The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer. Stahl Hamilton is a state senator and a candidate for the Arizona House of Representatives in Legislative District 21:
Stephanie Stahl Hamilton
With the legislative session well underway, I am struck by the chaos and cruelty imposed upon the people of our state. I am not surprised.
Pushing back against policy crafted out of fear intended to subvert and control was the impetus behind my advocacy work that eventually led me to run for office. It was never my desire to be a politician. My calling and vocation are rooted in another discipline: religion. And before I go any further, it is important to state that I am a staunch supporter of the separation of church and state. That is why I am probably the most surprised to find myself drawn to politics and felt compelled to run for office.
My journey to where I am today didn’t happen overnight — it was at least a decade in the making. In 2008, responding to the extreme funding cuts to education, I began navigating issues that eventually led to school closures impacting my children and my husband (a public school teacher in TUSD). Also, during this time, I was executive director of the Presbyterian Church camp, serving children throughout the state. This experience gave me an understanding of how the legislative policies affected children throughout the state. It wasn’t just happening in my backyard.
As I volunteered in my neighborhood school, served children and teenagers throughout the state, and tried to make ends meet for my family, I joined a couple of legislative advocacy groups, which included a field trip on an Education Advocacy Day in 2016. We were treated to a walk-through of the state House of Representatives floor during this trip.
I quickly found one of my representative’s desks and snapped a selfie, and in doing so, I noticed a lot of Bibles on desks, which gave me pause. I was confused to see Bibles on the desks of government employees. And then, I learned that each floor session begins with prayer and then the Pledge of Allegiance.
I left the Capitol that day with more questions than I had when I arrived. Beyond the questions of the separation of church and state, I wondered if all of those who had Bibles on their desks actually read them because the lens with which I read compels me to look out for the most vulnerable in our communities, extend grace to those who seem to deserve it the least, and to remove the heavy burdens and barriers that keep people in poverty.
In my short time in the Legislature, I realize that there is no clear separation of church and state in our Legislature. Many Republican legislators in the majority craft policy to legislate morality cloaked in religious language as if the religious views of the proponents are the only ones that matter or hold the corner on truth. Our founders understood the perils of legislating religious doctrine. They were right then, and they are right today.
This past week the state Senate passed a bill, SB 1399, along party lines to allow foster care agencies to discriminate based on religion. This legislation is especially concerning, given that there are not enough families to care for the children in the foster care system. This move will narrow the field of families eligible to take in children. It will be the children who bear the brunt of this legislation.
Our job as elected officials should be to work for Arizonans, making life better, not injecting religious ideology into policy. This legislation is just one example of how Christian nationalism is seeping into our state statutes, blurring the lines between politics and religion.
There is no justification for imposing a set of religious beliefs upon those who hold differing beliefs or even no religious belief. It undermines our democracy and our freedom of religion.
