Posted on 08/21/2003 12:27:25 PM PDT by Happy2BMe
| I. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. II. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. III. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain. IV. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. V. Honour thy father and thy mother. |
VI. Thou shalt not kill. VII. Thou shalt not commit adultery. VIII. Thou shalt not steal. IX. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. X. Thou shalt not covet any thing that is thy neighbour's. |
Are the Ten Commandments still relevant?
In American Society, who most would desire to see them eradicated from public view?
#1: The U.S.S.C.
#2: Every State Supreme Court.
#3: Every public polititian.
#4: The Democratic Party.
#5: All othe major political parties.
#6: Murderers.
#7: Thieves, extortionists, Labor Union Chiefs, every CEO of the Fortune 500.
#8: The NEA, NAACP, AFLCIO
#9: Homosexuals, lesbians, pedophiles, pornographers, web hosts, Hollywood, National Foundation of The Arts.
Add a few more . . .
The Founders only had to deal with two main religions, Judaism and Christianity.
Can you tell me what that means?
Fascism implies violation of rights.
I assert that it is a violation of rights for a majority to use the force of government to compel an unwilling minority to provide funds for the promotion of religion.
In the absence of such compulsion, how exactly are your rights violated? Can you not practice your religion? Can you not post the Commandments in public view in a myriad of other ways? No one is saying you can't post the Commandments. They're saying, if you want to do so, do it on your own dime.
"Huh?? I didn't say that - I didn't even imply that!!"
For the sake of WHO or WHAT a LIBERAL actaully is as it applies to removal of the Ten Commandments from public buildings, what is your definition of a LIBERAL?
Thanks.
A.C.L.U.
Yeh. The right to freedom of religious expression.
Actually, the substance of the Ten Commandments are "written" onto the "tablets" of a man's heart even before he is born.
This is in the form of a "conscience" and as such it goes against even a man's nature to lie, steal, kill, and covet.
But to understand such things, you would first require the posession of another intangible substance known as "faith."
For without faith, it is impossible to understand God or any of His commandments.
Now am I going to jail or what?
Certainly.
They would like certain aspects of their religion enforced by government, ie theocracy. This is no easy task, as such a profound change in government and culture would be shocking and overwhelmingly resisted if instituted overnight. They've observed history, and noticed that change in this country is accomplished in small steps, witness the seatbelt laws. At one time it was quite an accomplishment for government to force auto makers to equip cars with belts. Today there are roadblocks to enforce usage. I'm sure you're wll aware of the creeping influence of socialism as well.
Back to incremental theocracy. At this time we have religious liberty, and government is supposed to remian neutral in matters of religion. It is supposed to neither aid nor inhibit religious practice.
These people want to remove that neutrality. They do so in small steps, to create the perception that government is supposed to favor some religion. They'll already point to the presence of "In God We Trust" on money, they already have on this thread. They'll point to the Pledge of Allegience, and conveniently omit that God's name was only added in the 50's. And so they would like the Commandments posted in courthouses. Once that has been done for a while, they will address the objection of a religiously based law by saying "Of course government is supposed to enforce religious laws, can't you see the Commandments are right there on the court house lawn, fool?!"
Forget jail. Tax payers would have to pay for your religious expression sentence.
It's the oven for you!
The union to strip YOU of your Liberties!
I'll be in good company (Judge Moore).
Well, I applaud your honesty. But I must tell you I vehemently oppose establishment of state religion. In times past, states would vigorously persecute persons of the wrong religion. Virginia even had a law that you had to attend church or be whipped.
I would flagrantly violate such laws and consider them no less than tyranny, and respond accordingly.
....through another man's wallet.
How do you explain the actions, words and deeds of our Founders which clearly promoted religious behavior, such as Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation, just to name one example? As for "religious based" law, it seems to me it doesn't matter what the law is based on, it has to go through a legislature and be signed by an executive and found to comply with the Constitution subject to judicial review. This is true of state law as well as federal. I could be a legislator, and be motivated by the Grateful Dead, or Hinduism, or the Moonies, and write a law. But it still has to go through the process. In the end, that law is the product of representative government. These theocrats you describe are subject to a vote, and to the scrutiny of a free press, and to political opposition. None of which would occur in a theocracy. How the hell do you have a theocratic representative republic?
Since this is no longer a republic and has not been for some time, the question would more accurately be: How do you have a theocratic democracy?
Real easy. 51% of the voters are of the same religion.
The point is that democracy is not the same as liberty. Democracy by definition is simply whatever the majority wants is law, and there is no such thing as rights.
Liberty means that even a majority has no legitimate power to violate the rights of others. And it is self evident that free exercise of religion, or lack thereof, is one of those rights.
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