn’t mean they should legislate against it.

Essentially, what I’m trying to say is that regardless of your religious beliefs, people deserve to live the life that makes them happy. I don’t get to propose legislation that discriminates against you because my religion says so, so you don’t get to do the same thing.

Braedon Martin is a Hutchinson sophomore studying journalism. He is the Collegian’s Opinion Page Editor and Managing Editor for Design

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