This 'religion' thing

The Washington Times ^ | Balint Vazsonyi

[Polybius]

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,"

The intent of the Constitution was to prohibit Congress from establishing an official state religion as did Great Britain with the Church of England or as did Spain with Roman Catholicism.

Any attempts to deny any expression of non-sectarian religion sentiments is a violation of "prohibiting the free exercise thereof".

[AppyPappy]

Is it moral to compel men to pay for the advancement of a faith they do not support or share?

Yes.

Shall I put in bold for you?

[L,TOWM]

It's the Public School itself, to which I object.

From another homeschooler, your post is cause enough for me to sport you one of those cyber beers floating around here.

[Uriel1975]

...your post is cause enough for me to sport you one of those cyber beers floating around here.

Hah!! I'll have a cyber Warsteiner.

God bless you and your correctly-schooled children.

[OWK]

Is it moral to compel men to pay for the advancement of a faith they do not support or share?

Yes.

I'd submit that your moral code is warped.

[AppyPappy]

If you allow one, you must allow them all.

[Nebullis]

Is it moral to compel men to pay for the advancement of a faith they do not support or share?

Is it moral to compel individuals to pay for a national defense even if it is counter to their vehemently held convictions about peace?

The "advancement of faith" is a concept of such loose distinctions it can't be appositioned with "compel men to pay". It's an old and tired trick. If a government official prays with his family, he is advancing religion on government time. If a school principle prints a religious slogan, he is advancing religion on government time. But are any of these instances legislating an establishment of religion? No. And that is precisely what the constitution speaks to.

[alpowolf]

Libertarians believe you can say whatever you like (much to the irritation of most conservatives). We don't believe that you can forcibly take our money and give it to a church. This belief is not "suppressing speech".

I do think the ACLU needs to find something useful to do. A school putting "God Bless America" on a marquee doesn't do any harm. BTW the ACLU is not a Libertarian organization.

[Nebullis]

The establishment clause at no time implied the elimination of religion from the public sphere.

[AppyPappy]

That's because you can't accept reality. We DO allow religion in the public arena. Therefore, we must allow it all. Taxpayers pay for those arenas and they should be allowed some latitude when it comes to free speech. I disagree with your notion that a prayer in a stadium compels people to do anything.

[alpowolf]

I confess you're the first advocate of govt religion to be principled enough to support all religions. Most of your brethren are only referring to Christianity.

[AppyPappy]

first advocate of govt religion

And you are the first advocate of hamster stomping to agree with me.

[steve-b]

You mean like the "In God we Trust" on our money (which curiously enough, wasn't even ON our money until the 1950's?

I always assumed they added that line when we went off the gold standard, since from then on one could only pray that the green slips of paper would continue to be worth anything.

[OWK]

Good comments in number 70. I agree completely.

I think 90% of the disagreement over this subject would disappear, if we simply eliminated the inherently socialistic and divisive construct otherwise known as public schools.

I sure wish more conservatives would join with libertarians in attemtping to get rid of these collectivist propaganda factories. If they did, all of these arguments about creationism versus evolution, prayer vs not, homosexual normalization, etc... would simply disappear.

Parents (and not state) should decide what their children are taught, and parents (not state theft) should pay for it.

[logos]

I confess you're the first advocate of govt religion to be principled enough to support all religions. Most of your brethren are only referring to Christianity.

It would appear you don't know very many Christians. None of the Christians I know personally (and that would be a rather large number, btw) advocate any government religion of any persuasion, let alone one restricted to the Christian faith alone.

[jwalsh07]

A school putting "God Bless America" on a marquee doesn't do any harm. BTW the ACLU is not a Libertarian organization.

I'm aware of that but Storm Orphan is and he was trying to draw a nexis between the "God bless America" sign and the Constitution forbidding such a "pernicious" (my attempt at sarcasm) act.

I thought that was what the thread was about. Am I mistaken?