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Originally Posted by cb2008
YOU know what happens when you assume. America is secular in the sense there is separation of church and state. Our laws are man made not handed down from some divine being or her prophet. This is the essence of America and it was a new way of being. This has nothing to do with freedom to practice your religion, the lack of which drove the piligrims out of Europe and to the new world, so they can pray the way they wish and not get killed for it. You should know your history better.
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I know my history very well, thank you. But you seem be deficient in your knowledge of American history. You do not seem to realize that the phrase "separation of church and state" does not appear in any of our founding documents, including the Constitution, and you are misconstruing the phrase as used in the letter to the Danbury Baptists, like the ACLU and others do, to support your contention that it means there must be no vestige of Christianity in any government body, policy, or or law. In fact, the words of the First Amendment, "Congress
shall make no law, respecting an
establishment of religion," are pretty clear on their face. And the framers who wrote those words had in mind the various Christian sects, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, etc. Congress was not to Establish one sect over another as the officially recognized Church. And we have as support for that view, the historical fact that they fled England, the "official church" of which was the Church of England, so that they could practice whatever sect of Christianity they belonged to, without fear of persecution.
The founders and framers and the vast majority of settlers in the "new world" belonged to one of the many Christian sects. This is historical fact. Most were familiar with the writings of John Calvin, and his belief that our "inalienable rights" (or "natural rights") had there origin in Scripture. That is why those "natural rights" found their way into the Declaration of Independence. They were not a "new idea" that had just been dreamed up by the American "rebels," but they had been the very soul of Christian thought with regard to man's relationship to man and nature for centuries.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cb2008
Yes it it was and is. You are making up your own laws again.
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Can you tell me where in the Constitution, or where in any of our laws, it says we must permit the practice of a religion and the activities of a group of people in the name of that religion, whose tenets and ideology seek and plot our destruction? Where? Show me. We have laws against insurrection. It doesn't matter if there is a claim to "religious freedom."
Finally, as I stated before, out Constitution and our laws do not require us to commit political and societal suicide in the name of some group's "freedom of religion."
Quote:
Originally Posted by cb2008
America accommodates for religious practices. Such as nativity scenes, prayer at public meetings, Jewish holidays, Easter and Ash Wednesday, Divali. In communities where Jews are in great number some Jewish religious laws prevails such as in parts of New York, Boston etc. You cannot do all this for instance if you lived in France. You cannot even wear a big cross on your chest and walk around. Do you ever get out of your own town and neighborhood? Do you actually live in the US?
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Get serious. I was referring to your comment about elevators not being operational on certain days.
Yes, I get out of my own town and neighborhood! What a stupid question! I have lived in San Francisco (Bay Area), San Diego, Ohio, Pensylvannia and New York (state). I have been abroad many times, not only while in the Navy, but I traveled in my work, both as a field service tech, and later as a representative from the Marketing Department of my company. I've been to Brussels, Aberdeen, (Scotland), Toronto, Hong Kong, Japan, Okinawa, and the Philippines. As for the U.S., I've traveled to New Orleans, Alabama, Houston, St. Louis, New York City, Homestead, FL. I've crossed the U.S. by car several times between Ohio and California.
And you?
Quote:
Originally Posted by cb2008
That does not say much.
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Really? What do you know about Islam? Nothing, as far as I can tell. I have been studying the works of people who have spent years studying Islam, who are considered experts. It ought to count for something.
What are your credentials?
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