[Tipsy]

Originally Posted by Angelicpower

This is absolutely insane..there are people who don't want to have children because of this kind of thing..the world has gone madd is turning to the evil side..

Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance is nothing short of a profession of faith. For quite a long time, saying the pledge was doing nothing more than pledging to indivisibility, liberty, and justice. Since 1954 though, we have been pledging to the existence of God, as in monotheism being the solid truth in a country that has made clear it is unconstitutional to pass “laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another.” As Lights specifically said impacted him, would you be impacted if everyday your children went to school and recited a pledge saying that God does not exist? If you don’t want that you happen look at how leaving it in would oppress the religious freedom of nonbelievers.

I mean the guy who is fighting for this removed might be an atheist extremist, but that in no way makes him wrong.

Originally Posted by AngelicPower

this country was started with the idea of God in it..no matter what religion..one nation under God...whatever God you praise and worship! :hbut

I’d like to see either one of you show me that your point is more valid than the others. My personal belief is that people who do not believe in God are confused, but I am just as willing to respect a person of one of those godless religions to tell me right back that I am the one confused because I believe in God. Either way, I fail to see how believing or not believing in God automatically makes you weaker, or a better person, or so forth.

Originally Posted by _Ace

And no, not every ethnic group worships a god. And by saying "under God" you refer to the christian god (see the capitalized G?).

Actually the word God can be applied to any of the Abrahamic religions, but regardless of whether it is aiding one religion or one hundred, it is still unconstitutional.

Originally Posted by _Ace

and when some other government guy defends creationism you know that you aren't worshiping a god, but all the shit that his "existance" has caused) is unnecessary and stupid

Just to point it out, creationism is taught against by the Catholic Church. Not sire if you were referring to a Catholic guy, but just throwing that out there.

Originally Posted by AngelicPower

Well..not always known it..but as I said before that is one of the reasons they came here anyway, freedom of religion..right? Not the only reason but one reason with many others.

Yes, freedom of religion. Such as large group of Roman Catholics who went to settle in Maryland so that they would not be oppressed by other forms of Christianity, specifically the Church of England. Everyone deserves freedom the practice their religion whether they are Roman Catholics as in the example, any other group of theists, or atheists.

Originally Posted by AngelicPower

Then what exactly does your pentagram stand for? I have always known it to be related to the satanic religion..we aren't going to put buddahs and things of that sort up either...but to take down the ten commandments is ridicules because even if it hadn't come from the Bible those are some very good things to go by..don't you think??

It doesn’t matter if the Bible, the Ten Commandments, or other religious teachings are good or not, my problem is that it shouldn’t oppress people’s right to freedom of religion. Freedom of religion gives Christians the right to not be oppressed just as much as it applies to godless people.

Originally Posted by AngelicPower

Killing isn't cool..neither is disobeying your parents..cheating on your spouse is terrible...all the commandments are good..what shall they be replaced with?? Nothing? Just dead space or fill the space with something that has no meaning at all? I say we leave it as the country has always known it..I am so sick of sue sue sue and oh oh my freedoms, it is killing me..the commandments are good for all! Even the satanic ones!! As I said before..just throw your hand up there and say a silent chant to your own god..is it killing anyone? NO!

Perhaps they could be replaced with secular laws that protect against murder, such as the ones that are already in place? And regardless of if I think it is moral or not to cheat on a spouse, how does it give anyone the right to infringe on that person’s rights by forcing them not to? Secular marriage is nothing more than a contract on paper. It has no deeper meaning, in my opinion, other than an economic relationship. A teacher should have the right to put a satanic thing on the wall if they put a crucifix or a copy of the Ten Commandments on the wall. However, either of these options is not something that should be pushed onto minds easily taken advantage of in schools. In front of a public institution or something, I have no problem with any religious symbol of any religion being placed there.

Religion in the public’s eye needs to be balanced. The big issues as I stated above such as abortion are more human rights issues than trying to oppress someone with religion. The line between oppressing people with godless beliefs are being oppressed because some schools do punish people for not reciting the pledge. However, this must also be a line drawn to not oppress the free exercise of religion. In this case, I still believe that the phrase “under God” should be taken out not only because of my religious beliefs of tolerance, but the fact that people are guaranteed the right to not have a religious belief forced upon them.

Ironically the person who wrote the original version of the Pledge of Allegiance was a member of the clergy and felt absolutely no need to throw in the phrase “under God”.