Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed a law protecting Christmas and other holiday celebrations in Texas public schools from legal challenges while stressing that freedom of religion is not the same thing as freedom from religion.
Said Perry: "It's a shame that a bill like this one I'm signing today is even required, but I'm glad that we're standing up for religious freedom in this state. Religious freedom does not mean freedom from religion."
What a dip$hit!
Thomas Jefferson Disagrees with Perry on this, but that isn't surprising.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
BoxofCrap like most of left-wing nuts has probably never read the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Constitution does EXPLICITLY say that: Congress cannot make a law that favors the establishment of one particular religion; that prohibits the free exercise of religion; That most clearly establishes a Freedom OF Religion .... there is no mention of a Freedom FROM Religion ... there is no mention of separation of church and state ... there is no hint that churches and people who attend churches can not exercise the right to put religious symbols in public spaces .. no mention that they couldn't pray in public places like schools ... no mention that they couldn't express their faith and faith values in the political arena.
I applaud Governor Perry and other political leaders who are taking this stand fro Religious Liberty. At the same time, I reiterate my opposition to and hope to work to defeat at the ballot box all of those political leaders who spit on and attempt to limit or end Religious Liberty --- and this is especially directed at the Pelosipalosers in Congress who bring shame to the Democratic Party and to the Catholic faith that they claim to profess by their extremist positions on abortion and other matters.
George Amedore & Christian Klueg for NYS Senate 2016 Pete Vroman for State Assembly 2016[/size][/color]
"For this is what America is all about. It is the uncrossed desert and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and the harvest that is sleeping in the unplowed ground." Lyndon Baines Johnson
You are, of course, entitled to your twisted opinion on religion. I prefer the 'opinion' of our founding father Thomas Jefferson who WROTE much of the US Constitution.
Here are some quotes from Thomas Jefferson on religious freedom: In this context, especially #10 Religious institutions that use government power in support of themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths, or of no faith, undermine all our civil rights. Erecting the “wall of separation between church and state,” therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society.”
Quoted Text
1. “Among the most inestimable of our blessings is that … of liberty to worship our Creator in the way we think most agreeable to His will; a liberty deemed in other countries incompatible with good government and yet proved by our experience to be its best support.”– Thomas Jefferson, Reply to Baptist Address, 1807
2. “The rights [to religious freedom] are of the natural rights of mankind, and … if any act shall be … passed to repeal [an act granting those rights] or to narrow its operation, such act will be an infringement of natural right.” – Thomas Jefferson, Statute for Religious Freedom, 1779. Papers , 2:546
3. “The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.” – Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, 1781-82
4. ”Subject opinion to coercion: whom will you make your inquisitors? Fallible men; men governed by bad passions, by private as well as public reasons. And why subject it to coercion? To produce uniformity. But is uniformity of opinion desirable? No more than of face and stature.”– Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782
5. “ Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch toward uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one-half the world fools and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth.“ – Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, 1781-82
6. ”I know it will give great offense to the clergy, but the advocate of religious freedom is to expect neither peace nor forgiveness from them.“– Thomas Jefferson, to Levi Lincoln, 1802. ME 10:305
7. “I am really mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, a fact like this [that a bookseller is prosecuted for selling books advocating what was then presumed by the statusuo to be pseudoscience] can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too, as an offence against religion; that a question about the sale of a book can be carried before the civil magistrate. Is this then our freedom of religion? and are we to have a censor whose imprimatur shall say what books may be sold, and what we may buy? And who is thus to dogmatize religious opinions for our citizens? Whose foot is to be the measure to which ours are all to be cut or stretched? Is a priest to be our inquisitor, or shall a layman, simple as ourselves, set up his reason as the rule for what we are to read, and what we must believe? It is an insult to our citizens to question whether they are rational beings or not, and blasphemy against religion to suppose it cannot stand the test of truth and reason. If M de Becourt’s book be false in its facts, disprove them; if false in its reasoning, refute it. But, for God’s sake, let us freely hear both sides, if we choose….”– Thomas Jefferson, letter to N G Dufief, Philadelphia bookseller (1814), after being prosecuted for selling de Becourt’s book, Sur la Création du Monde, un Systême d’Organisation Primitive, which Jefferson himself had purchased (check Positive Atheism’s Historical library for a copy of the entire letter).
8. “I am for freedom of religion, & against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another.” – Thomas Jefferson, letter to Elbridge Gerry, 1799 (see Positive Atheism’s Historical section)
9. “I never will, by any word or act, bow to the shrine of intolerance, or admit a right of inquiry into the religious opinions of others.”– Thomas Jefferson, letter to Edward Dowse, April 19, 1803
10. “Because religious belief, or non-belief, is such an important part of every person’s life, freedom of religion affects every individual. Religious institutions that use government power in support of themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths, or of no faith, undermine all our civil rights. Moreover, state support of an established religion tends to make the clergy unresponsive to their own people, and leads to corruption within religion itself. Erecting the “wall of separation between church and state,” therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society.” -- Thomas Jefferson, to the Virginia Baptists (1808) ME 16:320. This is his second kown use of the term “wall of separation,” here quoting his own use in the Danbury Baptist letter. This wording of the original was several times upheld by the Supreme Court as an accurate description of the Establishment Clause: Reynolds (98 US at 164, 1879); Everson (330 US at 59, 1947); McCollum (333 US at 232, 1948)
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
DVO RABID: Here are some quotes from Thomas Jefferson on religious freedom: In this context, especially #10 Religious institutions that use government power in support of themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths, or of no faith, undermine all our civil rights. Erecting the “wall of separation between church and state,” therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society.”
Please show me where mandated compulsory schooling was a government institution during Jeffersons time. Then you might be able to draw a logical parallel.
You are, of course, entitled to your twisted opinion on religion. I prefer the 'opinion' of our founding father Thomas Jefferson who WROTE much of the US Constitution.
Here are some quotes from Thomas Jefferson on religious freedom: In this context, especially #10 Religious institutions that use government power in support of themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths, or of no faith, undermine all our civil rights. Erecting the “wall of separation between church and state,” therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society.”
Thomas Jefferson had NOTHING to do with the writing of the U.S. Constitution. Jefferson was NOT a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. Jefferson was a few thousand miles away in France at the time.
Thomas Jefferson's personal writings do NOT have the same importance or force of law as the U.S. Constitution. His personal writings do not have the same importance or force as any law passed by Congress and signed by a President or any Supreme Court decision. Jefferson was merely one common citizen stating his opinion -- and his opinion is no more important than any other citizen's opinion.
I challenge you to find IN THE U.S. Constitution the words "separation of church and state." They are NOT there.
George Amedore & Christian Klueg for NYS Senate 2016 Pete Vroman for State Assembly 2016[/size][/color]
"For this is what America is all about. It is the uncrossed desert and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and the harvest that is sleeping in the unplowed ground." Lyndon Baines Johnson
Please show me where mandated compulsory schooling was a government institution during Jeffersons time. Then you might be able to draw a logical parallel.
You fail again.
He needs to go back to school -- he thinks Jefferson wrote the Constitution and that Jefferson's personal writings/personal opinions are the law of the land.
George Amedore & Christian Klueg for NYS Senate 2016 Pete Vroman for State Assembly 2016[/size][/color]
"For this is what America is all about. It is the uncrossed desert and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and the harvest that is sleeping in the unplowed ground." Lyndon Baines Johnson
He needs to go back to school -- he thinks Jefferson wrote the Constitution and that Jefferson's personal writings/personal opinions are the law of the land.
Even if he wants to use his writings as fodder to defend a modern day issue involving a government institution, at least make sure the institution existed while the man was alive. I don't think Jefferson ever dreamed that the government can mandate children be schooled with a government mandated curriculum. He would see how that is indoctrination and could be easily abused. As it has by forbidding religion and mandating Darwinism. The state is installing their own values.
Even if he wants to use his writings as fodder to defend a modern day issue involving a government institution, at least make sure the institution existed while the man was alive. I don't think Jefferson ever dreamed that the government can mandate children be schooled with a government mandated curriculum. He would see how that is indoctrination and could be easily abused. As it has by forbidding religion and mandating Darwinism. The state is installing their own values.
Although, it is true that Jefferson (he served on the School Board for the District of Columbia while he was President of the United States) endorsed the idea of the Bible being used to teach reading in the public schools of Washington, D.C.
The idea of a national curriculum is not a new idea. At least two presidents, John Quincy Adams and James Garfield, spoke about a national system of public education during their successful campaigns for the White House. The actual idea has some good points but it also has a number of bad points - including as you have mentioned the left-wing nut attempts to completely eliminate traditional religion from schools. I can't say that the left-wing nuts want ALL religion out of school because they seem to be o.k. with witchcraft, greek mythology and the hedonist/homosexual agenda being taught as the New Age P.C. Religion in all classrooms across the country.
George Amedore & Christian Klueg for NYS Senate 2016 Pete Vroman for State Assembly 2016[/size][/color]
"For this is what America is all about. It is the uncrossed desert and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and the harvest that is sleeping in the unplowed ground." Lyndon Baines Johnson
Please show me where mandated compulsory schooling was a government institution during Jeffersons time. Then you might be able to draw a logical parallel.
You fail again.
My post has absolutely nothing to do with compulsory schooling. That is your fetish, not mine.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
Thomas Jefferson had NOTHING to do with the writing of the U.S. Constitution. Jefferson was NOT a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. Jefferson was a few thousand miles away in France at the time.
Thomas Jefferson's personal writings do NOT have the same importance or force of law as the U.S. Constitution. His personal writings do not have the same importance or force as any law passed by Congress and signed by a President or any Supreme Court decision. Jefferson was merely one common citizen stating his opinion -- and his opinion is no more important than any other citizen's opinion.
I challenge you to find IN THE U.S. Constitution the words "separation of church and state." They are NOT there.
Right... Neither is the word GOD in the US constitution. Or The right to privacy The right to travel The right to vote
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
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