since when are religious freedoms political?

[spanone]

this country has lost it's rudder.

[RandomThoughts]

1. Shrug.

Will there be beer?

[spanone]

4. our country was founded on religious freedom....beer?

[sinkingfeeling]

2. You see, these people who say Obama is taking away their freedoms and destroying the Constitution,

really believe those freedoms belong only to WASPs. The 'holiness' of the WTC site isn't being insulted by strip clubs and gambling parlors, but it sure would if Muslims are allowed within the same radius of it.

[seabeyond]

3. that it has in so many different areas. nt

[LiberalLoner]

5. Yes, it's frightening, isn't it? I feel our nation has gone insane. n/t

[disillusioned73]

6. Since the chain emails about this "mosque" issue

gained traction with the rightwing nutbags over the past few months. And the Dems decided to cower in fear about the issue - what a sad state of affairs American politics has become :mad:

[MineralMan]

11. Not all dems are cowering.

I give you Barack Obama, President of The United States. He made the point about religious freedom very clearly.

[seabeyond]

13. hm... i think obama spoke out. made a pretty strong statement

where is the cowering.

[disillusioned73]

19. Don't take it the wrong way...

i wasn't inmplying that the Prez was cowering. I just need to see more push back from Dems in general. I am sure they knew this was coming, hell I've been seeing the emails for months - this was bound to make it up to the corporate media

[Mist]

7. There needs to be a political system in place that respects religious freedom--in that

sense, there's a connection.

[spanone]

8. our constitution guarantees that.

[Mist]

22. I know--I was addressing the OP's question re: religious freedom and polical systems. nt

[KharmaTrain]

9. It Always Has Been...

By it's organized nature, religion IS political. It's how it co-exists with other political systems that's more to your question. At best we've had a tepidly tolerant "rudder" in this country to religions other than white christian protestant and at worst we've seen the hatred like we're currently seeing directed towards those of the Islamic faith. But Catholics, Jews, Mormons and other relgious groups (including Wiccans) have been the targets of some form of discrimination.

The rudder this country has lost is its civility...

[Fumesucker]

10. For quite a while now..

http://www.positiveatheism.org/writ/ghwbush.htm

hen George Bush was campaigning for the presidency, as incumbent vice-president, one of his stops was in Chicago, Illinois, on August 27, 1987. At O'Hare Airport he held a formal outdoor news conference. There Robert I. Sherman, a reporter for the American Atheist news journal, fully accredited by the state of Illinois and by invitation a participating member of the press corps covering the national candidates, had the following exchange with then-Vice-President Bush.


Sherman: What will you do to win the votes of the Americans who are atheists?

Bush: I guess I'm pretty weak in the atheist community. Faith in God is important to me.

Sherman: Surely you recognize the equal citizenship and patriotism of Americans who are atheists?

Bush: No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God.

Sherman (somewhat taken aback): Do you support as a sound constitutional principle the separation of state and church?

Bush: Yes, I support the separation of church and state. I'm just not very high on atheists.

[Odin2005]

12. This country has lost it's marbles.

[daylan b]

14. What sport...

...did your American history teacher coach?

[spanone]

16. brilliant reply

[daylan b]

17. You have to either ignore or be ignorant of essentially all American history

to pose such a question in the first place.

Try starting with the reason the Pilgrims came over and continue for the next couple hundred years.

BTW, did your baseball coach/history teacher have to lead your class in prayer?

[EstimatedProphet]

15. All freedoms are by definition political

[valerief]

18. As are all religions. nt

[Bluenorthwest]

20. All organized religion is political

And of course, American politics and religion are one. Obama's anti equality policy he says stems from his Christianity, which he proclaims rather than lives, clearly. Get real.
This is an insulting post, really. You do understand that religious freedom would mean equal legal standing for rites and rituals, ie marriage?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

21. From the begining

The strict Calvinist Puritans did not suffer other well. Rhode Island was founded as a break off from the Massachusetts Bay Colony over religious reasons by Roger Williams. There is more.