Supreme Court rules to keep "under god" in the pledge

And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerve in the brain of Jupiter.

-Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Adams, April 11, 1823

your quote was 1803. look what 20 years of thinking did for our man.

 

"Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear". (from The Life and Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson)

"I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature."- jefferson

 

lol knew that was coming.

 

As did I.
And I suspect he gleaned that quote from an atheist.com website and hasn't read the entire text of the letter.

 

none of these quotes change the fact that government and religion should be separate. this is a simple and obvious fact.

schools should neither be telling kids to pledge to god, nor that god doesnt exist. that is a job for parents. the government is not to involve itself in religion. dont make your government teach children your views on religion. some children are not yours, and you have no right.

i dont tell your kids that there is no god, so dont tell mine that there is. keep your religion to yourself.

 

hey, i guess if you want to force your religion and views on other people's children, thats just the way it is. i like to let other people decide for themselves, and not use my government as a tool for the advancement of belief.

some people like to force others to have faith in the same things they do, i dont. i have no plans to attempt to convince your children that there is no god. but thats just me.

 

The problem as I see it is that this arguement has no business being a Constitutional/Judicial argument. Religion, or lack thereof, is a personal matter much like what we watch on tv, the books we read, etc. and should not be cast into a public forum. The gov't has no business telling us what we can or cannot believe or participate in as long as it doesn't affect the well-being of others.
Many of you get upset with the gov't. enforcing seat belt laws. You contend it is a matter of choice as to whether you want to wear one or not. But yet you think it okay for the gov't. to say it is okay for ones viewpoint on religious matters to be forced on those that disagree. Even though there may be no law requiring saying the Pledge or prayer in school, those teachers and administrators who believe there should be such a practice will nonetheless indulge in it in spite of the feelings of those who don't. This is nothing less than the will of a few being imposed on those who may disagree and is wrong.

Since we are mostly men on here, how many of you read Playboy or Penthouse or indulge in xxx-rated movies in the privacy of your home? As you are well aware, many are opposed to this material on religious grounds and would, if possible, have it banned for use by all. Surely you would object to this invasion of your rights. This is no different than someone who doesn't believe or has different beliefs than yours being forced to take part in school prayer or the Pledge. As I have stated previously religious matters are strictly a matter of personal preference and have absolutely no place in the public forum as far as these type issues are concerned.

 

This may or may not surprise you Mike, but I am not 100% convinced that *school prayer* is a great idea for schools.
I am even more convinced, the proverbial 110%, that it is Constitutionally allowed however.
In *defense* of school prayer or *religion in school*, what exactly is wrong with a prayer before a football game, a graduation ceremony, a couple of minutes before the start of class?
I know the hysterics start with, yeah but then you'll have a radical Muslim cleric praying for the destruction of the discos in the name of Allah or yeah, yeah then you'll have a snake handler having kindergartners handle a posionsous asp before they start working on their coloring books.
C'mon, what we are talking about in practice or reality is a few second prayer before a football game for God to protect the participants and getting everyone home safely or a few second prayer with most of the kids wishing their were home playing X-box.
My opposition side of school prayer has to do with the fact that I believe we need to spend more time with the three R's in public schools and less with assundry topics, be it religion, *tolerance* or sex education, to name a few.

 

whenever something comes on my tv that is less than 2 X, i scream "BORING!" and refuse to watch it. for me it is XXX or nothing.