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Originally posted by amantine
SkipShipman, I'm trying to understand your reasoning. Is this what you mean:
Removing the 'under God' text from the pledge of allegience takes away the right of the community to pray together. It also withdraws to the individual rights (you don't specify what individual rights) and substitutes those rights with phony secularism. This secularism of the government causes people to become godless and causes psychiatric illnesses.
You end with saying with sarcasm that the godliness should be taken away. Without sarcasm, do you mean to say that godliness should not be taken away? But you just said that secularizing the government takes away people's rights somehow and causes psychiatric illnesses somehow.
I don't really understand your reasoning. Maybe the entire text is sarcastic, maybe only the last paragraph of it is. Could you clear this up?
Originally posted by SkipShipman
Pardon me for not directly citing some recent articles and research that indicates the government planned psychiatric drugs as a remedy for the removal of prayer from the classroom, but as a trend of the "decreasing importance of religion," in our society.
Originally posted by JonestownRed
Originally posted by SkipShipman
Pardon me for not directly citing some recent articles and research that indicates the government planned psychiatric drugs as a remedy for the removal of prayer from the classroom, but as a trend of the "decreasing importance of religion," in our society.
Actually, SkipShipman, I'd like to read these articles. Do you think you could provide a link? I fail to see how these drugs would be administered, let alone have the effects you described. Do they sprinkle it on the salisbury steak in the cafeteria? This "atheism drug" you speak of intrigues me to no end. Since you mentioned that you are a catholic, try looking at this issue from a non-christian's viewpoint. Why should "under God" be included in the pledge of allegiance? Do you assert that in order to be patriotic, one must profess a belief in God? No one is trying to say that children shouldn't be able to pray in school, only that it shouldn't be an official part of the curriculum.
Declaration-
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
Originally posted by SkipShipman
Try Google on "New Freedom Initiative," and when it comes to "under God," such a thing is less relevant if there can be a group consensus and majority rule on whether or not people can pray the "Our Father," contemplate silence, or quote whatever you want to begin the day. It is the community who decides, not the government. Schools were never intended to be the government, only something sponsored by government taxes on land. Sadly government invaded the sanctuary of learning, and look at the statistics.
Originally posted by JonestownRed
Originally posted by SkipShipman
Try Google on "New Freedom Initiative," and when it comes to "under God," such a thing is less relevant if there can be a group consensus and majority rule on whether or not people can pray the "Our Father," contemplate silence, or quote whatever you want to begin the day. It is the community who decides, not the government. Schools were never intended to be the government, only something sponsored by government taxes on land. Sadly government invaded the sanctuary of learning, and look at the statistics.
Flanked by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) in the East Room of the White House, President Bush on February 1, 2001, announced a new $1.025 billion, five year initiative for people with disabilities. The proposal, called the New Freedom Initiative, will provide low-interest loans for assistive technology that makes work more accessible, including wheelchairs, telecommuting equipment, and text telephones for the hearing-impaired. The proposal will also help cover the cost of housing loans.
What does this have to do with the doping of students with Ritalin? And despite what you believe that schools were intended to be, the fact remains that public schools are public schools, and you are free to send your child to a religious-affiliated school if you are not comfortable with the fact that Christian doctrine is not being taught in them.
Originally posted by SkipShipman
Prayer is a matter of group acknowledgment, helpful reminders of a larger reality than ourselves. When that reality focuses on government alone, it eventually substitutes a God concept in preference to the invisible God. Look at the North Korean dictator for example, people dancing around him like he was the end all of everything. Look at history, see where we were and where we are now. I think reality has spiraled away from its anchor points, some of which is affirmative of basic religious beliefs. Would you prefer Kim Jong Il?