Posted on 08/30/2007 10:52:11 AM PDT by WildReeling
The Church of Man, a self-proclaimed agnostic religious institution, has issued a position backing Catholic and Christian parents opposing local Boards of Education over sex-ed programs in their schools.
"The Church of Man ... is concerned when it comes to the rights of individuals to practice their religious freedom - including the right to hold moral opinions for which they are not answerable to any government representative or body," stated a post on the Church of Man's website, www.churchofman.org.
The Church of Man cited Thomas Jefferson's famous exchange with the Danbury Baptist Association in which the phrase "wall of separation between Church and State" entered American policy.
"The nightmare the Danbury Baptists feared - that someone might 'suffer in Name, person or effects on account of his religious Opinions' has come true in Massachusetts in a country where the words that were meant to reassure them are repeated ad nausem 'separation of Church and State,'" according to the Church of Man's statement, which quoted the following passages:
"Our Sentiments are uniformly on the side of Religious Liberty - That religion is at all times and places a matter between God and Individuals - That no man ought to suffer in Name, person or effects on account of his religious Opinions - That the legitimate Power of Civil Government extends no further than to punish the man who works ill to his neighbor," wrote the Danbury Baptist Association in October of 1801.
"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between Church and State," replied President Thomas Jefferson.
According to the Church of Man, a recent ruling in Massachusetts making sexual-orientation and trangenderism topics compulsory with no option to opt-out amounts to "blasphemy," and is an indication of a view of the "wall of separation" as "semi-permeable" - since the State can legislate religious opinions, but that religious opinions are seen as an illegitimate influence on the State.
The statement from the Church of Man can be read at http://churchofman.org/08-30-2007/a-wall-has-two-sides-so-does-separation-of-church-and-state/ and the letters exchange by Thomas Jefferson and the Danbury Baptists can be read at http://www.lonang.com/exlibris/misc/danbury.htm
And somebody cares?
The “Church of Man” reminds me of a quote I once heard (I don’t remember who said it):
“He is a self-made man. And he worships his creator.”
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
LOL..we could send John Hurt into their meetings:
“And what makes you think a filthy, smelly old man like you could be a god?”
A true agnostic or, at least, a true agnostic with any common sense, defined as one who is not sure what the Truth is, would not come up with such a blasphemous name for their Church. It reeks of hubris.
"Church of the True God We Are Humbly Searching For and Hoping to Find" would be more like it.
Oh sure we care. We so desperately want their approval.
Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
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