I combined the “Establishment Clause” and the “Free Exercise Clause” because they are so closely related.
I have to agree with this one. I believe it is essential for the government not to endorse or promote one religion over another. I also agree that people should have the right to practice any religion of their choice. In my opinion, both are vital aspects of a free nation.
However, I have often struggled with the Establishment Clause. It is not that I am retracting my earlier statement, it is just I am a bit biased because I am Christian. I don’t like the fact that the Ten Commandments have been removed from court houses or that prayers are prohibited in public schools.
What I have come to realize is that the Ten Commandments are not necessarily just a set of rules from one religion’s God, but a fundamental value system for life. When you read the Commandments, are there not at least seven of them you should live by? Leave out the ones about God and the Sabbath. What about “thou shall not kill” or “thou shall not steal?” Can’t we agree that maybe the criminals in the court house about to be sentenced for first-degree murder or grand theft auto could have used those rules?
As for prayer, I think anybody that wants to join in a morning prayer should be able to do so. Don’t take it out because of political correctness. Just allow each student to pray to their religion’s God. There should be time set aside for it.
At the end of the day, people should be allowed to have their own spiritual times — without any government interference. The government should not be involved in something that personal. The only reason to do so would be to control you.
Now, I want to know what you think. I have stated my case. I am in favor of this right and believe it is essential.
Do you think this right is important? Would you consider it an essential right? Why or why not?
These are your rights at the end of the day, America. It is up to us to make sure we remember that and do not let them be taken away.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Jeannie Danna
Senator Brown from Montana,
I can help you find you're way again.
Please text Haiti to 90999 so that ten of you're dollars will go directly to the Red Cross. They are digging men, women and little children from the rubble as you write at you're desk.
thank you.
2 - Jordan Richardson
What is it with you Americans and longing for the past? Did it ever occur to you that maybe the "good ol' days" weren't all that good to everyone and that progress and change are inevitabilities in this world?
This basic concept of needing to return to your "roots" is outdated and sluggish. It is solely responsible for America's consistent slide into mediocrity and financial ruin.
What you need as a country is legitimate progress, production, compassion, and tolerance for that fearful "Other" you're always crowing about. Living by dead documents is a sign of regression and, yes, the Founding Fathers meant for America to be a land of progress, leadership and strength.
It's just too bad that so many Americans are spitting on this ideals by attempting to apply them across the board on a nation that is expanding culturally and morally by the second.
3 - Jeannie Danna
Yes, as Americans sink deeper and deeper into the disease of consumerism, this man speechifies!
4 - Jeannie Danna
Jordan,
I am glad that you are commenting on his thread.
5 - Jeannie Danna
Senator,
Before the earthquake there were two and a half physicians for every twenty thousand Haitians...no infra-structure whatsoever!
Is this the America you are invisioning?
We go back to only white male landowners being allowed to vote?
We go back to slavery, so you're wife will not get her nails chipped doing housework or her breasts ruined from feeding her children?
You own it all?
My God, all your voters should read this article...
6 - Jeannie Danna
Please Text The word HAITI to 90999 and send ten dollars to the International Red Cross. The money will go to help dig out the living and dead from the rubble, give urgent medical care to the wounded, and feed the starving people.
7 - Arch Consevrative
What is it with you Americans and longing for the past? Did it ever occur to you that maybe the "good ol' days" weren't all that good to everyone and that progress and change are inevitabilities in this world?
In 1913, prior to the creation of the federal reserve we were the largest creditor nation on earth. Nearly 100 years later after the FED, the New Deal and a buttload of social welfare policy, we are the largest debtor nation in the world.
People used to read, and eat dinner as a family, and spend time with each other.
Today we watch TV, eat fast food, and sit at the computer all day long.
To be sure there were black marks from our history which have been rectified such as slavery, civil rights and the way women were viewed.
But I feel sorry for anyone that can't see what lazy, shallow, self-centered, materialistic, group think, bunch of whiny crybabies we have become as a nation.
Jordan is the typical leftist. Claiming that because the Constitution is old it is no longer relevant. he'd prefer we just tear it up and let the uber liberals have their way with this nation. He's the type that claims change for the sake of change is a good thing....as long as those who are in charge share his views.
8 - Jeannie Danna
Please Text The word HAITI to 90999 and send ten dollars to the International Red Cross. The money will go to help dig out the living and dead from the rubble, give urgent medical care to the wounded, and feed the starving people.
9 - roger nowosielski
"To be sure there were black marks from our history which have been rectified such as slavery, civil rights and the way women were viewed."
You're quite right, Archie, but don't forget that none of those things have been won in the struggle and against bitter resistance.
And so you happen to think, Archie, that we have arrived. Well, may I suggest that the struggle goes on.
So I shall return thus to Jordan's quote:
". . . the Founding Fathers meant for America to be a land of progress, leadership and strength."
Returning to "our roots" is therefore a form of regression, Archie, because by your own admission, we have already progressed beyond the original conception. So why stop now, Archie. Why not develop, what Jordan calls,
"legitimate progress, production, compassion, and tolerance for that fearful 'Other'"?
We should be championing this fight rather than serve as a major obstacle.
10 - Jeannie Danna
I hope dad's reading this thread.
11 - roger nowosielski
. . . without the struggle and without bitter resistance
12 - Jeannie Danna
we would all fold like sheep!
13 - Jeannie Danna
see you all tonight..
14 - Arch Consevrative
Roger.....Jordan pretty much used a blanket to say that therw was nothing good from our past. I at least attempted to acknowledge that there was good and bad in our history.
Are you ready to tear up the Constitution Roger? Jordan is.....
Do you think society is better off now than 100 years ago? Look around you..........we're a nation full of morons glued to our tvs. We do what we're told when we're told. We sit idly by while our so called elected leaders and and their corporate counterparts rob us blind. This is progress?
You speak of change as if any change just for the sake of change is the right thing to do.
Ever heard this one Roger.......
if it ain't broke. don't fix it.
Perhaps you think there is nothing from our past worth returning to.......
I disagree.
15 - roger nowosielski
I ain't looking to the past, Archie, only to the future. Which isn't to say we should ignore the past.
But then again, by your own admission, "we're a nation full of morons glued to our tvs . . . [etcetera]," since this is not progress but a kind of retardation, there is something needing fixing, ain't that so?
Of course, you'd like to argue its the direct result of our increasingly "nanny government." My suggestion is that's it's deeper-rooted, indicative of a systemic problem.
16 - Glenn Contrarian
Arch -
Yes, America used to be the greatest creditor nation in the world. And after we paid off the monstrous debt of WWII (by using 90%+ tax rates on the richest Americans), our level of debt stayed pretty stable through Democratic AND Republican administrations...
...until Reagan came along.
"Reagan proved deficits don't matter." THAT, sir, is from Dick Cheney. Clinton tried to make things better and handed over a surplus to Bush 43...and we all see what happened then. Obama got handed the worst economic mess since the Depression, and he did exactly what all the other presidents did to get us out of recession - by stimulus spending.
But will you learn the lessons of history? No, you won't, because you cannot conceive that maybe, just maybe liberal policies are better for America...never mind that living standards are better in blue states by almost EVERY measure despite the fact that blue states (unlike red states) generally use fewer federal tax dollars than they pay out.
EVERY claim in that last sentence is provable, Arch. But be sure to ignore it, now, because you must protect your pride! You mustn't let yourself see that America generally does better under Democratic administrations, that blue states are generally better off than red states! No, REFUSE to see the truth! REFUSE to see through the hypocrisy of the Rabid Right!
Keep those blinders on, Arch! Why? Because those blinders are all that stand between your present political philosophy and reality!
17 - THE REFOUNDING FATHER
All:
I first want to say thanks so much for all of your comments. I love the debate.
May I ask that you please stay true to the subject of the article?
In this case, it's the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the Constitution.
How do you feel about these rights? Do you feel they are essential? Why or why not?
May God Bless the victims in Haiti and their families.
Thank you,
THE REFOUNDING FATHER
18 - Jeannie Danna
We are free to comment as we see fit.
as long as we do not attack you..I learned last year that I cannot control what people say in my thread.
You will learn if you stay.
19 - Jeannie Danna
Please Text The word HAITI to 90999 and send ten dollars to the International Red Cross. The money will go to help dig out the living and dead from the rubble, give urgent medical care to the wounded, and feed the starving people.
20 - Jeannie Danna
Don't let my poor sentence structure fool you.
What I lack in primary education, I make up for in INTELLECT.
21 - Dave Nalle
Jeannie, we all care about Haiti, but please stop spamming the threads about it.
Dave
22 - roger nowosielski
Apparently we don't, Dave. Kenn Jacobine chooses to use this situation as an occasion to make political point.
Consequently, I don't think Jeannie's reminders are spam. They are appeals to our conscience. Nothing wrong with that, and I don't see why you should object.
23 - El Bicho
"I don't think Jeannie's reminders are spam."
If she is doing it more than once on an article, particularly one that isn't about Haiti, it is
24 - roger nowosielski
Considering lots of nonsense posted on BC threads, I'm willing to live with it.
25 - Jordan Richardson
Are you ready to tear up the Constitution Roger? Jordan is.....
You finally understood one of the concepts I was talking about, Archie. Congrats!
The rest of what you said, about having nothing good in your history, was not at all what I said.