The Necessity of Secularism

While I was recently attending a class in my high school, a student brought up the subject of our secularist government (secularism is the political term used to describe the separation of church and state). She began to declare what she believed the United States would be like if all secularist principles were abolished and religion was suddenly government endorsed. Obviously in favor of a religious government, she began to argue how great a nation the United States would be if that religion was Mormonism. I respect this girl (which is part of the reason why I will not say her name), but I must contradict her argument and state why our nation must be secularist, even though I fear that some of my peers may feel differently.
The separation of church and state fully allows agency and freedom to exist in our nation. By that I mean that if government and religion were combined, many of our political ideals would be tainted. If the government were to support one religion, while leaving out the others, conflict and civil strife would almost certainly erupt due impart because of federal, state, and local prejudices. People would be discriminated against. Human rights violations would erupt left and right. I would even dare to say that another Civil War could possibly tear our country to pieces. The proof is everywhere in both history and in the world today. Even now, rumor of a civil war breaking out in Iraq between the Sunnis and the Shi’a is beginning to arise. This is simply because the Iraqis are used to an old government that favored one religion and suppressed the other. The ridiculous thing about this conflict is that both groups are Muslim- they are just different sects of it. History supports the importance of secularism, also. As one example, the Spanish reconquista in Spain during the late 15th century illustrates the “superiority” of one religion over all the rest only because the monarchs of that time were Catholic, and obviously endorsed that religion. The result was forced emigration, torture, war, and the massacring of thousands of Muslims and Jews. The problems of non-secularist governments continue in countries like Iran, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, even the Vatican City, and conflicts that have lasted for decades are still going on between Israel and Palestine, and other countries because of religion that is government endorsed. Think of how much more reasonable union on an international scale would be if all governments were to participate in and actively practice secularism. So many more conflicts would be solved and so many more lives would be saved if respectful secularism was a real resolution of every nation. However, at least for now and into the near future, I know that such a political ambition is, unfortunately, unrealistic. At least I can be happy that my country and still many others adhere to such idealistic principles!