The Free World

First, the set up.

Driving to work today my car radio locked itself on the AM band (don’t get me started, I am getting a new one next month). And I got to listen to this blow hole talk about how great America is, how we are the leaders of the free world and how we have so many rights and freedoms in this country, that if people don’t like it they can just leave. The blowhole in his next segment went on to talk about the dangers of a black President, said that their fried chicken and watermelon would ruin the White House and that they would never get the smell out, this blow hole also talked of the dangers of allowing the homosexual agenda to be pushed upon us, we are endangering our marriages and our children if we believe that the homosexual agenda is harmless, yet we are the leader of the free world.

Now, for my soapbox

Citizenship in America is not easy, to quote a movie, America is advanced citizenship and you have to want it. When is America going to get it, free speech is about more than being able to stand up and say whatever you desire, free speech is the ability to acknowledge someone is standing in the middle of room advocating at the top of their lungs what you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours, that is the freedom of speech. Freedom is taken for granted in this country; freedom is taken to mean freedom for those who agree with you, a moral standard, and a belief system shoved down everyone’s throats, while we pretend to have a freedom of religion. What happened to the ability to change the channel if you find something offense, why do we need it regulated, censored, or banned, pick up the remote and change the damn channel, it isn’t that hard. Moreover, what exactly is it about that homosexual agenda that scares the hell out of you, why you are so insecure in your beliefs, and in your marriage that you think the two boys in a loving relationship down the block will ruin it for you is beyond me, and if you can figure that out, well then you are a smarter person than I am. Let ask our allies such as France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden, or the Czech Republic, Hungary, Uruguay, Slovenia, Spain, and Norway how they feel about same sex unions, those countries all have some form of legalized same sex union, and none of them have been stricken from the face of the earth, married couples did not cease to love each other or be married because two people of the same sex are also in a committed union together. America professing to be the leader of the free world is a crock of shit. Before we can profess ourselves to be the leaders of the free world we need to establish what freedom is, not a one sided “I am free to inflict my views upon you”, but an open debate, an open world where two people can stand openly in a room and profess their beliefs openly, and have the person standing next to them respect their right to be able to do it, that is freedom. Let us see that taught in classrooms, defend that, then we can stand up and sing about being the land of the free. The problem with so many people in our society, especially our leader is not that they do not get it, but that they can’t sell it. We have many issues facing our society, a failing economy, a falling foreign policy, a failed war, and what we need are serious people who get it to take charge and work together to solve the problems facing our nation. Most politicians are not the least bit interested in what our problems really are, they are interested in making you afraid of it, and telling you who is to blame for it, that is how elections are won. Senator Obama was right when he talked about apathetic voters who cling to their guns and bibles because that’s all they feel they have. Republicans have gotten really good at that game, you don’t need to debate issues, you just need to talk about family, values, character, and scare people that the other side is coming to take that away next. We have real problems facing this country and it is time for serious people to step up and help pull this country back up, and for blow holes like the moron on the morning radio, it’s past time that your fifteen minutes are up.

Thank you and good night.

Separation of Church and State: The Independence of Thought and Function

Yesterday I was speaking to a group of students (my sister’s class (she is the teacher)) about government, politics, and our state. During the question session, I was asked why during the tour of the state capitol building there was a chapel in the building since in this country we have a separation of church and state. Now this might be sounding like the beginning of another one of my endless rants on religion, but don’t worry this isn’t going there. Now here goes my best shot at constitutional interpretation, and personal opinion. First off, as I have said before people founded this county who fled Europe due to a persecution of their religious beliefs, the Puritans and the Quakers (not the oats people). In the first amendment to the Constitution in the Bill of Rights, its first three words are Freedom Of Religion, and it specifies that congress shall make no laws respecting the establishment of a national religion, or prohibit the free exercise thereof. Then there is the ninth amendment, it protects rights not specifically enumerated in the bill of rights and that interpretation of the constitution and the bill of rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. On our money the words IN GOD WE TRUST is printed, our pledge of allegiance included ONE NATION UNDER GOD, the bill of rights says that all men are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights among them Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. My point is that religion has also been a cornerstone of our country, however, at the same time a building cannot stand on just one cornerstone. Freedom to practice the beliefs of your choice has also always been a part of our country and its founding as well. I have no problem with an athlete praying before a game, I have no problem with a student who prays is school, I have a problem with mandatory time for “silent reflection” Not every student prays, not every student believes in the same religion, I don’t think this should be something that is forced. I firmly believe in the separation of church and state religion should not be legislated, just as social issued should be considered on merit rather than religious ideology. It’s a fine line, and I know its hard to walk on one side or the other of that line. The founding fathers went through great difficulty in setting up the governance of this country and protecting the rights of the people. So back to the original cause of this question, do I object to a chapel (it’s a room set aside in a corner of the first floor) being in the capitol building, no I don’t, because people are not forced to go there, there is not a mandatory prayer session held in the room, it is there so that if someone chooses to exercise their freedom to express their religion there is a place that they might do so. That’s not contrary to the separation of church and state, that exemplifies it.

Faith

I have found myself thinking about faith and religion for a while and reading Cody over at alternative life has had me thinking some more and this is the result. With the exception of 4 years of hell known as high school, I received most (1 year in the public during grade school) in private parochial schools. As a result, I have at least some education in the church and church doctrine. I will say here that I no longer believe in the church, I do believe in a higher power of some sort and I believe in fate and destiny and that the universe has a funny way of bringing people into our lives when we need them the most. So where is this headed? Well I keep getting asked by people to define my religious beliefs so here I go. First, one of my biggest bitches with the church is over money. I have worked in banks and have seen some deposits made into church accounts and they aint small people. I see clergy driving 30-40 thousand dollar cars and wearing designer clothes. I have also seen fist hand some of the multi-million dollar churches dedicated to “worship”. So what is my problem with this? In the bible, Jesus led a sermon on the mount; nowhere in the bible does it say to build houses of wealth and vanity to worship the lord. My problem is with multimillion-dollar churches being built while the sick the hungry and the homeless sleep in the streets in the shadows of that million-dollar building. If the entire monetary wealth of the Roman Catholic Church were applied towards doing the work of the lord rather than the trappings of feudal theocracy built on wealth power and greed, what would this world look like? The institution of the church itself is not the house of god, its a billion dollar a year business, not for profit my ass. You wan worship god from a garage, from a tents, or anywhere else, people can gather to worship. My other bitch is the hypocritical judgmental assholes that stands at a pulpit and spout the “words of god” to the applause of those who are too fucking brainwashed to read the book and find the answers for themselves. The bible in black and white says judge not others least ye shall be judged thyself, it also says to love the sinner but hate the sin. I find it funny that Christians can damn homosexuals to hell and treat us like shit and try to keep us from having the same rights as straights in this world because if we want to get technical about things then slavery is perfectly fine, so is polygamy, and we shouldn’t eat shellfish or tough pigs skin. I find it amazing that they can justify what parts to leave in and what parts to ignore as out of date passages, if they can interpret out one part then they can shut the fuck up over another. My last bitch is this, Christians have been one of the most persecuted groups in the history of the world and also one of the greatest offenders of genocide, murder, and torture in the history of the world. I find it amazing the Christians in this country forget that if not for a group of people seeking to escape persecution for their beliefs this country would not exist as it does today, so what in the hell gives the church the right to dictate to anyone what they should believe, how they should live their lives, and who they should love. I’m not anti religion, and I respect anyone right to the beliefs of their choice, if someone chooses to believe the world is flat that don’t affect me, if a person believes in Allah, Buddha, of God its doesn’t affect what I believe, and Who I love, Who I want to marry won’t affect them . Ok end of rant, I am sure I will be catching some shit over this one.