Separation of Church and State
Hello all! I just saw a marvellous video about separation of church and state that I found moving, inspiring, and thought-provoking. So I figured, maybe you guys would like to see it. We might get some good conversations going on our thoughts on the video and the issues.
Now, I am not an American. But I follow your religious news with some interest. Religion isn't a big thing here. We are largely a secular country. No one really asks your religion. There are religious groups, but you're a part of them or you're not. We only have one megachurch and when we had a religious conference last year, it was banned from attending because it was too intolerant.
Our big politicians are agnostic. And the only reason I know this is because I looked it up. It's not a generally known fact, because religion does not enter into our politics. You just don't know, here, what religion a politician is. With the notable exception of Nandor Tanczos. The long dreadlocks do kinda give away the whole Rasta thing. (He's actually quite attractive. Pity he's leaving government soon.)
At any rate, we take particular note of your whole separation of church and state deely, as it becomes more and more obvious that America doesn't have it. So, I tend to particularly support anything that stresses the need and constitutional right to this separation.
I'm on a community, interfaith_talks or something, that linked to a documentary on this very issue. Everything you always wanted to know about the separation of church and state.... but were afraid to ask. I figured I already knew quite a bit, but hey, it's not my constitution, so I could well be wrong. So I checked it out. And I didn't even notice, as i was watching it, that it's about an hour and a half long. It's that good. Seriously.
If you've been deprived of intelligent Christians lately, you will adore the two men who represent "the Interfaith Alliance Foundation" and "Americans United for Separation of Church and State". The doco seems to be a kind of soapbox for their joint organization, "First Freedom First". At any rate, these men are fantastic people. Two of the most intelligent, open-minded and thoughtful men I've seen on a doco in a long time. Not just most intelligent Christians, note. I was thinking that just now. I was going to write "Christians". And then I thought, no. They're men like any men, and really those things apply to them as men as much as to them as Christians.
I fully recommend watching the video. It's long, so you may have to wait until you're free for a couple of hours one evening or something. But I do think it's worth it. Patrick Stewart's widow speaks, too. I had thought, at the beginning of the video, that perhaps they were going to gloss over the Pagan faiths so as to not alienate anyone who might be interested in their cause. (Ironic, I realise.) I would have been fine with them doing this, given the climate. They did not. Nor did they come in there, guns blazing, saying "you must respect teh Paganz!" (which would have certainly done some damage). They treated Roberta Stewart like any other person and the issue like any other issue. It was fantastic.
There's also a, almost a sermon in there that I found particularly moving. It's one of the reasons I decided to post this here. It was advocating the woman's right to choose in the abortion issue. It was almost like Women's Mysteries from a Christian perspective. I personally found it quite beautiful, and if nothing else I wanted to share that with everyone here. (If you're interested in skipping to the speech, it starts at 65.40.) When I saw that a minister was going to speak, I felt a little uncomfortable, I admit. What he said, however, was both fascinating and moving.
There's also some great songs interspersing the serious conversation, a great comic, and satirist Roy Zimmerman, who is heaps of fun.
This is the sort of thing that I think would do many people a lot of good. There are people who hate Christians as a whole because of the ignorant actions of a few; this sort of video shows that there are fantastic Christians out there. Ones who stand up not only for their own right to faith, but for those of people from other faiths, and for the rights of people who choose to have none.
Anyway, I thought perhaps other people here might get something from it, as I have done.
Discuss! :D
Now, I am not an American. But I follow your religious news with some interest. Religion isn't a big thing here. We are largely a secular country. No one really asks your religion. There are religious groups, but you're a part of them or you're not. We only have one megachurch and when we had a religious conference last year, it was banned from attending because it was too intolerant.
Our big politicians are agnostic. And the only reason I know this is because I looked it up. It's not a generally known fact, because religion does not enter into our politics. You just don't know, here, what religion a politician is. With the notable exception of Nandor Tanczos. The long dreadlocks do kinda give away the whole Rasta thing. (He's actually quite attractive. Pity he's leaving government soon.)
At any rate, we take particular note of your whole separation of church and state deely, as it becomes more and more obvious that America doesn't have it. So, I tend to particularly support anything that stresses the need and constitutional right to this separation.
I'm on a community, interfaith_talks or something, that linked to a documentary on this very issue. Everything you always wanted to know about the separation of church and state.... but were afraid to ask. I figured I already knew quite a bit, but hey, it's not my constitution, so I could well be wrong. So I checked it out. And I didn't even notice, as i was watching it, that it's about an hour and a half long. It's that good. Seriously.
If you've been deprived of intelligent Christians lately, you will adore the two men who represent "the Interfaith Alliance Foundation" and "Americans United for Separation of Church and State". The doco seems to be a kind of soapbox for their joint organization, "First Freedom First". At any rate, these men are fantastic people. Two of the most intelligent, open-minded and thoughtful men I've seen on a doco in a long time. Not just most intelligent Christians, note. I was thinking that just now. I was going to write "Christians". And then I thought, no. They're men like any men, and really those things apply to them as men as much as to them as Christians.
I fully recommend watching the video. It's long, so you may have to wait until you're free for a couple of hours one evening or something. But I do think it's worth it. Patrick Stewart's widow speaks, too. I had thought, at the beginning of the video, that perhaps they were going to gloss over the Pagan faiths so as to not alienate anyone who might be interested in their cause. (Ironic, I realise.) I would have been fine with them doing this, given the climate. They did not. Nor did they come in there, guns blazing, saying "you must respect teh Paganz!" (which would have certainly done some damage). They treated Roberta Stewart like any other person and the issue like any other issue. It was fantastic.
There's also a, almost a sermon in there that I found particularly moving. It's one of the reasons I decided to post this here. It was advocating the woman's right to choose in the abortion issue. It was almost like Women's Mysteries from a Christian perspective. I personally found it quite beautiful, and if nothing else I wanted to share that with everyone here. (If you're interested in skipping to the speech, it starts at 65.40.) When I saw that a minister was going to speak, I felt a little uncomfortable, I admit. What he said, however, was both fascinating and moving.
There's also some great songs interspersing the serious conversation, a great comic, and satirist Roy Zimmerman, who is heaps of fun.
This is the sort of thing that I think would do many people a lot of good. There are people who hate Christians as a whole because of the ignorant actions of a few; this sort of video shows that there are fantastic Christians out there. Ones who stand up not only for their own right to faith, but for those of people from other faiths, and for the rights of people who choose to have none.
Anyway, I thought perhaps other people here might get something from it, as I have done.
Discuss! :D