Sorry, you lose: Introduction to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment

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Censorship reflects society's lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime. ~Potter Stewart

Hey, Southern Man, there was this cool dude named James Madison who lived a long time ago in a faraway land. One day, he was chillin' with some of his bros & smoking some hemp that his homeboy G. Wash had grown down by the Potomac & he got to thinking about some John Locke $hit he read back in college @ William & Mary. Now, ol' Jimmy used to like to read Locke after he ate some of those farout mushrooms he found growing out in the cow pasture, and this one treatise about government stuck in his mind. So, sometime in the late 1780s, he set quill to parchment & came up with this thing called a Bill of Rights. They usually teach you about such stuff in school, but since I know most Southerners don't make it past the 3rd grade, you probably learned about it on "Schoolhouse Rock." At any rate, I'm sure you've at least heard of this Bill of Rights. Anyway, years after Jimmy wrote it down, some preacher-folks started going around asking their congress critters for some money to help them build things like crosses & stone monuments & other idolatrous items on public property. One day, some secular humanists saw fit to make ol' Jimmy their president, 'cause they realized that even though he was a stoner & kinda non-religious, he was a pretty smart dude. Besides, the job didn't pay that much & you had to live in a house in a swamp, so not many other fellas really wanted the job. Gettin' back to the story, these preacher fellas showed up in the district, asking their congress critters for money. These easily bought vermin were ready to give it to 'em too, but they forgot that ol' Jimmy had written the rule book for this here form of gubmint. So when they put a bill on his desk (remember "I'm just a bill/sittin' here on Capitol Hill?"----that was on "Schoolhouse Rock" too; you probably saw it), he vetoed it & sent it back with a note attached. It read:

"The appropriation of funds of the United States for the use and support of religious societies, [is] contrary to the article of the Constitution which declares that 'Congress shall make no law respecting a religious establishment.'"

Now, since ol' Jimmy wrote that particular article, I'm kinda figgerin' he prolly knows how to interpret it.

I'll close with a bit from a 1995 issue of Mad magazine I have lyin' about:

"You're a group of Christian-based, conservative organizations with several million dollars to spend. Do you: feed the hungry? Clothe the poor? Don't be so naive! You blow the millions on a series of slickly-worded, logic bending ads espousing a widely discredited theory that one can be 'cured' of homosexuality through counseling & prayer."

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Censorship reflects society's lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime. ~Potter Stewart

Why that's mighty Christian of you.

/sarcasm

R.I. I think this has to be the best thing I've read in a long time. Well done sir.

I tried to rep R.I. for that post but couldn't since I have to spread it around. I thought I had been doing that.

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Write in *RON PAUL* on the November ballot
****Ron Paul ("Dr. Know") for President - 2008 !!
****Ron Pauls Campaign For Liberty | The Revolution Continues

How mature of you. . .

What I find amusing when it comes to Christianity and the ten commandments is that most Christians that I have met, believe in the new covenant with Jesus. In otherwords they believe that Jesus came and fulfilled the old law and gave his followers a new one, thus making it so that Christians didn't have to follow the old law.

So if this is true, then why keep the Ten Commandments? They are, after all, part of the old Mosaic Law.

I've wondered the same thing, Dylith. I guess that Christianity is filled with contradictions since the Bible is filled with them, too

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Write in *RON PAUL* on the November ballot
****Ron Paul ("Dr. Know") for President - 2008 !!
****Ron Pauls Campaign For Liberty | The Revolution Continues

I think that many Christians simply don't stop to think about it. Jesus listed the new commandments for Christians in the NT. The ones that were left out were summed up with the whole love thy neighbor code.

The Ten Commandments are Jewish Commandments. Christians have their own.

Exactly. And I'm only 14. I'm not expected to be mature yet.

But just the same, please with the 10 commandments already.

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Censorship reflects society's lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime. ~Potter Stewart

Good thing I got over being annoyed. As an "apatheist", I quit caring a while back.

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This is what happens when we have panderers instead of leaders...