For a moment I'd like you to forget about the Constitution, about original intent, about case law and about the Supreme Court. I'd like you to forget about offended minorities and outraged majorities. I'd like you to forget about anything anyone has ever said and to set aside, if you can, the passion that instantly surrounds words like Christian, Jew, atheist or agnostic. And reason with me, for a few hundred words, about religion and government. For a moment I'd like you to forget about the Constitution, about original intent, about case law and about the Supreme Court.
Government is a necessary evil.
Because we are not yet a collection of responsible individuals, we need government. We extend to it a portion of our natural right of self defense and allow government to use force to punish us for physically harming each other. Coercion is government's lone unique quality. But the sword is a seductive device. Many ambitious humans who do not possess the skill or the patience to lead free people by consent have succumbed to the shortcut of force.