(Untitled)

[petef]

Bush sucks. Is it so much to ask that religion and government are separate?

I think this person says it best:

"Americans are free to pray or not to pray, but it is not the business of our U.S. president to direct citizens to pray."

In related news, I just registered (online!) to vote in CA (I guess I should really get a CA license sometime,

Comments

[codepoet]

George Washington disagrees.

Besides, the wording of the first amendment is that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." - Strictly speaking, the executive branch has no such limitation.

Finally, since he wasn't encouraging any specific type of prayer, I doubt this would violate a prohibition to "respect an establishment of religion" (such as the rise of the Anglican church).

[petef]

Law or not, I don't think it's appropriate. I've got nothing wrong with people who choose to pray (to whomever or whatever) - but not everyone chooses or agrees with this. I think every time I hear Bush speak, he says "God bless something..." - he's free to pray on his own, but it's not appropriate when making a statement that represents the united states.

There was no type of prayer specified, but the act of prayer implies something (belief in some higher power/deity/whatever) which may or may not reflect everyone's beliefs.

[codepoet]

If anyhting, Bush's Christian speaking seems toned down from Washington's speech - Do you think it was inappropriate for him to declare Thanksgiving in the terms that he used?

(Yes, I actually am curious.)

[petef]

I agree, but I don't think Washington's speech is at all appropriate for today (maybe it was for the time). Lots of things change in a couple hundred years.

[hellofromdj]

That may be what the constitution says, but the constitution is a living document and must be/has been interpreted as times change. You cannot compare Bush to prior presidents, especially since Washington's Thanksgiving proclamation came BEFORE the idea of separation of church and state. And the interpretation of the constitution is decided by the court system, through public approval/opposition (though Bush is trying to change that). The court systems and public have felt it necessary to remove religion completely from the government. Engel v. Vitale is a good example, especially since many religious groups deem this as the end of our morals!! So with our modern thinking, making a day National Prayer day, should be unconstitutional. Even though it is not promoting a specific religion, it is promoting only certain religions.