I was linked to this video on an Interfaith community in Livejournal. You NEED to see this documentary. It's long, I know. But you will be rivetted. Make the time one evening, sit down, and watch it.
I don't care if you're 80 or 14, you need to see it. I'm not an American, and I am still so glad I saw it. (And ever more glad that I live in a secular country. New Zealand is nowhere near as religious-right as America.) Even if you know separation of church and state inside out, you will enjoy this.
You will see and hear from some of the most intelligent, open-minded, and fantastic Christians there are. These people are the sort that set the most amazing example for Christianity. These people need to be shared with the world.
You will learn about what some of the organizations supporting separation feel are essential parts of the constitution, and their main points that they want to ensure are upheld.
There are comments from actors that I am genuinely happy to see. Michael J. Fox is there, and he always makes me feel a bit teary. But there are others as well. Now, I certainly don't think you should do something because an actor does. But the fact that they took the time to do it is something valuable.
Patrick Stewart gets a fair mention. When I started watching the video I honestly thought that they were going to go with the main faiths and kinda gloss over Pagan faiths in order to keep the fundies happy so that they could get their point across with the minimum of fuss. They did not. I was genuinely surprised to see them put a focus on Patrick Stewart, and much pleased. They did not come out guns blazing. They treated it with the calm respect as they did the rest of the program. Roberta did very well, and it occurred to me while watching it exactly how much she did for the Pagan community. We have a tendency to take such people for granted sometimes, I think. Big ups, Roberta. You did it with class. Thanks.
Something that I found moving was actually a speech by a preacher. I'm not going to spoil it for you. It's a ways in, but you will enjoy it. He spoke about abortion and pro-choice, and the "sermon" was actually quite beautiful. Really it was. Jesus didn't even get a mention. It kinda touched on Women's Mysteries from a Christian perspective and I think it was fantastic. Go and show it to all your female Christian friends. Some of them may disagree with what he says, but personally I think it's wonderful.
I really do think that they should show this in schools. It highlights important issues that affect kids in school - in fact, the first guest they have is a guy whose history teacher was preaching in class. The guy (whose name I forget) said to himself "this isn't okay", and he stood up and tried to do something about it. He didn't even sue, because he said it wasn't about the money, and certainly it wasn't. Anyway, it's relevant.
It talks about evolution, explains how it's not "just a theory" and how one can be religious and still support sound science, which I think is important to stress, because a great many people seem unaware of this fact.
Plus, there are too many people out there, many of them young, who dislike all Christians based on the fact that they seem to be bible-bashing religious nuts with only one braincell between them. The fact that the two men who run these organisations supporting separation of church and state are not only Christians, but reverends. should help to dislodge this conception of Christians as hateful idiots. To Christian-haters, these men are blatant evidence that Christians can be, and often are, insightful, intelligent, open-minded and genuine people. To young Christians, some of whom may be somewhat angry themselves, who may in fact represent the more bigoted or ignorant form of Christian, one can say "these men went to religious school. They studied, they had faith, they are reverends. They are good Christians, but importantly, they are good people. They stand up not only for their own faith, but for the faiths of others - and for the rights of those who choose to have no faith."
Seriously, watch the video. It's good.