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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: J_F_Shepard who wrote (537839)	2/10/2004 9:44:02 AM
From: Neocon	Respond to of 769670

I do not know any Christian who does not understand that prayer in the schools is a dead issue, except when it is a case of a benediction at commencement, which is somewhat different, since it is difficult to portray as coercive or proselytizing. In any case, I invoked the idea of secularization in relation to suppressing or enjoining behavior. We do not, for example, make people go to church, nor do we make them celebrate Easter, certainly not as a matter of law or a religious holiday. We do not forbid them from worshipping Ganesha, or force them to eat beef. Things like the pledge are not regarded in the same light. The retention of "under God" is regarded as an accommodation to the majority that does no harm to the minority. It is easy to omit the phrase if it bothers you, or to sit out the pledge. Gay marriage is viewed as an issue of natural law, not religious dogma. It subverts what is seen as the appropriate use of sex. True, there are arguments against that view, but the thing is that it is not emphatically a religious view. The Ten Commandments are viewed by Jews and Christians as articulating practically universal rules of behavior, and therefore their provenance is considered irrelevant. I realize that the ice is a bit slippery on that one, but remember, if the Ten Commandments were surrounded by other "wisdom texts" from other traditions, they would pass constitutional muster. Only a few hard- heads, like the judge in Alabama, insist upon inappropriate confrontation. But I know no one like that myself.......