Well, I see we have an outspoken group of anti-religion bigots here. I sure hope that Louis Farrahakn gets wind of this after he has lunch with Saddam today. This would be sure to make him smile.
There is only one reason that you can be so aggrieved here on this message board: the freedom of speech that you enjoy as an American. Do you wish to worship Satan? Many do, and as an American, you are free to choose.
You don't have to accept my word. At 13, long before I grew up, I lived under an honor code at the academy until I graduated four years later. I learned that only a few will accept a man's word as his bond. If the word of a man is worthless to you, then so be it.
Back to facts. Do you know why the legislature you mentioned had to do anything at all? Rights were in jeopardy. This isn't the only example of religious rights being squeezed by the secular Left. I don't have to bring you any proof. I expect you to do the legwork you want done for yourself. The fact that this evidence of discrimination is freely available to you should make it easier. If you want to research specific instances of this type of discrimination, contact the Christian Coalition:
http://www.cc.org/ .
Hypocrite or Liar? As a left winger, my old personal club, you have to accuse me of lying. I remeber this tactic, as it was one of my favorites when I started out. It was kind of an "off the pig, tear down the walls" kind of 'in your face' attitude. Looking back now, I feel it made me look bad whenever I had used it. I also think it is making you look bad.
I'll tell you what. If you want to cling to this line of questioning, go ahead.
First, get the US congress to to change "under God" to "under satan". If congress saw fit to pass this amendment to the pledge, as they did when they placed "under God" in the pledge when I was a baby, then I would have other choices to make. Second, I will admit right up front that my children would not be found in a public school, so your "hypothetical" is
very hypothetical. If you want to test the mettle of the American people on this issue, don't even ask a single Christian how they feel about that. Ask those who have no religious affiliation, and see how far you get with them.
If I had no other choices, my Christian school, homeschooling, whatever, I would make this new pledge a "teachable moment", explaining that they don't have to say the pledge, what it means to other Americans, who satan is, etc. Actually, my friend, changing the pledge to "under satan" would be the best tool ever conceived to evangelize America. I think that blatant statement would inspire thousands, if not millions. We could see a revival of, well, Biblical proportions.
Frankly, A squared, that statement isn't far from the truth these days. In fact, it has Biblical support. God set satan as the "god" of this world, for a fixed period of time, while we make our decision based on faith. Another Biblical truth is that most people, the vast majority, will reject Christ as savior, and choose the "wisdom" of those characters the Lazy mentioned above, the "learned" people of law, literature, and science . What an impressive list of secular humanists he assembled, thinking perhaps that I would be somehow moved by old news from well known humans, as opposed to Good News from God. In fact, those quotes are the very essence of post-modernist thinking.
I do have one apology to make, and it is to the other board members who are completly disinterested in this thread. It started out as a constitutional discussion, and has degenerated into Christian bashing/baiting/whatever. I think most of you who have been here a while rocognize that this happens a few times a year, using up bandwidth for a topic that gets into the news next to airport security and airspace incursions. As always, I feel it is my duty as a former journalist to try and set people straight, particularly where I have knowlege and experience to share, and I only speak on this particular topic when necessary. Thanks for putting up with this, and thanks again to my detractors, too.
A sword is made stronger by fire.