Climate change + 1st Amendment (Introduction)

by hyjyljyj , Thursday, December 06, 2012, 13:36 (4347 days ago) @ David Turell
edited by unknown, Thursday, December 06, 2012, 13:43

Thanks David...at this point it's "difficult to know" how anything could keep me away from this site. Seems like a great place to exchange ideas and viewpoints and rejoice in not feeling the need to "pick sides".-Since you asked me to expound a little, my friends & acquaintances are sometimes taken by surprise when some vapid, specious atheist argument will arise which I demolish,...then assail a Bible verse as pure hogwash and manmade gibberish, since invisible spirits in the sky don't really tell people what to write down...and then in the next breath fiercely defend Christians against what I perceive as an open war on them, especially in the US. Every other religion is accorded a measure of dignity and respect--especially the most mindless, murderous cult of them all--while the one representing 85% of the US population is dragged through the mud in a most revolting and sanctimonious manner.-They wonder why I strongly support crèches and other Christian artifacts in public settings, and I have to remind them that the 1st Amendment is very explicit: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." The first clause, they get: Congress cannot (and therefore neither can anyone else) ever make any law creating a state or national religion, nor should they ever be able to. The Founders risked their lives specifically and primarily to get away from that. -But the bolded second clause is consistently ignored. The Founders were very meticulous and precise in making sure the phrase "free exercise thereof" includes no direct mention or indirect suggestion whatsoever of any restrictions on where or how that freedom may be exercised. They wanted us to be free of all religious persecution. Meaning, every single time an employer forces someone to remove a crucifix from their workstation, or some robotic teacher sends a crying kid home for wearing a Jesus is Love T-shirt, or a city council forces the removal of a Christmas display or bans the use of the word "Christmas",...they are flagrantly violating people's 1st Amendment rights, which we all hold "sacred", if you'll pardon the pun. Yet no one speaks up in their defense except other Christians, which is baffling and which makes everyone else discount their opinion as illegitimate. Atheists are having a field day ruining Christmas for people all over the country, and very few people seem to have the nerve to stand up for the 1st Amendment. There is no guarantee you or I can never be "offended" by someone else's religious expression, no matter how fatuous or self-righteous it may seem (e.g., "God's chosen people"? Really? What does that make the other 7 billion of us, chopped liver? Oy vey!); however, there IS a guarantee that someone taking offense can in no way impede anyone's exercising their religion, again, no matter how unfounded or silly or ridiculous or wrongheaded someone else may find it to be.-[BTW David, I recently discovered a humorous essay of four pages in 14 pt. I wrote some years ago which I had forgotten about, and it made me laugh. It is the tale of Christianity and Roman Catholicism in a Nutshell, as irreverently told by a different kind of Italian from the nuns & priests we had in school...a wiseguy from the other side of the tracks, if you get my drift. Is there an appropriate spot to share it here, or should I start my own web log? ← ←(last remaining holdout on planet still loathing the word "blog")]