Ok im just jumping on on this for a bit so if i missed anything dont get all flustered.
There is nothing wrong with saying the pledge every day in a public school. I said it daily along with millions of other kids.
Historical monuments serve no real purpose??? Didn\'t you ever learn that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it? History is very important for so many reasons and monuments are a daily reminder of the sacrifices made, the tragedies, the triumphs and the hero\'s of mankind.
Giga, Giga, Giga. I don’t see why you dance around these comments. The problem he finds in the pledge and all of that is the fact that they mention god which may not have anything to do with their beliefs. Of course as a child you may not know what to believe but saying it in school is presumed to bias that development of beliefs. Of course I personally don’t think it does too much in terms of biasing. It is basically only annoying to those that are old enough to have established beliefs and don’t agree with it, not the children (for the most part).
And monuments do indeed serve a purpose historically but what great amount can be gained from a placard on the side of one? Yes you said the sacrifice and all that but Im sure you can learn the same things if not more from reading a book. Monuments are nice tributary objects but in terms of historical education, they don’t do as much as you might think.
morals - Definition: [n] motivation based on ideas of right and wrong.
I don\'t see religion mentioned there. Being religious is not a prerequisite to know what is right and what is wrong.
I don’t think that was the point. First of all he did not say morals alone. He stated “Religious Moral Code.” Anyway, almost every group of people has had some sort of cosmology and their views of right and wrong often come from that. It is not new that people don’t believe in god but a large majority of early people had some sort of religion/cosmology to explain things and whether you are religious or not, right and wrong on a basic level is the same if not partially influenced by that cosmology.
Read again DH - English Common Law. That has nothing to do with religion.
As for this "Moral Code" you speak of. If you live in this country you follow its law - not the law in Saudi Arabia, not the law in Canada, not the law in China - the law HERE. It has nothing to do with morals. You have no clue what you are talking about.
Forgive me for just jumping in, but I figured why not. The English Common Law may come from roman law which still probably ties into their own cosmology, not that it matters really. But on the topic of law, how does this not have anything to do with morals? Laws are established through our beliefs which stems from our morals which could be said to stem from this country’s establishment by Christians and thus god being mentioned in our government (not to mention things like swearing by the bible).
How!?!?!?!?! Show me proof that religious minorities are being discriminated against. Don\'t give me your pseudo intellectual babble about brainwashing either. Show me law that discriminates against people for being non Christian. Show me!!!!
On the whole discrimination thing, I don’t believe there is some large degree of it coming from the government itself but more from the people that support the small ties that our government does have with religion. I don’t see how its possible though for people to not agree with some laws because they think they are too religious. THAT is ridiculous.
