Obviously politics is a hot topic and on every one’s mind. I’m not going to get into a debate on who is the better candidate or whatever.. I think we all know that the decision when we go to the polls is generally a matter of who will do the least damage (though there are a few good candidates).
Christine O’Donnell from Delaware I think is a tea party candidate and has been sticking her foot in her mouth. Like Palin she makes women look bad. The latest hoopla is concerning the first amendment.
I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know the amendments or their exact wording. I’m also not a candidate for a public office. But I do know google. I know that if I go to google I can find a reputable source that will give me some information on almost any topic.
I don’t know what O’Donnell said as I didn’t hear it but what I heard was that she was questioning whether the constitution actually says separation of church and state. She apparently sees nothing wrong with mixing the two.
If you are like me you want to go to the source and see what the constitution actually says. So here it is from a fairly reputable source:”
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#Am1
Now what people need to realize is that this was an amendment tapped on to the constitution in 1791 (that is from that site too). Since 1791 we have had laws and other legal documents that have refined, updated, and clarified these amendments (and the constitution). If my math is right that is 219 years of modification. But one thing I think O’Donnell needs to do is read the original content. It says clearly that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. That is the opening phrase.
She seems to want Christianity to be the state religion. Well not everyone in the US is Christian. So what does she propose? For a month we all be Christian. Then the next month we can all be Buddhists or Pagan or Muslim. Or if we are all going to be Christian, then which Christian? Baptist, Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran?
The point of this amendment is so that people will be able to choose what they want to believe and the government can’t dictate those beliefs and ideas. This is my opinion and I’m not a constitutional scholar or anything. Historically I believe (if I remember my history lessons right) that one of the biggest reasons that people came to this country was to escape the religious oppression that they were enduring in England and Europe. We fought a war to be free from those beliefs. It was in my history book. There was a pretty big section on it – it was called the Revolutionary War. Do we really want to go back a point where people can be persecuted, prosecuted, and demoralized for their ideas and beliefs? People need to study history in order to understand the mistakes made and and learn from them.
Is it November 3rd yet? I can’t wait for the idiocy to be done. Of course then we have to see what sort of idiocy the American public opted to do… it is one insane cycle….