Read the Constitution more closely

But it is NOT being treated fairly under our laws. If that were so, I would have the right to prayer in a public place and to display the ten commandments near a place that enacts that same right of law. Otherwise, you may as well end the bible swear ins at all political events such as the president and justice departments who swear in plantiffs and defendents to tell the truth or nothing but the truth so help them God. In some states such as California, it is now illegal to pray in public places or state the Pledge of Allegiance in schools as some muslims have won this in a court (OURS). Perhaps the courts forgot this too, and they need to be re-educated!!

The major religion in this country requires members to acknowledge the difference between right and wrong and holds them personally responsible for that knowledge. That flies in the face of one of our major parties. As a result, the proponents of the "living breathing" constitution interpret the first amendment to say "separation of church from state".

Well said patriciathomas..Hopefully we will once again become a nation that upholds the truths of a morally upright nation. Instead of a total downward spiral that this nation has been riding for the last 65 or so years. Religion or lack of religion is not the problem but I believe it to be a people who have put God on a shelf in order to live a life with no moral boundaries, non what-so-ever. This is a great nation that has become so bankrupt in every aspect that it is impossible to see what is truth and what is lie. We have an election coming this year and the way things are shaping up we all are fast approaching a day of reckoning. On one had we have two people who are sniping away at each other while a nation takes sides against one another; on the other we have a person who doesn't appeart to be as trust-worthy as he claims. God tells us if we repent our ways come back to Him He will have mercy on our land and heal it. The fight is more than politics people it is a way of life that is being threatened from within as well as from without as can be attested to by the recent bombings, murders of whole families, and murders of children of other children and family members....

but Retired Army the day is coming, maybe not in my lifetime, but it is coming when we will no longer be able to worship, speak the name of God Jesus Christ out loud or even carry or own a Bible without being persecuted or jailed. This nation is special, that is a given, but even the most special of nations can become so corrupted and erroded that they eventually fall. We, Americans, must bring God back into the forefront of our lives and that is putting it as gently as I know how. :-)

"Democracy is the art of persuasion." That's an interesting way of phrasing mob rule. I like it. Of course, that is also why pure democracy always fails almost immediately. Our country, on the other hand, is a republic and exists because of the rule of law. Had you actually been in the army, I think you would know this.

Freedom of religion also means freedom from religion. You can't be forced to practice any religion.

tjohns, you are wrong. Freedom of speech does not imply freedom from speech. The ultimate metaphor for free speech is the soap box in the town square. As you are free to mount that soapbox and declaim your opinions aloud, I cannot logically claim any "protection" from HEARING your views. I don't have to believe you, nor do I have to allow you to follow me home, call my house, or try to stick your foot in my door to force me to listen. But I am not protected from EXPOSURE to your speech, because your right to make it is protected. Religion follows the same dynamic. Note that you don't see the ACLU filing suit against people who assert their "right" to force you to believe in Jesus, Mohammed or Moses. This is because it is well established that no such right exists. In that sense, we enjoy freedom "from" religion. However, the ridiculous lawsuits (filed by the ACLU, on behalf of those with liberal views, so don't claim that this is some conservative bogeyman) filed in the attempt to keep people from putting up a creche or a menorah or what have you, are absurd, extremist violations of the First Amendment ("prohibiting the free exercise thereof;") Y'all KNOW this, you just don't CARE

tjohns22 - you would think so but it isn't so - what we experience today is the religion practiced by the founders of this country is prohibited in virtually all areas of daily life; however, we have other beliefs shoved down our childrens throats without the benefit of presenting the mainstream and usually opposing beliefs.

the state has one goal....... it is god. it is momma, daddy, family, caregiver, teacher of right and wrong, righting all wrongs,
redistributing all outcomes. sick.....

...and then, contrast that with liberal gov't bodies that are allowing the muslim call to prayer to be broadcast over, essentially, a city-wide PA system, because we want to be "inclusive." Let me understand "inclusion," then: I can't have a 10 commandments image on the grounds of the state supreme court, I can't have a Nativity down on the Augusta Common, I can't let children who want to pray in school have a minute at the beginning of the school day, because I would be failing to "protect" tjohns from those awful, oppressive religious symbols that would cause him such distress. Not sure HOW, exactly, but they would cause him distress. However, at the same time, blind people don't get protection from muslim cabbies who won't pick them up b/c they have guide dogs-we can't "offend" the cabbies. Airports that can't call a chapel a chapel, have to install footbaths for muslims so they don't get offended. And a whole city has to hear the amplified screeching of the muslim call to prayer 5 times/day, b/c we (say it with me) can't offend muslims. Hell, even Harvard, the bastion of "inclusion," is now mandating women-only gym schedules...to "protect" muslims.

Now, I'm not a raving pro-Christian-life-in-the-public-square guy. I just get tired of liberal hypocrisy, and of the clash we all feel when nanny-state sacred cows collide. I don't understand how someone can sit on high and claim, with a straight face, that there is no inconsistency behind requiring a boxing club to install ramps in order to be ADA compliant (allowing all those wheelchair boxers their constitutional right to have physical access to a privately-owned boxing ring), while at the same time claiming that the only three cabdrivers on duty in the wee hours of the morning at the airport, don't have to allow a blind guy into their cab because he has (gasp!) a DOG with him... Stupid, stupid, stupid...and don't get me started on the CA appeals court, which claims that I have no Constitutional right to educate my own child...

Religions are just kingdoms based on part fact and part fictional stories, derived to help the commoner explain the unexplainable. There is no future for religion in our future. When will we stop having faith in these stories and start having faith in mankind as a whole. Nothing makes me sicker than the person who thinks he can sin all week and treat others terribly then go to whatever church and ask for forgiveness and think everything is alright. Those that I have seen the most religious were the worst offenders.

With freedom of expressing yourself comes someone else's freedom from not having to listen to you, no?

The country was founded on the principle to be able to worship how you want to. In England, they were being forced to worship as Anglicans or Catholics (pick monarch in charge). So coming over here meant that they could worship as they wished not by some government sanctioned program. So in this sense, freedom of religion can man freedom from religion. No beliefs are shoved down anyone's throat, and it never should. Believe what you want, worship how you want. People always want to complain how their views are discounted...and how dare anyone try to act like their religion is superior to ours...blah blah blah. If everyone minded their own business, everything would be fine. But no one can mind their own business and every religion will always think that their religion is superior. Which I think is the main reason that the founding fathers made it to where there can not be an official religion.

By the way, what does the phrase "free exercise" as used in the First Amendment mean to everyone here? Dare I say that even the letter-writer is guilty of making his own interpretation? He quotes the amendment but then paraphrases it in his own letter! The amendment states "free exercise thereof" it most certainly doesn't state "a right to freedom of religion". And therein lies the rub, my friends. Mr. Weakley has interpreted the Constitution as he sees fit. Others interpret it differently. It can be very difficult to interpret it literally all the time for all situations.

Johnsmith, I agree with your assertion that I cannot stop you from speaking on the soapbox. If I like, I can get on a soapbox next to you and drown you out though. I have no problem with anyone's particular religion. There are certain religions who believe that if you do not let them convert all to their way of thinking, it violates their personal freedom of religion. Point is, the sword cuts both ways. We all only want to see it from our p.o.v. though. The government cannot endorse any religion over another. Meaning, ten commandments in a courthouse is an endorsement of judeo christian beliefs. Also Obama and others stumping for election in a church should be a no-no.

Buick, no. I don't have a "right" to force you to listen to me (which is why all telephone solicitation and survey should be illegal). At the same time, assuming that I am speaking in "the public square," you don't have a "right" to make me shut up so that you don't hear me as you walk by. You have the right to shut me up as it relates to your own house, business, etc. This is why a news org can fire a reporter without violating the 1st Amendment, and why the FCC should not be able to fine broadcasters who violate "decency" standards. Repub, you are right, you can get a bigger soapbox. However, when you get a PA system and broadcast at 100db throughout the town, don't you think you've gone beyond a soapbox and invaded my "right to be left alone" zone? I can't choose not to hear amplified speech...

If my belief in God is wrong, then I will never know it as my death will be the end. If your disbelief in God is wrong, you will know it for eternity.

Back to the letter for a moment. The writer's logic in the third paragraph is somewhat tortured. I think it means that a national religion cannot be established and no one can be stopped from practicing the religion of his choice. It is a "hands-off" attitude. Christian134 seems to think that without religion (his/hers, of course) that good morals, etc., are not possible. This is nonsense. Ethics preceded Christianity by a few centuries. I am an atheist, but I'm not out stealing, raping, murdering, etc. It is actually in religion's best interest to keep the government out of it. Something as personal as religion - or the lack of it - shouldn't be forced down the throat by the government.

fd1962, I don't have a dog in this fight, but, is this what you are looking for? http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-07-25-muslim-special-treatment-...

Virtually all religions, especially the Christian and Islamic versions, are basically forms of social control. Civilizations that are able to control the behavior of their members (except when fighting wars against OTHER civilizations) tend to survive and prosper. Control is exerted both by government (laws backed by police power) and the church (moral injunctions backed by the police power of "God"). Both institutions--government and religion--are human inventions whose sole purpose was, and is, social control. Those who believe either government or religion has some transcendent origin are just the sort of gullible people those institutions depend on. As with all human institutions, governments and religions seek to perpetuate themselves (along with the power and wealth they bring to those who run them), which explains why many religions oppose abortion. When population slows, both governments and religions run short of supporters, including of soldiers of both the gun and the faith. Sorry, just "keeping it real."

If I learn those things, fd, then I will have lived a positive life with purpose beyond temporal existence. I will have left a legacy to my children of respect and love for authourity with compassion. I will have left a loving memory of myself with most whom I have had contact. I will have regretted nothing. Under your scenario, there is no consequence for an evil life. Sounds a lot like life in the USA. It's always someone else's fault. I didn't know that coffee would burn me, pay me. I got in the way of a pursuit, pay me. I didn't kill that person, the debil made me do it. Oh yeah, no hell. Right.