War on Christmas 2008 : Lock & Load

[TheDukester]

Lawl ... States Rights!

We took care of that nonsense back in the Big Game (1861-1865).

+++++

(actually, I'm kidding ... I think most federal issues are better handled at the state level ... most state issues at the county level ... etc., etc.)

[Omphalos]

I got a late start this year because of my back troubles, but I'm off to the
LittleBigTown now to file an injuction against the county for the Nativity
Scene on the Courthouse Lawn. (I won last year, but didn't get a ruling
until March. See how that works ?)

For the Record, I'm not against the public display of this stuff. I love
Christmas, was raised in the Southern Baptist Church, altho not now
a Believer. I still love my people and their crazy mixed-up ideas, G-d
love 'em.

But, the law's the law. The current Supreme Court ruling is that displays
of this type, specifically on Courthouse squares, can be placed on the
sides of the Courthouse, but not around the main entrance, or the pathway
to the main entrance, which is where ours is.

Are Americans that obsessed with the idea of the separation of church and state that there are laws about where you can put a nativity scene in and around a public building. And people actually took this pointless shit all the way to the Supreme Court?

Get a fucking grip, America.

My feelings exactly.

[Freakzilla]

I think the founding fathers intent was to keep the government out of religion, not religion out of the govenment. "Separation of church and state" is nowhere in our constitution and is taken from a letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptists.

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights that expressly prohibits the United States Congress from making laws "respecting an establishment of religion" or that prohibit the free exercise of religion, laws that infringe the freedom of speech, infringe the freedom of the press, limit the right to peaceably assemble, or limit the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

How they get "You can't display a manger scene in front of city hall" from that blows my mind.

[GamePlayer]

Isn't the U.S. one nation "under gawd"?

*snickers and then ducks*

[Freakzilla]

Isn't the U.S. one nation "under gawd"?

*snickers and then ducks*

That's from the "Pledge of Alliegance".

[SandRider]

the establishment clause was directed at the Rhode Island Plantation, a theocracy.

Jefferson was {rightly} worried that the new States would form religion-based governments.

He wanted religious freedoms for indivual citizens; therefore the idea was to prohibit state
governments from establishing State Religions.

You'll hear fundamentalists say "The constitution was supposed to protect Religion from Government,
not the other way around."

Simply not true.

"one nation under G-d" & "in G-d we trust" on the money was added during the McCarthy Red Scare. (14 June 1954)

****************
re-read that - not calling you a fundamentalist, Freak.

[SandChigger]

In Guernee, Illinois it is illegal for women weighing more than 200 pounds to ride horses in shorts.

(Thank GOD)

What about horses not wearing shorts?

I can't recall ever having seen a horse in shorts. Chain mail and armor, yes, but shorts.... Maybe a smart pair of culottes would work...but then again...n-n-n-nay!


(In whom we TRUST. )

[Purge]

"one nation under G-d" & "in G-d we trust" on the money was added during the McCarthy Red Scare. (14 June 1954)

That's not entirely accurate. It first appeared on coinage in 1864. But you are correct that it did not become our official motto until 195(6). It's first use on paper currency was in 1957.

[Crysknife]

"one nation under G-d" & "in G-d we trust" on the money was added during the McCarthy Red Scare. (14 June 1954)

That's not entirely accurate. It first appeared on coinage in 1864. But you are correct that it did not become our official motto until 195(6). It's first use on paper currency was in 1957.

It should be taken off. I love it when the religious point to this as an example of how the Founding Fathers based our country on Christianity.

[SandRider]

correct, "In God We Trust" has been on pennies since 1909, and dimes since 1916.
(gold coins, silver dollars, quarters & half-dollars since 1908)
This was a Mint policy, instigated by Secretary Chase in 1863, and used off and on, but not required by law.
Practice was somewhat discontinued during Theodore Roosevelt adminstration -
he thought it was irreverent.

E Pluribus Unum was adopted as national motto in 1782. (prior to constitutional convention)

eisenhower signed public law 140 11 July 1955, requiring all coins & paper currency to
"display the motto" - "In God We Trust". 1956, "In God We Trust" officially replaced
"E Pluribus Unum" as the "national motto". Paper currency after Oct 57 display "In God We Trust"

the pledge of allegiance was modified to include "Under God" by congress 14 June 1954

the point being all this is not a deep-seated religious basis for the original (pre1861)
federal government - it was a product of the Red Scare and the desire to differintiate
Christian America from the Godless Communists.

a secular, descriptive, unifying motto - "out of many, one", was replaced by a divisive and
religious motto.

[SandChigger]

It should be taken off.

Or at the very least the 'o' replaced with a hyphen.

Ole Ja-Oui hates vowels, after all.