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Jefferson used to hold Church sermons in the Federal Buidlings in DC. All it means is that the Fed Govt. can't establish a state sponsored religion. That's ALL it means!
Practically everything I have ever read from Jefferson makes me believe he was 100% against religion. He may have been spiritual, but many of his quotes and writings were very much against organized religion. Here is a great quote of his....
Quote:
"I have examined all the known superstitions of the world and
I do not find in our particular superstition of Christianity
one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables
and mythology. Millions of innocent men, women, and children,
since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt,
tortured, fined, and imprisoned. What has been the effect of
this coercion? To make one half the world fools and the other
half hypocrites; to support roguery and error all over the
earth."
Of all our founding fathers you chose Jefferson to support your claims?
Interesting indeed.
I guess you either can't read or are just not paying attention. Look at what the progressives here post. They actually think it is Freedom FROM Religion and you can't pray on public property. Read and learn...
You can pray all you want on any public property. Nobody is trying to stop you from doing that. However, anyone employed by the government should not be able to lead a prayer service on land or in buildings that is paid for in taxes by people of all religions. Get it?
It needs to be that way so we respect people of differing religions. Belive it or not there ARE other religions besides Christianity.
Belive it or not there ARE other religions besides Christianity.
As the Christian activist's on the Dallas City Council once found out to their chagrin (I think it was Dallas, but it might not have been).
They passed an ordinance requiring a prayer before each meeting and, after a few weeks, a Wiccan priest asked to lead the prayer and they had to let him.
Not surprisingly, they quickly got off the "prayer back in government" kick.
I'm glad you know what it means, too bad others don't and like to argue their ill conceived facts.
We should ALL know what it means. It's spelled out explicitly in the first amendment. We should have ALL learned the basics of the constitution and our government in school. And what the constitution does is to LIMIT what the government can do. In terms of religion, it's hands off.
Some folks let loudmouth radio jocks become their brains. And then they adopt whatever "opinion" they're told to adopt by their airwaves hero.
Practically everything I have ever read from Jefferson makes me believe he was 100% against religion. He may have been spiritual, but many of his quotes and writings were very much against organized religion. Here is a great quote of his....
Of all our founding fathers you chose Jefferson to support your claims?
Interesting indeed.
Go educate yourself. He attended church in the fed govt. buildings. End of story.
You can pray all you want on any public property. Nobody is trying to stop you from doing that. However, anyone employed by the government should not be able to lead a prayer service on land or in buildings that is paid for in taxes by people of all religions. Get it?
It needs to be that way so we respect people of differing religions. Belive it or not there ARE other religions besides Christianity.
There is not a damn thing in the Constitution that states government employees aren't allowed to do that. Get it?
There is not a damn thing in the Constitution that states government employees aren't allowed to do that. Get it?
Once again, this liberal, progressive, atheist, agrees (much to my chagrin). There is no gawdly reason why a government employee should be restricted from joining with other co-workers in a prayer meeting, service or whatever during breaks or their lunch our in some area of the public building that they work in. It only becomes problematic when such meetings are mandatory or have the impression of being a requirement of their job; as in a overly solicitous supervisor repeatedly requesting a non-attendees presence.
Once again, this liberal, progressive, atheist, agrees (much to my chagrin). There is no gawdly reason why a government employee should be restricted from joining with other co-workers in a prayer meeting, service or whatever during breaks or their lunch our in some area of the public building that they work in. It only becomes problematic when such meetings are mandatory or have the impression of being a requirement of their job; as in a overly solicitous supervisor repeatedly requesting a non-attendees presence.
Too bad it doesn't happen. Nobody is forced to do anything in this country, except buy health care.
Practically everything I have ever read from Jefferson makes me believe he was 100% against religion. He may have been spiritual, but many of his quotes and writings were very much against organized religion. Here is a great quote of his....
Quote:
"I have examined all the known superstitions of the world and I do not find in our particular superstition of Christianity one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology. Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, and imprisoned. What has been the effect of this coercion? To make one half the world fools and the other half hypocrites; to support roguery and error all over the earth."
Of all our founding fathers you chose Jefferson to support your claims?
Interesting indeed.
I see your one quote and raise you:
1)
Quote:
"To the corruptions of Christianity I am, indeed, opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian, in the only sense in which He wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others; ascribing to Himself every human excellence; and believing He never claimed any other." "April 21, 1803 letter to Doctor Benjamin Rush", The Writings of Thomas Jefferson (Albert Ellery Bergh, ed. (1853), The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association): p. 379, http://www.constitution.org/tj/jeff10.txt, retrieved on 2009-05-23,
2)
Quote:
"I am persuaded no Constitution was ever before so well calculated as ours for extensive empire and self-government." --Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1809. ME 12:277
3)
Quote:
"[Ours is] a constitution of government destined to be the primitive and precious model of what is to change the condition of man over the globe." --Thomas Jefferson to Edward Livingston, 1824. ME 16:26
4)
Quote:
"[The purpose of a written constitution is] to bind up the several branches of government by certain laws, which, when they transgress, their acts shall become nullities; to render unnecessary an appeal to the people, or in other words a rebellion, on every infraction of their rights, on the peril that their acquiescence shall be construed into an intention to surrender those rights." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia Q.XIII, 1782. ME 2:178
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Critical thining? Not for the willfully ignorant.
