It’s not just Indiana. In every state, there is a certain segment of society that feels a need to keep pushing and pushing to make government a vehicle for advancing their chosen religious beliefs.
Consider Missouri House Concurrent Resolution No. 13 which seeks to have the Missouri General Assembly resolve that the Founders recognized a Christian God, that the Missouri legislators recognize that a “Greater Power” exists, and that government displays of Christianity and prayer are Constitutional and the will of a majority of constituents.
What is this obsession with using government as a vehicle for religion? Our Founders were well aware of the history of government and religion and the suffering caused by the mix of the two. Most legislators and citizens today are not. Perhaps we should just trust our forefathers that mixing the two is a Bad Idea.
Democratic and republican government is about the people organizing themselves in such a way as to effectively govern themselves. It’s a bottom-up, self-contained operation. Established principles of conducting ourselves contained in our religious traditions should certainly be considered when legislating. But those principles should be considered based on whether they work or not and lead to a more perfect union. With respect to good governance, whether the principles were divinely inspired or not is completely beside the point.
In my ever so humble opinion, mixing government and religion serves only to diminish both government and religion.
If they recognize that a higher power exists, it shouldn’t be too much trouble for them to prove it, right?