Got an email today about supporting the "Ten Commandments Protection Act of 2003". I laughed and thought it was a joke.
But it wasn't. From the writeup on the petition web site:
Perhaps showing the 10 commandments in a court house doesn't seem like a big deal to you, but it is specifically forbidden in the constitution, and it should be. Common governance and personal faith are separate for good reason - everyone is entitled to his or her own beliefs, and state sponsorship of religion has always been messy and oppressive.
Maybe you don't believe that our fellow Hindus, Buddhists, Pagans, etc. are "right". You're entitled to think that. But think about it: would you like to pass a law that says everyone has to be Christian? If you answer yes to that question, your idea of America is so far from mine that any further discussion is impossible.
Don't make this out to be a fight between Christians and heathens. It isn't. It's a battle between people who have respect for the religious freedoms of our country, and people who feel a moral obligation to make their religion compulsory for everyone else.
But it wasn't. From the writeup on the petition web site:
Throughout the nation, secularist organizations such as the ACLU and others are systematically working to strip the Ten Commandments from public eye."Secularist organizations"? Perhaps these folks missed the memo that the United States is a secular nation. It is a cornerstone of our constitution that the state will neither prohibit nor endorse the practice of any one religion. That's why the puritans left England in the first place - for freedom! And we are free, to worship as we choose, tell people about our faith, build churches and monuments, write praise music, whatever our hearts desire. That is awesome. But what we are not free to do is endorse any one religion from an official (state) stance.
Perhaps showing the 10 commandments in a court house doesn't seem like a big deal to you, but it is specifically forbidden in the constitution, and it should be. Common governance and personal faith are separate for good reason - everyone is entitled to his or her own beliefs, and state sponsorship of religion has always been messy and oppressive.
Maybe you don't believe that our fellow Hindus, Buddhists, Pagans, etc. are "right". You're entitled to think that. But think about it: would you like to pass a law that says everyone has to be Christian? If you answer yes to that question, your idea of America is so far from mine that any further discussion is impossible.
Don't make this out to be a fight between Christians and heathens. It isn't. It's a battle between people who have respect for the religious freedoms of our country, and people who feel a moral obligation to make their religion compulsory for everyone else.
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