President Obama declares support for America and confirms Christian heritage.

[RonD1120 62]

President Obama addressed the nation with his get tough policy on everything dependent on petroleum and other fossil fuels e.g. wood, coal, peat, etc. His position was emphasized with the correct placement of the U.S. Flag over his right shoulder.

He concluded his address with "God bless the United States of America." This statement confirms his belief in our Christian heritage as a nation. Furthermore, he put to rest once and for all that the separation of church and state does not exist as Constitutional Law. As President of the U.S. he cannot violate the Constitution.

Look for the shiny things of God revealed by the Holy Spirit. They only last for an instant but it is a Holy Instant. Let your soul absorb them.

[jakee 1,596]

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His position was emphasized with the correct placement of the U.S. Flag over his right shoulder.

I'm glad that his office layout accords with your Feng Shui demands.

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He concluded his address with "God bless the United States of America." This statement confirms his belief in our Christian heritage as a nation.

And what exactly does that mean?

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Furthermore, he put to rest once and for all that the separation of church and state does not exist as Constitutional Law.

I was unaware that the President was the final arbiter of Constitutional matters. I think there's something about it in the Constitution, actually.

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As President of the U.S. he cannot violate the Constitution.

Really? Is there, like, some kind of magic forcefield that comes down and stops him whenever he tries? I'm curious about the mechanism here.

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[quade 4]

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He concluded his address with "God bless the United States of America." This statement confirms his belief in our Christian heritage as a nation.

And what exactly does that mean?

I guess it means the only god possible is the Christian god?

Seems kind of odd, but I think that's the only logical conclusion a person can draw from Ron's remarks.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[AndyBoyd 0]

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President Obama addressed the nation with his get tough policy on everything dependent on petroleum and other fossil fuels e.g. wood, coal, peat, etc. His position was emphasized with the correct placement of the U.S. Flag over his right shoulder.

He concluded his address with "God bless the United States of America." This statement confirms his belief in our Christian heritage as a nation. Furthermore, he put to rest once and for all that the separation of church and state does not exist as Constitutional Law. As President of the U.S. he cannot violate the Constitution.

You may want to have your meds adjusted, dude.

[billvon 3,120]

>As President of the U.S. he cannot violate the Constitution.

Thomas Jefferson:

"I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state."

If what you say is true. then Thomas Jefferson has put the matter to rest once and for all. After all, he cannot violate the Constitution.

[GeorgiaDon 380]

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"I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state."

And that right there is why the Texas Board of Education wanted to write him out of the history textbooks.

Don

_____________________________________
Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996)
“Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

[mnealtx 0]

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>As President of the U.S. he cannot violate the Constitution.

Thomas Jefferson:

"I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state."

If what you say is true. then Thomas Jefferson has put the matter to rest once and for all. After all, he cannot violate the Constitution.

That's correct - I don't see anything about the Church of England the United States in any of the amendments to the Constitution, so we're good.

Aren't we glad that's settled?

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[Andy9o8 2]

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He concluded his address with "God bless the United States of America." This statement confirms his belief in our Christian heritage as a nation. Furthermore, he put to rest once and for all that the separation of church and state does not exist as Constitutional Law. As President of the U.S. he cannot violate the Constitution.

You're trolling, right?

[RonD1120 62]

Even quade acknowledged the presidential use of faith in God to fix the oil spill.

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_flat;post=3884842;page=2;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;mh=25;

It is a news topic on the AM radio show.

Look for the shiny things of God revealed by the Holy Spirit. They only last for an instant but it is a Holy Instant. Let your soul absorb them.

[Coreece 190]

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"God bless the United States of America."

Americans are to one degree or another in a state of fear. They're afraid. And they're crying out to heaven for an invisible means of support against an invisible enemy by an invisible God. And they hope that God is not only omnipresent, not only omniscient, not only omnipotent, but even more importantly that He's interested. Cry "God Bless America" seems to be getting louder and louder every day and commanding more and more emotion.

And as I was listening to this, it struck me as an interesting issue. The prayer is simple, "God, bless America. Keep us protected. Keep us long-term safe. Keep us free. Keep us prosperous." And I began to think about the fact that if God were to bless America as everybody seems to want Him to do, it might look very different than we would expect.

Will God bless America? Can God bless America? Should God bless America? Are we blessable? There's a new word for your dictionary. And if God did bless America, what would He be saying about His holiness? If God did bless America, what would He be saying about our morality? About our spiritual condition? Could God bless America and protect His reputation as holy God?

John Macarthur - Can God Bless America?

http://www.gty.org/Resources/Sermon+Series/264

Your secrets are the true reflection of who you really are...

[RonD1120 62]

Good word.

Look for the shiny things of God revealed by the Holy Spirit. They only last for an instant but it is a Holy Instant. Let your soul absorb them.

[Shotgun 1]

And some of us see "God bless . . ." as the metaphor that it is.

[DaVinci 0]

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If what you say is true. then Thomas Jefferson has put the matter to rest once and for all. After all, he cannot violate the Constitution.

Except,

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should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,

It just say's that we will not have a 'Church of the United States' like England had the 'Church of England' and that Congress will make no law prohibiting any religion.

[wmw999 2,589]

If you actually parse the sentences, no, it doesn't really say that.

"no law respecting an establishment of religion" is very different from "establishing a national religion." and "prohibiting the free exercise thereof" is not the same as "forbidding."

To me, that's very clear that laws and religion don't formally mix. Which means that we don't use the 10 commandments as a basis for law, we don't use the Christian God as the basis of truth and morality. Even though the vast majority of the founding fathers were Christian. If we want to say that the Constitution is a big enough document to take into account situations they had not been in yet (e.g. with regards to guns), then we should certainly consider it to be a big enough document to take into account social situations that weren't in their experience.

Of course, the murky area is where religions clash (e.g. "your free exercise gets in the way of my free exercise") or where a religion's practices are against the law (e.g. smoking peyote).

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[Andy9o8 2]

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I thought so.

[RonD1120 62]

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e exercise gets in the way of my free exercise") or where a religion's practices are against the law (e.g. smoking peyote).

Wendy P.

So far as I remember, the use of peyote is legal for members of the Native American Church. The substance is generally chewed not smoked. It can also be boiled and drank as a tea.

Look for the shiny things of God revealed by the Holy Spirit. They only last for an instant but it is a Holy Instant. Let your soul absorb them.

[ChangoLanzao 0]

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He concluded his address with "God bless the United States of America." This statement confirms his belief in our Christian heritage as a nation.

And what exactly does that mean?

I guess it means the only god possible is the Christian god?

Seems kind of odd, but I think that's the only logical conclusion a person can draw from Ron's remarks.

Who said that remark was logical? It's pure nonsense.

[billvon 3,120]

>and that Congress will make no law prohibiting any religion.

Not quite. It says Congress will make no law RESPECTING an establishment of religion. That means if Congress tries to pass a law saying "Henceforth Christianity shall be officially recognized as our Heritage Religion" it will be thrown out by the courts - because they may not make any law respecting any religion.

[wmw999 2,589]

Yep. But it's an example of where the law had to consider religion in order to allow it. Also had to figure out how to make sure that the guy they picked up with a button was a member of the church, and not just someone who conveniently became one when they were picked up.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[Shotgun 1]

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. . . where a religion's practices are against the law (e.g. smoking peyote).

Religion aside, I think that the drug laws are a major invasion of privacy. It shouldn't be the government's business to decide what a person can choose to put in his body, whether it's for religious purposes or not.

Oh, and I've never heard of anyone smoking peyote.

[wmw999 2,589]

Obviously you don't get around . Well, either that or I didn't do enough research

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[SkyDekker 1,465]

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It shouldn't be the government's business to decide what a person can choose to put in his body, whether it's for religious purposes or not.

Would you prefer if the FDA stopped approving pharmaceuticals and allow corporations to market anything they like?

[Andy9o8 2]

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>and that Congress will make no law prohibiting any religion.

Not quite. It says Congress will make no law RESPECTING an establishment of religion. That means if Congress tries to pass a law saying "Henceforth Christianity shall be officially recognized as our Heritage Religion" it will be thrown out by the courts - because they may not make any law respecting any religion.

Somewhere, someone is crafting the argument that that still allows Congress to make a law DISRESPECTING a religion. I can see it now: "It is the sense of this Senate that Pentacostal Christians are real assholes."

[Shotgun 1]

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It shouldn't be the government's business to decide what a person can choose to put in his body, whether it's for religious purposes or not.

Would you prefer if the FDA stopped approving pharmaceuticals and allow corporations to market anything they like?

I'm not sure exactly how it would work to legalize drugs. There would still need to be some regulations (as with the alcohol and tobacco industries). I would think that the FDA's part would be to provide facts (including warnings) about the drug, so that people can make informed decisions about using. And also, the FDA should be ensuring that what the corporations are marketing is actually what they say it is.

[Bolas 5]

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It shouldn't be the government's business to decide what a person can choose to put in his body, whether it's for religious purposes or not.

Would you prefer if the FDA stopped approving pharmaceuticals and allow corporations to market anything they like?

I'm not sure exactly how it would work to legalize drugs. There would still need to be some regulations (as with the alcohol and tobacco industries). I would think that the FDA's part would be to provide facts (including warnings) about the drug, so that people can make informed decisions about using. And also, the FDA should be ensuring that what the corporations are marketing is actually what they say it is.

I do agree but right now I'm envisioning a legal argument over a strain of bud that claims "it'll get ya mega fucked up" and the parameters they use to confirm/deny.

Stupidity if left untreated is self-correcting
If ya can't be good, look good, if that fails, make 'em laugh.