I get a kick out of self-styled “liberals” like radio talk show host Shannyn Moore, who preaches the conventional “wall of separation between church and state.”

Now, that sounds nice, but what do you do when the state becomes a church? Some 20 years ago, a local headline writer got it right in a news story about President George H.W. Bush’s congratulating Jerry Prevo for his anniversary as head of the Anchorage Baptist Temple. The headline writer said that Prevo had heard from a “higher power.” When churches align themselves more and more with politicians and political movements, one wonders at what point the politicians replace God as the “higher power” to be worshipped. What happens when the politicians’ policies directly contradict people’s religion? Which takes priority?

I marvel at the faith people have in our military and the extent to which people will take sides with the generals and admirals when the common grunts point out the obvious—these big shots stay in power only to the extent to which they suck up to the politicians. The message I hear constantly is “Support our troops” when they go to war and support the bureaucracy when the troops come back and object to being denied veterans’ benefits and being stop-lossed again and again. I don’t blame the generals and admirals. But I recognize them for what they are—politicians’ puppets. Yet people continue to fawn over the puppets.

I get a kick out of those folks who say Iraq had weapons of mass destruction because the government says it did and bombing Iraqis and Afghans is fighting terrorism because the government says it is. Most of the Catholics I know don’t have that much faith in the pope.

I get a kick out of those folks who accuse you of “blaming America” if you dare criticize the state. Apparently, such folks think America isn’t the American people but instead, America is the state. I get a kick out of folks who complain about taxes but defend the IRS when it goes after people who don’t agree with their politics.

Several years ago, I sent the editor of this paper a letter opposing the military’s proposal to lie to the media about the progress of the war in Iraq. I pointed out lying is a sin. So a guy from Palmer wrote back and said not lying would be a sin. That direct contradiction of what the nuns taught be back in St. Ephrem’s amazed me. The guy didn’t like it when I pointed out the communist doctrine that the state determines what is moral and immoral according to the state’s interest. That’s similar to the former administration’s position that waterboarding isn’t torture because the state says it isn't.

In the old days, we believed in objective truth--things are either right or wrong period. But nowadays, we have the doctrine that the truth is what the state says it is, churches have no right to judge the morality of the actions of the state, and only the state is qualified to judge the moral behavior of the state.

In the old days we believed that human rights come from God, not the state. But, now the state only has to say, “national security” and “9/11 changes everything” and decides what rights it will allow you and me to have, depending on our political ideology and religious beliefs.

The attitude of the state and its blind supporters today reminds me of an actor known for his inflated ego who used to say back in 1961, “You’re an atheist; you don’t believe in me.”

Next time, a third secular “religion,” militarism.