I hope the dogpile doesn't get too nasty for OddsOn because he's been clear with his opinions and there are a lot of people in the US who share very similar views. The Dutch were far brutal in their African colonies, but the US is up there.
I want OddsOn to keep posting more and more. I disagree with him, and obviously somewhere along the way there have been some major misunderstandings, but I would wonder where it came from. It would be cool to learn where OddsOn got his "facts" from.
Absolutely; I understand their worry that perhaps Christianity is eroding from the American identity, that this is imposing on their faith. But obviously, there is no attack; it's just making sure we're all on even ground, but I can understand where the fears come from.
Well, if you want a country full of people who want to have freedom... Isn't it only rational to assume that at some point people are going to be stepping on each other's toes like this? I agree with Max here. How can this help? Was there an incident that brought this on?
Personally, I'm all for moral decay and debauchery. I'm definitely a capitalist too. Liberal commies can go smoke whatever. Just eliminates competition. But I don't get why you care. Do you think reciting the pledge of allegiance is going to change our nation? Are you that naive? I think it's funny how usually it's those bible beating kids who are having all the babies at the age of 17 with the holier then art though familes.... Hate to break it to you buddy, but right now, this nation is competing for it's life against foreign countries who are mass producing little math wizards by the millions. Faith in god isn't going to maintain our standard of living. We have to dump the backwater views and start focusing on actually educating our kids and not trying to load them up with junk about stuff they should be getting at home.
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
But who has the patience... deflect responsibility and elect loud mouthed politicians who say they'll legislate it.
(okay, edit for more respect, less play.) Agree with NewYorker in that we have a significant education/technology issue arising in our near future, regardless of what faith or lack of faith we hold dear. We are united, I assume, in wanting an excellent future for our offspring and fellow citizens.
I'm coming late to this thread and haven't finished reading through it yet so pardon me if this has been addressed. There's a problem with this in that the 14th Ammendment extends the Federal standards regarding religion down to the local level so localities cannot vote locally for laws that establish religion or restrict religious practice. The problem with this current situation is that even if the State of Texas allowed for this legally one could argue that the State of Texas is establishing a monotheistic belief that interferes with the practice of those who believe in polytheistic or non-theistic faiths. I'm guessing there might be some irony in this statement but taking it at face value last time I checked Canada and EU countries still had militaries many of which are fighting in various conflicts around the World. Secularism in no way weakens a nation as the Soviet Union at the height of its power was avowedly secular along with the PRC now. One could argue that the influx of religious values in terms of Islam and the rapid prosetlyzation of Christian groups in the former USSR has weakened the country by destroying faith in the state. That might be true if the Constitution was a considered a religious document which it is most definately not or if the US had developed with a homogenous religious tradition which it did not. The strength and uniqueness of the US is actually the opposite of that but that the US has a diverse people free of rigid religious, moral and class backgrounds but can take in diverse people and culturally and economically renew itself.
After reading through the rest of OddsOn posts I'm getting the feeling we should take his views with a whole shaker of salt.
I've been thinking about this for awhile and my own view is that the Founders weren't atheists but they weren't looking to push religion. While they mention a creator, God, and divinity as giving rights they still left it humans to create the government that enforces those rights.
This entire thread disgusts me. Especially the "atheist" ramblings. Believe or don't believe. Just don't piss on someone else's tree. Some of y'all literally build bile in my mouth.
As opposed to the open minded posts accepting of divergent viewpoints by OddsOn? I hope you intended to be ironic.
Please look up "ironic" in the dictionary. Purely disgusting. Respect others, or choose to be treated like trash. THE END
So you are advocating treating others with respect by threatning to disrespect them (treat them like trash) if they do not? Now that's ironic.
I don't have a problem with the word god because frankly, that word can mean so many things that what it means to one person is completely different to another. And I'd much rather have Christians galavanize and fight for adding "god" to the pledge of allegiance then trying to get rid of evolution, teach creationism, and discriminate and prosecute gays, or make teenagers have sex without condoms. So yeah, we should all try to make a big deal about the pledge to get the conservatives all focused on this, and maybe keep them away from messing up the rest of society. But man, those guys who try to evangelicize me in the subway, can't stand them. Someone needs to smack them upside their head. They are worse then Hari Krishna's.
Last night I was on my knees praying to Zues, when Rah came in and started b****ing about Zues getting all the attention, then Jupiter showed up all pissed off that Zues had stolen some of his followers, when pretty soon Allah stormed in b****ing that he is running out of virgins, Jesus walked in with a glass of water, tried to calm everyone down by turning it into wine, but they all groaned and said get a new trick. Somewhere in the other room you could hear the Summarian and Babylonian Gods bickering with the Norse and Pagan gods over a game of backgammon. Then they all got in a massive fight over which God was real and which ones were mythology. I just got tired and went to bed. DD
Certainly, they weren't trying to set up a national religion. They obviously had no issue with God being mentioned in government documents though, so there is no reason to think they would have a problem with God being mentioned in the pledge (assuming they would be alright with having a pledge at all). Yeah, the United States would be much better off without the influence of all those damn Christians (outside of the whole not existing at all thing).
Once again, an absolutely disgusting thread. Believe what you want to. Don't impose on others. And for the last time. THE END
