If you are talking about the public sector, the courts have time and time again proven your opinion to be untrue. Preference to religion is not allowed in most public sectors, like schools and courthouses. That's why we don't allow school led prayers, or have Ten Commandments displayed in the lawn of the courthouse. I think swearing on the Bible is one of the last state-endorsed religious acts remaining. If you are talking about private sector, of course it would be impossible to be free from the influence of religion. You can't ban it or silence it, nor would anyone want to. If you want to be free of religious influence you can only ignore it.
Ha. I actually used that quote in my "We The People" competition my senior year of high school for AP Government. What an awesome movie.
The practice of religious rites is what is disallowed. That is within the guidelines of the Establishmnet Clause. The influence that religion has in shaping the laws and application of those laws is evident in everyday matters from the sale of alcohol to FCC guidelines on television programming. On a different scale, community standards represent the same line of thought.
As well as the fallacy of that the religious right singularly opposes any issue. Yes, it represents a concerted block of voters, as does any other group which engages in advocacy. The series of ad hominem attacks against it's constituency does little to elevate the discourse.
And what kind of ad hominem attacks do Christian groups get that other political groups do not? Sound like par for the course for any large political group to me.
My pardon, should have multi quoted. That should be directed to the retread retard retort from martin. The context of the discussion can be better than that. We all know that it is doubtful that opinions will change, but I often stand in admiration for the discourse that presents itself on this forum. Even in disagreement, I enjoy the enlightenment. Some of the positions taken on this forum are very well developed, much more so than mine. We may never agree, but I appreciate the banter.
Deceks, I respect your point on this, and interpret it as people voting based on their own morals, which are shaped by religious beliefs. I get that, and understand why some people would employ such illogical practices. That still doesn't address why the government is in the business of marriage, when Christians should only care about the church-sanctioned marriage, not what contract two adults agree to execute. I must admit that I got a good laugh about Jefferson saying that his religion is the most friendly to science. That's good stuff. While not the most sensitive analogy, martin got it right on his Corky reference. Chrisitianity is notorious for being, if not anti-science, certainly far from embracing even the basics.
Haven't done any research about it, but I would think that some would see it as the State encroaching upon the role of the church in defining marriage. Many of those seeking civil unions are not satisfied with that terminology inasmuch that civil unions are not universally recognized outside of the originating state and do not share the same status legally as a marriage. Follow these quotes and you get a better feel for Jefferson's position, that religion has often been subverted by the clergy. Unchecked power often results in a perversion of Christianity. Jefferson sought to prevent abuse by both religious and civil tyrants. "In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own." --Thomas Jefferson to Horatio G. Spafford, 1814. ME 14:119 "The clergy, by getting themselves established by law and ingrafted into the machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against the civil and religious rights of man." --Thomas Jefferson to Jeremiah Moor, 1800. "I have ever thought religion a concern purely between our God and our consciences, for which we were accountable to Him, and not to the priests." --Thomas Jefferson to Mrs. M. Harrison Smith, 1816. ME 15:60
