Considering that I’m not religious, I find myself often dealing with religious questions and not from a negative standpoint. I suppose that’s because I often find myself aligned with religious people; perhaps, I can best explain the dichotomy by explaining that I share their values, but not their beliefs.

In addition to which, I despise the atheistic activists. If someone chooses not to believe in God, that’s his inalienable right as an American. But when he takes to the courts to impose his non-belief on others, I will oppose him with my dying breath.

It was only recently that I discovered that the war on religion in this country took a turn for the worse on June 25, 1962. That was the date that the Supreme Court weighed in with a decision in the case of Engel v. Vitale.

The case had been brought by a some of the parents of students attending New Hyde Park, a public school in the Herricks Union Free School District. “Engel” was Steven I. Engel, the Jewish father of one of the public school children. “Vitale” was William J. Vitale, the school board president.

In the final vote, with Justices Felix Frankfurter and Byron White abstaining, Chief Justice Earl Warren, together with Hugo Black, William O. Douglas, Tom C. Clark, John M. Harlan and William J. Brennan, ruled in favor of the plaintiff. Only Potter Stewart had the good sense to write a dissenting opinion, contending that the Establishment Clause was originally written to abolish the idea of a state-sponsored church, and not to stop a non-mandatory “brief non-denominational prayer.”

The school prayer, itself, is all of 24 words long: “Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our country. Amen.”

In case you’re interested, three of the justices who voted the wrong way had been appointed by Eisenhower, two by FDR, one by Truman. The two who abstained were installed by FDR and JFK. Stewart had been appointed by Eisenhower, which suggested that Ike wasn’t totally out to lunch when it came to the all-important presidential responsibility of seating justices capable of reading and comprehending the U.S. Constitution.

It’s been over 57 years since the Court blew this decision, which provided the Left with the basis for its lies about “the separation of church and state” existing anywhere in the Constitution.

As I have written elsewhere, I have no objection to people believing in the divine birth of Jesus Christ because it helps them and doesn’t harm me. But as a non-believer, I would be more likely to recognize the divine nature of George Washington.

I paid a recent visit to the doctor who oversees my rheumatoid arthritis and remembered to have my height checked out. It’s something I hadn’t done in at least 10 years. It seems I am now a smidgen over 5'5". I used to 5'7". It seems to me that if I live long enough, I won’t die exactly, I’ll simply disappear.

Speaking of death, it occurred to me that there can be extenuating circumstances for killing someone, if, for instance, he’s threatening you or someone else. But there can never be an excuse for rape.

The act has little or nothing to do with achieving sexual release. That’s easily provided for an unmarried man by hiring a prostitute or through masturbation. The sole reason a man rapes is to instill fear, pain and humiliation on his victim. His penis is simply his weapon of choice.

So, while killing can sometimes be justified, as in a war, rape never can be. That is why I would make it a capital crime. The idea that the rapist can be rehabilitated is ludicrous. Let him plead his case to God.

Of all the mea culpas I have ever heard, Michael Bloomberg’s is perhaps the screwiest. As the mayor of New York, he continued Rudy Giuliani’s policy of “Stop and Frisk.” As a result of the police questioning suspicious-looking characters and checking them for weapons, thousands of thugs were jailed and an equal number of unregistered handguns were taken off the streets. The result was to make New York the safest big city in America.

But now that Bloomberg is seeking his party’s presidential nomination, instead of bragging about his success as mayor, he is apologizing for it.

As he recently explained to an audience of left-wing zombies: “I used to focus on saving lives, but I didn’t think about what effect ‘Stop and Frisk’ was having on the black and Latino communities.”

If the Democratic contenders weren’t such pathetic creatures, you might actually feel sorry for the ways in which they must debase themselves lest the loony Leftists turn on them like a pack of piranhas.

But, really, when it comes right down to it, isn’t he saying that it wasn’t worth saving the lives of decent blacks and Latinos because the price of doing so was to imprison the thugs who prey on them and their children?

As you’ve heard, China has been quarantining several major cities, preventing millions of its citizens from leaving their homes, in order to prevent the spread of the potentially lethal coronavirus.

It might not be a bad idea if the world would simply add another 50 feet to the China Wall. China is obviously the largest dung hill on the face of the earth. If they’re not exporting tainted dog food and shoddy steel, they’re exporting deadly viruses, including their putrid politics to Africa, Asia and South America.

I thought the streets of L.A. and San Francisco, filled with druggies and crazy people defecating in public was about as bad as it gets. But in China, apparently people regularly dine on bats, snakes, badgers, rats, pandas, camels, kangaroos and, worst of all, dogs, which verges on cannibalism, so far as I’m concerned.

Is it any wonder that with a diet that consists in large part of what we’d consider road kill, the whole country serves as a giant incubator for whatever flea-transmitted disease has ever existed on this planet.

I don’t usually feel any sympathy for members of the U.S. Senate, but after listening to the likes of Adam Schiff, Val Demings, Hakeem Jeffries and Jerry Nadler, drone on for 24 relentless hours and with no access to alcoholic beverages, they must have been wondering why the 8th Amendment, the one about not having to endure cruel and unusual punishment, didn’t apply to them.

Sen. Lindsey Graham got off the best line of the week when he cracked “Quite frankly, having Adam Schiff lecture the Senate about fairness and due process is like listening to an arsonist talk about fire prevention.”

Barney Rummel let me know that his wife thought I looked very distinguished in my new photo. His response was to schedule an immediate appointment for her with an optometrist.

My feelings weren’t hurt. In fact, he pretty much summed up my own response every time I see my reflection in a mirror. That’s why I am considering covering the mirrors in my house with Vaseline the way that cinematographers in Hollywood are wont to do when having to shoot an actress who’s slightly past her sell date.

We have all heard Karl Marx’s most famous line about religion being the opiate of the masses. I think it’s time it was retired in favor of Marxism is the opiate of the masses.