Political Rant: Prayer In Schools
I'm putting this behind a cut for a few reasons:
1. it will be long
2. it will be all over the board, starting in Prayer in Schools, ending who knows where
3. if you don't want to read it, don't. I have a lot of liberal views, and I will talk trash about our current political administration. I don't want to offend anyone, but I will not apologize for what I will say.
4. i don't want to clog your friends page. I know, you can thank me later...
I just got an email from someone to petition Bush to reinstate prayer in public schools. I see many things wrong with this. I will state them now:
1. First and foremost, no one has to petition Bush to reinstate prayer in public schools. If he had the power to, he would instate a national religion, create back-woods laws to make most everything illegal; including, but not limited to:
free speech, freedom of the press, any privacy laws, anti-discrimination laws.
[Oops, I think the Patriot Act already wiped out most of this freedom stuff. I guess we'll have to go through the Civil Rights movement again, but this time, for anyone of Middle Eastern descent, any homo-sexual, and anyone not in the top 3% of the wealth bracket.]
So, I think petitioning Bush is similar to preachin' to the choir.
2. If you do reinstate prayer in schools, which prayers are you going to say? According to the 2001 American Religious Identity Survey about 76.5% of the American Population is Christian. Okay. So the majority of Americans are Christian. It doesn't take a Brain surgeon to figure that out. Does that mean that you are going to say Christian Prayers? Bush would say so... But let me ask you this: isn't America supposed to protect the rights of the minority??? It is the right of every American to practice which ever religion they would like. It is also their right to not have other religions pressed upon them by government agencies. Last time I checked, public schools are funded by the government, thereby being subject to government laws - including the right to freedom of religion for all. Thus: no matter how many students in the school are Christian, you have to protect the MINORITIES as well, so no Christian prayers should be allowed in schools.
3. This is where the whole argument goes into the big picture. In the 1st Amendment, it states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."(Here's what I think is funny: some people were worried about Kennedy establishing a state religion b/c he was the first Catholic president... NOPE! hehe) Why is it that Bush is making laws based on Religious values, and being so incredibly vocal about this? For example, Bush is against the government funding Stem-Cell research because of his religious values; he is passing anti Gay-Marriage laws b/c of his religious values, etc. That to me is respecting an establishment of religion. Congress is respecting these new laws that are based on Christian values. That, my friend, is against the First Amendment (if you ask me). And, any law that makes prayer in schools legal would also be respecting an establishment of religion. Now, I understand that this is the very reason why prayer in public schools is not allowed today. But, I think Bush could make it possible if that was on his list of things to do while in office. And that scares me.
Here are my questions:
Since when is the President of this fine, and free, country the very mouth-piece of Right-winged, evangelical Christians? And when did the Christian Crusade begin in America?
And when is his term over so I can stop being frustrated about the lack of respect for all Americans? January of 2009 just can't come quickly enough.
Here's my quick rendition of an old Vicki Lawrence song: "The Night the Lights went out in Georgia"
"That's the night that the lights went out in 'Merica
That's the night that they shot an innocent man
Well, don't trust your soul to no backwoods Southern President
'Cause the CIA's got bloodstains on their hands..."
for the real lyrics, visit: http://www.webfitz.com/lyrics/Lyrics/1973/111973.html
Also, I will apologize for being all over the place with this entry... coffee and lots of sleep make for a very jittery Sarah!
Have a great memorial day weekend everyone! don't party too hard. please stay safe. Thanks!
~me
1. it will be long
2. it will be all over the board, starting in Prayer in Schools, ending who knows where
3. if you don't want to read it, don't. I have a lot of liberal views, and I will talk trash about our current political administration. I don't want to offend anyone, but I will not apologize for what I will say.
4. i don't want to clog your friends page. I know, you can thank me later...
I just got an email from someone to petition Bush to reinstate prayer in public schools. I see many things wrong with this. I will state them now:
1. First and foremost, no one has to petition Bush to reinstate prayer in public schools. If he had the power to, he would instate a national religion, create back-woods laws to make most everything illegal; including, but not limited to:
free speech, freedom of the press, any privacy laws, anti-discrimination laws.
[Oops, I think the Patriot Act already wiped out most of this freedom stuff. I guess we'll have to go through the Civil Rights movement again, but this time, for anyone of Middle Eastern descent, any homo-sexual, and anyone not in the top 3% of the wealth bracket.]
So, I think petitioning Bush is similar to preachin' to the choir.
2. If you do reinstate prayer in schools, which prayers are you going to say? According to the 2001 American Religious Identity Survey about 76.5% of the American Population is Christian. Okay. So the majority of Americans are Christian. It doesn't take a Brain surgeon to figure that out. Does that mean that you are going to say Christian Prayers? Bush would say so... But let me ask you this: isn't America supposed to protect the rights of the minority??? It is the right of every American to practice which ever religion they would like. It is also their right to not have other religions pressed upon them by government agencies. Last time I checked, public schools are funded by the government, thereby being subject to government laws - including the right to freedom of religion for all. Thus: no matter how many students in the school are Christian, you have to protect the MINORITIES as well, so no Christian prayers should be allowed in schools.
3. This is where the whole argument goes into the big picture. In the 1st Amendment, it states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."(Here's what I think is funny: some people were worried about Kennedy establishing a state religion b/c he was the first Catholic president... NOPE! hehe) Why is it that Bush is making laws based on Religious values, and being so incredibly vocal about this? For example, Bush is against the government funding Stem-Cell research because of his religious values; he is passing anti Gay-Marriage laws b/c of his religious values, etc. That to me is respecting an establishment of religion. Congress is respecting these new laws that are based on Christian values. That, my friend, is against the First Amendment (if you ask me). And, any law that makes prayer in schools legal would also be respecting an establishment of religion. Now, I understand that this is the very reason why prayer in public schools is not allowed today. But, I think Bush could make it possible if that was on his list of things to do while in office. And that scares me.
Here are my questions:
Since when is the President of this fine, and free, country the very mouth-piece of Right-winged, evangelical Christians? And when did the Christian Crusade begin in America?
And when is his term over so I can stop being frustrated about the lack of respect for all Americans? January of 2009 just can't come quickly enough.
Here's my quick rendition of an old Vicki Lawrence song: "The Night the Lights went out in Georgia"
"That's the night that the lights went out in 'Merica
That's the night that they shot an innocent man
Well, don't trust your soul to no backwoods Southern President
'Cause the CIA's got bloodstains on their hands..."
for the real lyrics, visit: http://www.webfitz.com/lyrics/Lyrics/1973/111973.html
Also, I will apologize for being all over the place with this entry... coffee and lots of sleep make for a very jittery Sarah!
Have a great memorial day weekend everyone! don't party too hard. please stay safe. Thanks!
~me