SUPER Controversial Thread!!! (Not for the faint of heart) — Page 6

The whole idea of separation of church and state is an idealistic one. Anyone who thinks that will ever be completely possible is just wrong. No matter how much people claim that religion should not impact politics, it always will. Unless of course you outlaw religion all together which would violate the Constitution and, as it has been proven by history over and over again, just because you outlaw religion doesn't mean it won't still be there. So long as people are living they will be influenced by their religious (or lack of religious) beliefs. It's a fact of life and even though people don't have to agree with religious standpoints it would be completely and utterly impossible to banish it completely. So, while you are free to think that anyone who thinks there is a place for religion in government should get out of the US, which you're allowed to think, it would be pointless. Unless you want a complete country of athiests you're not going to get that to happen, you have to respect people's lives being influenced by their religious beliefs as much as they have to respect your choice to not believe in that.

Try all you want, you're never going to get complete separation of church and state. Ever. It's just not possible.


*note: you being the editorial you.

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Mattio which statement is true?

I think anyone who thinks that there is a place for religion in government should get the hell out of the US.

I'd never try to ban religion.

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Why are you not getting this? Am I speaking Scandanavian or something?

I jest, Mattio.

You are making perfect sense, Mattio. I think it is that some people can not see the difference between choosing how to live your life while allowing others to live theirs. That is why one can personally be pro-life, but support pro-choice legislation. That is why one can believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman, yet support gay marriage as it applies to the government use of the word.

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It's time for straight white males to be repressed for a couple hundred years.

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"It's time for straight white males to be repressed for a couple hundred years."

Um.....ouch?

And yes Feinstein....public school really doesn't work.

trust me--bisexuality is real!

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a black or female is going to become president in 2008

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bythesword, there is a difference between having a religion affiliation and being personally and morally guided by it, and imposing the particular beliefs of your own religion on the entire populace via legislation and governance. Of course many, if not all, of the elected officials are going to have personal religious ties and beliefs, but they should not impose their church or synagogue or mosque's requirements on the entire population. Think of it this way: if an Islamic President were elected (impossible in this time I know) would you want your rights as a citizen to be ruled by his extreme religious rules? Women wearing burkas? Dietary changes in all the restaurants? (Not bringing in terrorist acts or anything else violent, because Islam is, at it's heart, a religion of peace. It is being twisted by those with an agenda. Sound familiar?)

THAT is why we do not want ANY particular religion to "rule" the land. Personal religious affiliation and belief is totally a non-issue, but when you try to impose your rules and regs on the populace, THAT violates the separation of church and state.

Sunfish, my entire point was that you're never going to get complete separation of church and state, that's all. I wasn't making a political statement.

FF, I honestly can say that I disagree with you saying that private and public schools provide identical education, at least in my area. When I graduated from High School and started college it was blatantly obvious who went to private school and who went to public school. (I'm talking education based, not personality.) I found in class after class after class that my classmates who had gone to public schools came out of them with a lot less under their belt. We may have had less days of school than they did but we walked away with a much more comprehensive education. I'm not even talking big things, I'm talking these people don't even know how to write a basic paper coming out of school. It became a really big problem in a few of my classes where the students who went to public school had no idea what was going on so the professors had to spoon feed them basic ideas and concepts that the private school kids had been forced to learn. This is not to say that public school does not offer good education to its students, I'm sure it does. This is to say that in private school you are more likely to have it thrown at you until you learn it, and you won't just be able to dance around it. I've actually had a number of people who went to public school tell me that they thought their education was not as good as our local private schools. I've also met people who went to both and their comments on it were that they would hands down pick private school because even though it is more rigorous, you get a lot more out of it. In public school, if you're not naturally a person who wants to learn, they barely force you.

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Updated On: 9/26/04 at 04:50 PM

FF, how can you say it's not natural?
I have a few bisexual friends. They're very in touch with their gay side and their straight side. They know they like men AND women in the same way.
It's possible, later in life they can choose they really do like one sex more but it's very very normal to like both sexes.

Bisexuality is actually looked down upon by straights and gays and I think that's a huge problem. "They're not willing to accept that they're gay." or "They're just experimenting"

It IS a sexuality people are born with and it involves loving all. Good for them and pansexuals too.
Hence the B in LGBT. (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender)
The gay community recognizes it as a sexuality.
I recognize it the same way.

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oh I reread it. I think the wording of it screwed me up.
But it's part of the great debate that is this thread.

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