I just saw a story on the news about how there is a movement to put religious monuments in front of courthouses. They talked to someone who said that "as a christian nation" and I just thought of this topic. Now I was always under the impression that the nation cannot ever have an official religion, separation of church and state etc. Some of the people interviewed even talked about the founding fathers and there comments concerning god were on the monument. Now in my opinion this is completely ridiculous. The founding fathers who wrote the Constitution believed in the separation of church and state and freedom of religion so this seems out of line to me as what these people are trying to say violates this and the Constitution. What is your view on this, and on the separation of church and state?
OK - well, we can address this issue of secularism like this:
First - suppose Christianity is wrong; if so, then, logically, it is impossible for the ideas of Christianity to have any bearing on what is right and wrong. They could be right or wrong, but the idea of Christianity does not influence the truth if it itself is wrong.
Now, suppose Christianity is right; if so, then there are underlying reasons for the ideas of Christianity to be right - there are reasons for right and wrong - they are not simply ideas that should be blindly followed.
Thus, to say that Christianity has an impact on what is right and wrong is like saying that Galileo had an effect on heliocentricity of the solar system.
This nation was founded on freedom of religion (thanks to the **** puritans) but there would certainly be hubbub over religion in politics, which would be what some people would consider if there were religious monuments by governmental structures. I couldn't see this happening. As far as separation of church and state, that means that they can be exempt from taxation as well as free to congregate, with no interference allowed by the government. So I don;t really see how that applies to this.
The monument is basically a stone block with quotes like, "One nation under god" and other religious quotes on it. On top of it I do believe is a holy bible. That is what I could gather by what they showed of it.
Alright then my opinion is thus: Most of the religion in america is some denomination of Christianity. It could be considered the unofficial religion of america. But whether it is or not how does this really affect the government aspect side of it?
english is the official language but tons of people don't speak it
Nonetheless, there is no reason or need for an official religion as we are the salad bowl of the world. In fact, doing so would be against everything the founders of the U.S. had labored to achieve.
Considering various Supreme Court cases declared prayer in schools unconstitutional and various federal buildings with religious objects unconstitutional because of the 1st amendment, I would say that this to can be unconstitutional for having an official religion. We should also move to remove the famous quote from money and to remove the famous quote from The Pledge.
Oops - sorry: need to read links before posting...
It is only slightly related to this situation because it talks about the majority having the power to oppress those with whom they share a conflict of interest.
Thank Dwight D. Eisenhower for One Nation Under God in the pledge. And that will never happen. If it does, we might as well re write the constitution while we are at it.
