Eighty-five percent of Americans claim some form of religious affiliation. The public display of religious symbols, though, is always controversial, whether we’re talking about the Ten Commandments in a courthouse or nativity scenes in a park. In the ongoing debate about religious imagery’s proper place, where do we draw the line between private faith and public religious expression?
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Yes, if ...
You always contradict yourself.
Okay, not always. But I see you do it a lot.
You say, well of course - in an ideal world, of course!
And then you continue on and say that it's not an ideal world so NO, of course not! Reality trumps the idealist in us all!
And then you vote the way of the do-do... the ideal world that doesn't exist... to the complete contradiction of what you've just stated.
..............................................i don't get it. You're voting "Yes, if" knowing full well the "if" part doesn't exist.
But while we're on this subject of equal state-sanctioned representation of religion, let's just see how far we get if campaign for all religious holidays to be national holidays... not just Christian holiday. What do you think?
- SocialistBetty
January 1, 2009 11:40PM
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No Straight "Yes" or "No"
Which is why I said, "Yes, if ..." One's "yes" or "no" is necessarily contextual. "Yes" if certain conditions, "no" if certain other conditions. I take issue with the fact most the questions on the site are looking for a "yes" or a "no" when very seldom can either be arrived at out of context. I believe I was quite clear on the conditions where I would answer "yes" and the conditions under which I would answer "no".
For the most part, governments in the United States chose to be rather one-sided in their treatment of religious expression, however, there have been notable exceptions where fairness has been exhibited. I believe generally the answer to the original question is "no", however, context sometimes warrants a "yes" answer.
You want a single "yes" or "no". I'm telling you there can be none as the question is put forward here. It is a glaring fault in the way debate is conducted here.
- Naumadd
January 2, 2009 5:21AM
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But the "if" doesn't exist...
...the "if" is the ideal situation that isn't happening now. The question deals with the current situations as they are, not as you would like them to be.
You've checked the side of "yes" based on a balance that isn't occurring. You said "NO" in your response because of the current situation, but still voted 'yes'. You're skewing the results.
- SocialistBetty
January 2, 2009 12:32PM
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Side: No
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On National Holidays ...
If you have to ask, I believe it more appropriate to restrict religion-themed holidays to a single "National Day of Spirituality" or "National Religion Day" or some such. I would abandon jewish and christian holidays altogether as national holidays. To make them "national" is a slap in the face to those outside the big three - Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The celebrations of these religions are not "national", they are special interest, even if those special interests make up a large percentage of U.S. population. "National" is a larger category than even the combined category of Jew/Christian/Muslim. If these holidays were truly "national", one would see displays of paganism, buddhism, hinduism, Shintoism, Taoism, etc. As it happens, pagans do celebrate many of the same days or near to them, but only because christianity appropriated those celebrations in order to marginalize the pagan traditions that predate that religion.
In any case, the national holidays we have based primarily in the religious traditions of only one or several religions, in my opinion, are a misuse of governmental authority and power and, to be more blunt, stinks of a majority dictatorship.
- Naumadd
January 2, 2009 5:32AM
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Side: Yes
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