In all my ten years here at Free Republic, I've rarely if every read a post that alarmed, amazed, and frankly repulsed me as much as this one.
Too bad we Christians don't have the same fervor about Christ. Muslims, well, at least those in power, stand up to blasphemy.
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Maybe I'm wrong here. I could be. I apologize if I offend with my remarks.
I find nothing to admire about muslims; the fervent ones are nothing more nor less than the better-brainwashed among a billion followers of a fourteenth-century warrior death cult. So what you are saying, in effect is, "I wish more Christians were more like those better-brainwashed, violent muslims that riot at the drop of a cartoon." You are wrong --- very wrong. I urge you to re-think your position.
I hope that your post was just the result of frustration rather than your true beliefs.
I lived in Saudi Arabia for five years and saw their faith and fervor. It made me wish that we Christians still had some of it.
So what you are saying here is, "I wish that the USA could be more like Saudi Arabia?
In the words of Bill the Cat, "AACCCCKKK! TTTHHHPPPPT!"
We have it, to some extent, at the grass roots level but our leaders, political, social, artistic and educational, have NONE. But, then we elect them "leaders" so what does that say about US?
Well, what it says is two-fold; first, that our Founders, in their wisdom, saw the dangers and downside of the intermingling of church and state, and secondly, that that is how the American electorate wants it.
I'm not a Christian, but I am about 99% or better in agreement with the position of most Christians here on Free Republic so reading this post was an extremely unpleasant shock.
The founding fathers didn't object to the intermingling of church and state; they objected to the state interfereing with church affairs, or making church membership in a particular denomination a requirement for the citizens, as was the case in England for a while. That's why we have this:
Article I: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The restriction is on Congress and what it can and cannot do in regards to religion.
The idea that they intended to keep church and state separate doesn't hold water when you read this:
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.
The whole basis for the Declaration of Independence is the Bible and the Judeo-Christian concept of the Bible. That's hardly keeping the church and state separate.
It's not how the Amercian electorate wants it. The whole separation of church and state thing has been forced on us by groups like the ACLU abusing the power of the judiciary to FORCE it on us. Every time they see something they don't like, it's lawsuit time. And it's ALWAYS against Christianity and Christian values, unless there's some other angle they're trying to eventually work in to use against it at a later date.
He (she?) said nothing about becoming more like Saudi Arabia, nor "So what you are saying, in effect is, "I wish more Christians were more like those better-brainwashed, violent muslims that riot at the drop of a cartoon."
That is absolutely not what was implied and that's nothing more than slander to make up that kind of garbage and attribute it to someone else.
It's lying about the other person, plain and simple.
starfish is right. When I see Christians praying five times a day and fasting regularly, then I'll admit that they have the same kind of fervor. It's a shame to us that we don't. muslims do it out of fear and oppression; Christians have all the reason in the world to do it out of love and gratitude.