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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (90174)	11/30/2004 4:55:34 PM
From: average joe	Respond to of 108807

Ayn Rand could not have said it better. "Go forth and proselytize. Shake your tambourine on the street, and invite people to your church. Just don't involve the state." Government "help" to business is just as disastrous as government persecution... the only way a government can be of service to national prosperity is by keeping its hands off. Ayn Rand "Did you really think we want those laws observed?" said Dr. Ferris. "We want them to be broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against... We're after power and we mean it... There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, Mr. Reardon, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with." Ayn Rand

To: epicure who wrote (90174)	11/30/2004 5:06:47 PM
From: Bill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

Funny, I've never come across the 'entanglement' clause in the Constitution. There's a bit about not establishing a state religion, but nothing about banning any of the established religions from our culture. The rulings that ban religious expression from public buildings certainly aren't based on any literal reading of the First Amendment. BTW, democracies, by definition, discriminate against the will of the minority.

To: epicure who wrote (90174)	11/30/2004 6:21:20 PM
From: J. C. Dithers	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 108807

Where we always go off the track here is that the "majority of the majority" (the great mass of Christians) have no wish to proselytise their religion in public schools. Indeed, most consider their religion as much of a private matter as they do their bedroom activities. What they do want is for their children to be able to share some of the traditions of Christmas in a convivial setting in school with their classmates. These traditions, such as carols/songs, decorations, or Santa Claus, don't teach or preach anything about religious belief. They have all long since become highly secularized. When children listen to Bing Crosby singing, "Oh Holy Night," "White Christmas," or "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," they are not going to run home to ask profound questions about religious tenets. If any do, then they are revealing an awareness and intelligence that ought to make their parents think twice about trying to mindlessly program a forced belief system on them.