http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,144355,00.html Let me say I'm very happy that this guys challenge to prayer has been denied. Its funny how atheists don't want to have god or prayer preached to them but they are willing to preach to everyone else with their own beliefs. If I'm a christian which I am i'm not going to preach to you unless you ask me and we get in a 2 way discussion, preach probably isn't the right word there, more like discussion? I don't like athiests who take it upon themselves to take the rights of others away in this country. Anyone remember what happened to that athiest woman in Texas a few years ago? This dude better watch what company he keeps, wrong crowd and he could be in trouble! :hihi:
how is it forcing atheist beliefs on people to ask that public officials not talk to their invisible magic man when they are performing public duties? would it please you if the guy said "ALLAH ACKBAR!" in the same way terrorists do before they cut off somebody's head? after all, allah ackbar (god is great) is true, and is the core of your beliefs right? cant you see that not everyone shares the same superstitions, and therefore they should be a matter for practicing in private? when did i ask my government to discuss their grand wizard at public ceremonies? athiesm is a religion in the same sense that health is a disease. it is the opposite! it specifically is the lack of belief. so asking you to not preach during government activities is not forcing anything on you, but asking you to leave your own mysticism at home. nobody is forcing atheism on anyone, we just want the government to be totally secular. if we were forcing our beliefs on you, we would want the government to condemn christianity and islam and judaism and wicca and everything else. but we dont.
If you can show me where the framers of the constitution or the beginnings of this country started on a Godless premise, then you have a legitimate arguement. Since you won't be able to do that, why not just be happy that a free country, allowed you to come to your own beliefs in your own way. The problem with you people is, once you think you have discovered something, you suddenly think you know whats best for the rest of us. This is and always will be a God fearing nation. I'm sure there are other places, like minded people such as yourself can go to live. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. :thumb:
listen closely. i am not advocating atheism. i am not telling you what is best for you. i am advocating a government independent of religion of all kinds, even the kinds you happen to think are wrong. if the guy doing the praying at the inauguration was a lunatic and decided to praise satan, would you complain? or would that be telling everyone "whats best"?
I think the Secret Service checks those people out pretty closely, so it is doubtful that could ever happen. :lol: Atheists won on school prayer and a bunch of Christmas stuff and lost this round. That is compromise, which is necessary for America to exist. If the courts cave to all the demands of atheist, the religious people of this country would band together and push back. in much greater number and with much greater force. Be happy with the battles you have already won, and let it go at that. Life would be so much easier if we all remembered the following words of wisdom, "You take the good, you take the bad. you take 'em both and there you have, the facts of life".
No what you are advocating is doing away with the very things this country was founded on. If you believe you have come to some "Special" enlightenment, then enjoy in your own way, but don't try to force your enlightenment on the rest of us. We were endowed by our "Creator" with certain inalienable rights, what part of this do you not understand. I don't care whether you believe or not, what was and is important, is that our founding fathers believed it and this is the country they built. Like I said, if you don't like it, don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.
Firstly Secular Humanism or athieism was defined by the Supreme Court of the United States as a religion. Secondly, the seperation of church and state is a myth. The Constitution is set up so that Congress cannot pass laws to infringe on people's right to worship in the manner they so choose. It does not even remotely suggest that government and religion should be segregated. To me laws that disallow public prayer are doing what the first amendment set out to prevent the state from infringing on the people's right to worship.
This country was founded by men who came from countries where the state mandated religion and exiled for non practice. I think the founders had it in their mind that they did not want a "holy dictator" and that is why there is the "Separation of Church and State". Although, I believe that public prayer by the government should be curtailed as a "moment of silence" or rotating prayers ie one session is congress is opened with a Catholic prayer, they next big event is opened with a Jewish prayer so on and so forth. Add: the line should be drawn, but I don't know how and where you would draw it... so I simply believe any form of prayer that the government is planning, should be done as a moment of silence.
this is one of the biggest pot/kettle things i have ever heard. i am not the enlightened one! i have no god, no answers. what i am asking for is to be free from yours! rickyd, i do not understand why you cant see this. asking for independence from religion is not forcing my religion down your throat. read this next sentence 5 times. i am not advocating the advancement of my beliefs. ok, now read it again. can you understand that? so ricky, let me ask you this, do you have the mental skill to underdstand the difference between: 1. the government not praying at all. 2. the government actively announcing that your religion is stupid. see, if i was forcing my "enlightenment" on you, i would be asking for #2. are you able to understand that? i agree with thomas jefferson: "religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God". atheism is not a religion any more than "not collecting stamps" is a hobby. also secular humanism is not the same as atheism. this is completely wrong. in fact it explicitly says the opposite of what you are saying. "I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and State" - thomas jefferson
Martin, I agree with you. Even though I am a pretty conservative christian I don't think there should be a prayer at the inaguration. Religion is something personal between yourself and God, Thomas Jefferson was a very smart man and the greatest founding father and president this country has had. If there is going to be a prayer I believe it should be a generic prayer so it can encompass as many people as possible. I don't think it should mention Jesus in it, if Bush wants to pray for the country he can do that in private on his own time and not in front of the whole country. Likewise, Congress and the Supreme Court shouldn't open sessions with a prayer because it is an unconstitutional endorsement of Christianity. Now before any of you come back saying that the Founding Fathers were all Christians and therefore wouldn't have any problem with Bush having a prayer at his inaguration, you need to realize most of them were Deists. Deist believe in a god however they don't believe that he directly intervenes in human affairs of if he does, he does so sparingly. Deists also believe in reasoning and self-reliance. Albert Einstein said this about Deism I will leave you with a quote from Thomas Jefferson on Religion and government:
