Gooby bless the USA… pls
Wow…this thread went from calling one person a tool (which we can all agree on) to calling anyone who is religious a tool basically (see posts above).
You people have issues. Those images above posted by biker boy are ridiculous. Do you realize that most Christians (at least Pentecostal/Baptist ones) don’t stand around picketing at funerals, etc (like the Phelps family)? You judge a whole group of people based on a few particular people who happen to pop up in the media or in the news pictures. Those people are what you call ‘crazies’…most of us are nothing like that.
WTF is wrong with you? That’s like me saying all atheists/non-religious people are douche bags and obviously that isn’t the case. I work with some people who don’t share a single similar belief as me as far as God goes but are great people who I know I can count on, depend on, etc.
Stop being so ignorant and hateful. If you don’t believe in God, fine, but STFU about it. You tell Christian people not to push their opinion down your throat, but isn’t that what your’e doing?
Hypocricy at it’s finest. I gotta admit this thread has somewhat pissed me off.
/rant
More and more people are actually turning to my deity
Ilya, I like you REGARDLESS of how much I disagree with your faith. It’s yours, you don’t ask me to believe it – therefore I don’t rag on you about it. Seriously, at least you’re not crazy like my mother in-law. She speaks “in tongue” frequently. It’s mostly to the cat, parrots and dogs or just herself. Weird shit… LOL
As for me, I’m a die-hard atheist and a man of science. I have a tattoo that reads ἄθεος which is ancient Greek for “without gods” or “godless”. I do not believe in supernatural beings of any sort. I don’t hate people that embrace religion, no matter how much the concept might frustrate me.
I think most intelligent people would agree that church and state should be completely separated. It has nothing to do with Christian beliefs, it’s just not relevant in any way/shape/form.
I believe in God. Yesterday the Ducati started and ran like a champ, and today I found this:
All my prayers have been answered.
:lol
:lol
^OMFG :rofl
Torrent link plz
Side note:
Things were not set up to keep religion out of government, but to keep government out of religion. We all know that religion influences government, such as laws. Freedom of religion simply means that you have the freedom to practice any religion without the government getting involved.
You think so? I think morals have a lot more to do with it. A lot of people confuse morals with religion which makes me rage.
Look at the Declaration of Independence:
“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, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
US Constitution:
Art. 2, Sec. 2, Clause 2:
“He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States…”
Also seen in Art. 3, Sec. 2.
Article 7:
“The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same.
done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven and of the Independence of the United States of America the Twelfth In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names…”
While not in Amendments, we can clearly see that religion has had an influence on our government, beginning with the first document that established the US as a country.
Influenced, not influences. No modern laws had any of that shit.
Which is what I said…
America has long since forgotten who or what God is, etc.
To note, I’m not a very religious person at all and I wot get into my views here, but I do feel that America has been getting worse and worse since the mid-1900s and I feel that is partly due to less religious people (which can influence a person’s morals) on top of less patriotism among the people.
Seems appropriate
It’s a technicality but this is just a figure of speed for a date, not a religious reference.
And I’m pretty sure the separation of church and state is just that separation of the two. Which has gotten long lost with one being a favorite who’s is allowed to play double standards and influence the government as it pleases to get it’s perks back.
As Gundam posted quptes, many of the forefathers wanted nothing to do with religion in the new land.
As a (secular) Humanist, I believe morals are a product of human reason and general ethics. I don’t know that I feel like getting into this argument, especially here. LOL
Actually, most were very involved in their churches from what I understand. Here are some quotes that Gundam failed to include (in fact, they contradict the ones he posted - only thing I can think of is that the quotes I and he found were from different periods of time and the people came around (or renegged) on christianity):
Thomas Jefferson called the Bible the cornerstone for American liberty and wanted it placed in our schools as the light that should lead the way.
John Adams, Second President of the USA
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” [October 11, 1798]
Charles Carroll, Signer of the Declaration of Independence
“Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure… are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments.”
George Washington, First President of the USA during his Farewell Address:
“…reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle…”
Noah Webster
“The duties of men are summarily comprised in the Ten Commandments, consisting of two tables; one comprehending the duties which we owe immediately to God-the other, the duties we owe to our fellow men.”
“In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed… No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.” [Source: 1828, in the preface to his American Dictionary of the English Language]
John Quincy Adams, Sixth President of the USA
“The Law given from Sinai [The Ten Commandments] was a civil and municipal as well as a moral and religious code.” [Source: Letters to his son. p. 61].
Abe Lincoln said, “The philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation
Will be the philosophy of the government of the next”
James Madison, Fourth President of the USA
“ We’ve staked our future on our ability to follow the Ten Commandments with all of our heart. We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We’ve staked the future of all our political institutions upon our capacity… to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.” [1778 to the General Assembly of the State of Virginia]
While they were smart to keep the two separate…they knew the power that being of faith had in raising strong morals in people. This isn’t to say that someone who doesn’t go to church can’t be a good person (heck, I think that some people who aren’t ‘christian’ will be saved on judgement day just like the man on the cross next to Jesus who asked him to remember him when he arrived at his throne).
God will judge all people accordingly…if you didn’t go to church but were an upstanding citizen, never committed a serious crime, and helped your fellow man next to you out…I think that will help you.
But anyway…that’s my $0.02. Whether you agree with me or not is of no significance to me. I’m just saying. America was most definitely a ‘christian nation’ if you look at it’s history. Those days have long since passed and here we are.
Now a days it’s more of a crispy chips and tv nation.