First, this has NOTHING to do with me being an atheist. While I personally have no use for faith I do respect it and respect people's right to it. This goes way beyond personal beliefs and faith. This has to do with freedom and has to do with the Constitution and has to do with the fact that one law is for the whole nation. This is a nation based on equality and freedom of speech and freedom of religion. We have a wall of separation of church and state for a reason. Because our fore fathers came to this great nation from a world that was dominated by Catholicism in some places and Protestantism in others...the Church of England to be specific in their case. Religion dictated state affairs in these countries in Europe, and our fore fathers had the common sense to know that this could not be the case in this new nation they were founding.
I have several problems with the National Day of Prayer that have absolutely NOTHING to do with faith or with being an atheist. Consider these:
(1) The First Amendment
Simply put here are the facts. On April 17, 1952 President Harry S Truman signed a law that had been passed by Congress declaring that every President that followed MUST set aside an annual Day of Prayer. I want to emphasize the fact that it was a law passed by Congress.The First Amendment of the Constitution reads...
Simply put...Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion...Congress made a law that establishes predominance to religion in general and a certain type of religion to be specific. Make no mistake this is a law that specifically singles out the Judeo-Christan system of belief and grants it a special place above others. So it boils down to the Constitution, Congress shall make no law...Congress has made a law...it is that straight forward.
(2) The fact that the very proponents of the National Day of Prayer are the very ones that PERSECUTE other faiths.
Consider this for a moment: The very ones that are attacking the President on the bogus charge that he is trying to do away with the National Day of Prayer are the very ones that are also attacking him because they claim he is a Muslim, though he has been Church of Christ for 20+ years. Why should this be a problem? If we are talking about Freedom of Religion that is. But we are not really talking about Freedom of Religion. We are talking about Freedom of THEIR Religion...and not just freedom; we are talking about a favored place for their religious views, a recognition that their religious views have priority. Would these same radical nut jobs be in favor of a National Day that recognizes Ramadan? These very people would be foaming at the mouth. Once again it proves the point...the Constitution is meaningless to these people, the Bill of Rights is merely parchment for them to wipe their ass with UNTIL THEY wants something....then it is all about freedom and law and rights.
This nation has a history of Christian Privilege. This nation has a history giving priority to those of faith treating people of a different faith or of no faith as second class citizens. The National Day of Prayer excludes every citizen that is not Judeo-Christian. It excludes pagans, Native Americans, Buddhists, Muslims, Atheists, Agnostics and a whole slew of people from different walks of life and faiths and views. It violates our Constitution and it tears down the wall of separation of church and state.
Sarah Palin and her fellow wackos like James Dobson and Billy and Franklin Graham try to tell us that there should be no separation of church and state and that they are losing their rights (give me a fucking break and cry me a river of tears so I can piss in it!). And my response to them is that just as they like to scream socialism and how it has been tried and failed and we don't need that here, well theocracy has been tried in countries like Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Pakistan and others like it and you know what? It doesn't work and we don't want it or need it here.
4 comments:
Calm down Julio. Prayer can mean contemplation or communion with the spiritual world. No one can force you to pray any morea than they can force you to meditate. Some atheists meditate, don't they? And all religions pray. We can all define prayer in our own terms.
Iris...I agree that we all meditate and/or pray on our terms. I do think however that it is a matter of doing it on our terms and not the government promoting, sanctioning or setting aside a specific day for it. I actually do not have a problem with the President leading by example...it is his choice. I do have a problem with the government violating the Constitution and setting aside a specific date that promotes a religious action. But I do agree..I do tend to get a bit...heated...lol...blame Mandy she sent me the article of Bill Connor but then I came across the following article about Dobson and Graham! Thank you very much for the comment!
http://www.alan.com/2010/05/05/james-dobson-and-franklin-graham-say-christians-are-losing-their-right-to-worship-in-america/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+liberaland+(Alan+Colmes+Liberaland)
A national day of prayer does not "sanction' nor promote any particular religion over another. Hence, no constitutional violation. All our forefathers were trying to do was prevent the nation from appointing one particular church as the "state" church. The term "separation of church and state" is not in the constitution but is in fact a Jeffersonian statement. While I would argue with anyone who says we were founded as a "Christian" nation, I do believe that we were founded by people who believed that we should all be free to worship as we wish, whether we be Christian, Jew, Muslim, or whatever...including the freedom to not believe at all. (I have other thoughts, but I will save those for my own blog!)
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