07-24-2008, 09:29 AM
Taken from my blog at http://www.godless-heathen.com/2008/07/l...ution.html
Certain Christian elements in the media today are perpetuating a myth, a lie, that their religion is somehow under attack. Christian conservative commentator Bill O'Reilly calls it a "Culture War." He cites the fact that businesses are not using the phrase "Merry Christmas" but instead "Happy Holidays" during winter solstice season as proof that reverence to God is going by the wayside, that Christian "values" are under attack by "secularists." Also cited is the fact that compulsory school prayer met it's end in the 1960's.
One of the greatest lies ever told by these Christians is that prayer was removed from public schools. It is completely and utterly untrue. Every public school student is 100% free to express their religious beliefs, to pray whenever and however they wish, and to even hold and organize bible clubs. When I attended public school, I remember a 6th grade teacher of mine who had a Bible prominently displayed on his desk. He made the point that even though he wasn't allowed to teach it in the context of religious instruction (although he did use it for historical purposes), the constitution allowed him to have it.
Christians lost zero freedom to practice their religion in 1963. Christian children were and are still absolutely free to pray in school. What the O'Hair case did was remove mandatory, coerced prayer from school. The case merely changed the status of prayer from mandatory to voluntary. So if what these Christians want is mandatory school prayer, why don't they move to Saudi Arabia? Oh, that's right! The forced, mandatory prayer in Saudi Arabia is not of the religion they prefer and it's not to the God they worship. For some reason, it's only okay to force children to pray if it's to the God you happen to worship!
What these Christians are really lamenting is the systematic dismantling of the unconstitutional government sponsorship of their faith. Losing this favored position is causing them to cry "persecution!" To these Christians, it is persecution to treat all other faiths and non-faiths equally instead of giving Christianity the advantage. It's laughable to think that Christianity is a persecuted religion when one considers that the mass media, government, and most of the business world is run by them.
What's really happening here is that Christians are noticing their children aren't praying on their own in school. They're not thinking about God and they're not thinking about the Church. These Christians now want the government to step in and force their children, along with all those who may not share their beliefs, to pray and practice the preferred religion. This is the same motivation that stops alcohol and cars from being sold on Sundays in certain places. They are trying to use the government as a moral enforcer, even against those who don't share the same beliefs.
We've seen what governments are like when combined with religion, and there has never been a good result. From the Christianity-dominated middle ages to the Islamic terrorist states like Saudi Arabia; when one religion uses the government to enforce it's rules on the rest of the population, even if that population's majority shares the same beliefs, violence and brutality take hold and freedom dies a slow, painful death.
It's not my problem if you can't get your parishoners to stop drinking, or your children to pray before they eat lunch at school. Don't make me or my children conform to your rules. I have the right to decide how I'm going to live, and I have the right to decide what rules my children will live under. My children have the right to decide if they're going to follow those rules and I have the right to decide the punishments for breaking them. Forcing your religion on me through governmental interference to remedy your wayward followers goes against everything for which the principles of freedom and this country stand.
Our founding fathers chose "E Pluribus Unum," not "In God We Trust" as our country's motto. This nation was to be a haven from the state churches of Europe, where religious belief was compulsory. It saddens me that some Christians want to make their local and federal governments into a sort of modern-day "state church." We are a nation of many ideals, many religions, many philosophies, and many beliefs, united under the banner of freedom. Never could there be a more perfect way to describe us than that motto on the great seal, a motto that means in English "Out of many, one."
Certain Christian elements in the media today are perpetuating a myth, a lie, that their religion is somehow under attack. Christian conservative commentator Bill O'Reilly calls it a "Culture War." He cites the fact that businesses are not using the phrase "Merry Christmas" but instead "Happy Holidays" during winter solstice season as proof that reverence to God is going by the wayside, that Christian "values" are under attack by "secularists." Also cited is the fact that compulsory school prayer met it's end in the 1960's.
One of the greatest lies ever told by these Christians is that prayer was removed from public schools. It is completely and utterly untrue. Every public school student is 100% free to express their religious beliefs, to pray whenever and however they wish, and to even hold and organize bible clubs. When I attended public school, I remember a 6th grade teacher of mine who had a Bible prominently displayed on his desk. He made the point that even though he wasn't allowed to teach it in the context of religious instruction (although he did use it for historical purposes), the constitution allowed him to have it.
Christians lost zero freedom to practice their religion in 1963. Christian children were and are still absolutely free to pray in school. What the O'Hair case did was remove mandatory, coerced prayer from school. The case merely changed the status of prayer from mandatory to voluntary. So if what these Christians want is mandatory school prayer, why don't they move to Saudi Arabia? Oh, that's right! The forced, mandatory prayer in Saudi Arabia is not of the religion they prefer and it's not to the God they worship. For some reason, it's only okay to force children to pray if it's to the God you happen to worship!
What these Christians are really lamenting is the systematic dismantling of the unconstitutional government sponsorship of their faith. Losing this favored position is causing them to cry "persecution!" To these Christians, it is persecution to treat all other faiths and non-faiths equally instead of giving Christianity the advantage. It's laughable to think that Christianity is a persecuted religion when one considers that the mass media, government, and most of the business world is run by them.
What's really happening here is that Christians are noticing their children aren't praying on their own in school. They're not thinking about God and they're not thinking about the Church. These Christians now want the government to step in and force their children, along with all those who may not share their beliefs, to pray and practice the preferred religion. This is the same motivation that stops alcohol and cars from being sold on Sundays in certain places. They are trying to use the government as a moral enforcer, even against those who don't share the same beliefs.
We've seen what governments are like when combined with religion, and there has never been a good result. From the Christianity-dominated middle ages to the Islamic terrorist states like Saudi Arabia; when one religion uses the government to enforce it's rules on the rest of the population, even if that population's majority shares the same beliefs, violence and brutality take hold and freedom dies a slow, painful death.
It's not my problem if you can't get your parishoners to stop drinking, or your children to pray before they eat lunch at school. Don't make me or my children conform to your rules. I have the right to decide how I'm going to live, and I have the right to decide what rules my children will live under. My children have the right to decide if they're going to follow those rules and I have the right to decide the punishments for breaking them. Forcing your religion on me through governmental interference to remedy your wayward followers goes against everything for which the principles of freedom and this country stand.
Our founding fathers chose "E Pluribus Unum," not "In God We Trust" as our country's motto. This nation was to be a haven from the state churches of Europe, where religious belief was compulsory. It saddens me that some Christians want to make their local and federal governments into a sort of modern-day "state church." We are a nation of many ideals, many religions, many philosophies, and many beliefs, united under the banner of freedom. Never could there be a more perfect way to describe us than that motto on the great seal, a motto that means in English "Out of many, one."