I don't need my religion to be in public places or supported by my government. As long as I can pray when I want to and go to church when I want to, I will never see my government as an opponent. This is because I realize that the establishment clause says no religion may be supported by the state, and that extends to all religions, not just Christianity. I do. I don't want The TRUTH on the margin or relegated to private homes. The first amendment says nothing about public/private. Furthermore, our founders were NOT private about theirs:
Jefferson attended church in the Chambers of Congress and worship was conducted by the U.S. Marine Corps band (how blatant can he be about violating separation of church and state!);
Charles Thompson (signer of D of I) translated first bible for America (Thompson bible)'
John Witherspoon (signer) - TWO translations of bible
J. Langdon and Charles C. Pinckney - founded the American bible society - going strong today!
Benjamin Rush - manager of American Bible society (was it a private society? Not if they wanted to pass out their bibles!); Charles Hopkinson (signer) - published book of psalms set to music so we can sing them like David did - nothing private about that.
There are many other facts like these that I could cite. So, your contention is wrong and it is actually dangerous. You may want to settle for marginalization of Christianity, I AM NOT SIR. I shall not put Jesus Christ in a closet for anyone!
"There are many other facts like these that I could cite. So, your contention is wrong and it is actually dangerous. You may want to settle for marginalization of Christianity, I AM NOT SIR. I shall not put Jesus Christ in a closet for anyone! "
Noone is asking for you to put Jesus Christ in a closet. Personally, I'm not sure that's possible, as Christ's power is more than your closet could handle.
My question to you is...what version of Christianity gets to be the 'public' one? The first Church of Christianity - Catholocism? (Yay! Maybe I'll be able to drink on Sundays! And confess my sins to the mayor!) The church of Southern Baptism? (Uh oh..there go Fri. nite dances!! and beer!) The Presbyterian Church? (middle of the road) Calvinism? (No reason to change anything, since our lives are prefestined?) Church of Mormon (great - no more coffee or tea.)
Which "Christian" religion gets the bill in your America? And does your America have ANY room for any other faith? Or shall we just become Western Saudi Christian Arabia?