Not in my backyard!

Frankly, I don't care which god or what words. ALL religions are to be separate from the state. Why? Because people will just be fighting over which god is real and which one isn't, you shouldn't follow this religion so follow mine. Religion is there to help others to find motivation to keep going in life, to never give up, that despite the cercumstances hope is still in reach. Everyone should be allowed to follow what ever religion they want with out the interference of other religion displays or other people trying to convert them.

They are separate to maintain a distance between government and religion because back in the days of old the two went hand in hand and the clergy would stand behind the monarchs (or whomever) at the expense of the citizenry. They are NOT separated because one religion believes theirs to be better than the other. Separate, so the two cannot be in cahoots together.

The position that the Founders did not want this Country to reflect its Judeo-Christian roots is silly. They imbedded it into all facets of their lives, including their government.

Although fully cognizant of the major world religions, they chose to set Christianity into the fabric of their government as firmly as it was set into their society.

We have seperation of church and state in this nation for a reason. So lets enforce it.

"Faith is believing what you know ain't so."-Mark Twain

The Founders of this nation did not claim this as a Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or any religious nation. They were Deists who believed in a supreme being from where all good things flowed and they absolutely decried the mixing of religion and politics precisely because of where they came from which had a history of bloodshed and barbarism tied to the Church being closely aligned with the monarchs of England. Even Jefferson took it upon himself to write a different version of the life of Christ that sought to take out all of "mystics" that priests sold people about him in order to get parishioners and profit.

This is a nation that has freedom of religion and freedom from it at the same time. You get to choose which way you wish to go in the hopes you will respect the beliefs of those who go the opposite of the way you choose. I firmly believe in freedom of religion and freedom from it... and I vehemently oppose any attempt to push any one religion over another or inject religion into poltiics as it is detrimental to the democratic process. If you want to practice religion there are many places of worship where that can be done. The halls of congress should not be one of them.

I always heard it was freedom FROM religion. Besides I hate it when someone tries to force their beliefs on others. I thought religion was something you came to willingly!

If you are uncomfortable with Christianity, ignore it.

Are you so unstable that the meer sight of a Cross or an open Bible or someone exercising their Religious rights in any setting is so offense to you that you want it outlawed?!?!?

How can you stand to drive down the street and see a church. You are like some kind of Religion Vampires unable to come out in daylight lest you melt away at the sound of Sarah Palin saying she trusts God.

Grow a skin, people!

It's a shame religion is the basis of a lot of major government decisions even though they are supposed to be separate. Case and point: Prop 8. Its basically bigotry written into law. All because it's some how "immoral" and "wrong" to be gay and married.

As well as that, most abortion arguments are religion based. I'de rather see a baby come into the world rather than a dead fetus, however, to live in today society and say that abortion isn't needed is idiotic. Religion takes away that choice.

Faith is fine. Making your faith law? No thanks.

The separation of church and state helps to guarantee the freedom of religion, so that people aren't required to follow a certain philosophy or a prescribed way of thinking. In any case, to my way of thinking, real spirituality is largely an individual pursuit anyway. It cannot be taught or coerced - you have to be able to freely get it for yourself. And I don't want or need the government giving it to me.

PamelaSC...You are absolutely correct when you say....*It cannot be taught or coerced - you have to be able to freely get it for yourself.*

Indeed, if our government were remotely capable of coercing the populace into Christianity, those terrible laws, statues, phrases, invocations, etc, etc would have successfully coerced you all long before now!

The fact that many are NOT Christians refutes the ability of your government to force Christianity upon you.

Open your minds.....free yourselves from Religious Bigotry!

I'm done, you know what, I've been trying to be open to all religions (except evangelicalism and scientology), but mormons, you are now on my "discrimination list".

You can choose your god but you can't choose your sexual orientation, and yet god was used to take away our rights... hmm... doesn't seem fair does it?

There are too many gods and too many religions to say that any are valid.

"Doubt is not a pleasant condition,
but certainty is absurd." - Voltaire

It is our civic duty to maintain a separation between church and state in order to insure equal rights for all...otherwise, it's a free-for-all...

Consider that all religions and all deities are valid to some degree, especially to those who believe in them...this would also hold true even for the non believers, who still believe in not believing...

"Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe"

"Of all the tyrannies that afflict mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst. Every other species of tyranny is limited to the world we live in. But this attempts a stride beyond the grave, and seeks to pursue us into eternity."

-- Thomas Paine

You are absolutly right,we do have seperation of church and state,and as a Christian,a Jesus loving,born again Christian,I support it,right along with the prayer in school issue,its not an issue that should be forced by goverment law. I am not for prayer in school,because who's prayer would we be praying? I think,kids have enough time before they get to school to pray. I do support firmly my constitutiona right for freedom of religion,all religions; right along with freedom of speech,and like it or not,the second ammendment: "The rights of the PEOPLE,to KEEP and BARE arms,shal lNOT be INFRINGED APON"
Obama better read the constitution very carfully before he starts talking about gun control,what dose he,or the anti gun crowd thinks,by banning guns from LAW ABIDING citizens,the criminals suddenly wont have guns?And as for cary permits,they just dont hand them out to you because you ask for one. You must go through a intense background checkand if you are a convicted felon?forget it.Also,your finger printed,and must have a certified hand gun training course,and pass it to State Police satisfaction.Then,and only then,do you get a state issued permit,along with regulations as to where you CANOT go with a weapon.The reason citizens should have guns,is because our goverment has them,the people should not be afraid of their goverment,the goverment should fear the people,because our goverment is written as a "goverment of the people,by the people,and for the people" and as our forfathers wrote,"we belive these truths to be self evident"Remember,the first thing Obama needs to remember is "We the people..."

In 1637 A small group of 80 armed colonists from Massachusetts went southeast past Naragansett Bay to a place near what is now Groton Connecticut. There this group of civilized settlers attached the ancient pequot tribe. Thhey had determined to exterminate these natives known as the Pequot Tribe. They proceeded to masssacre the entire tribe men women and children. One man had according to historians said, that God is over us. This was also the opinion of the famous Cotton Mather. That day they masssacred all. Cotton mather had said that "no less than 600 pequot souls were brought down to hell that day. Not too many years previous the Indians had given these people food and ideas on how to grow there crops. This is the Judeo Christian heritage of this nation and from all of the blood shed since then by religious bigots I should think that people would be ashamed to bring up the subject of religion. Remember the Salem witch trials? Look at all of the bloodshed in the middleeast only because the Islamites hate the Zionists and too the sunni's hate the shiites. Remember the Crusaders from the Turn of the first milleium? Remember the Dark ages when people were crucifiied if they disobeyed orders from the church? Remember the battle of wounded knee and the massacre of the Lakota's? Although this was the US Army who sent these souls. It just shows that we have a history of religious ignorance and savagery. And imagine they called the indians savages. The Killing will never stop because the world hasd mastered the art of Killing with bombs, cluster bombs, fast repeating guns. Bullets and bombs from the land, sea and air. We as a human race have come a long way from our barbarian background. We will keep it up until we kill each other off completely or until the next asteroid hits the earth.

The founding fathers were deists and would be astonished and embarrassed by the simple minded fundamentalist christian of today. The claim that the USA is a "Christian nation" is hate speech. Any state sponsorship of religious symbols or verbiage is an act of disrespect for the country.

Religious people need to grow a spine and stop demanding special treatment of their ideas on public property. Maybe it's just me, but I think there are more important things to spend money on than silly statues paying tribute to your fantasies.

I am originally from the San Diego, CA area. I am not very religious. Believe in God, I think, am a "doubting thomas" if you will and still on the journey to learn more. PLEASE NO REMARKS ABOUT MY BELIEFS, Not why I am writing this.

Anyway, not far from San Diego is La Mesa, which is where I was born. In La Mesa there is a mountain named Mt. Helix. At the top of Mt. Helix was an "amphitheater" if you will. Once a year this was the place of Easter celebration. Once a year it was the place for a religious celebration. Once a lousy f'ing time of the year. The rest of the year it was a nature place I guess. Nice place to be while outdoors above the houses there. Anyway...the La Mesa Police Department had, damn, can you believe it, the cross of Mt. Helix on the patches of their uniforms. Mt. Helix was a special place in the minds of many La Mesans, not just for the Easter services and Mt Helix was recognized all over San Diego. Mt. Helix was the "trademark" of La Mesa. But some wiseasses decided that Mt. Helix could no longer be public and that the La Mesa police department could no longer have the cross on their patch. Damn it, those policemen, every time they gave you a ticket or pulled you over were by God, conspiring to turn you in to a Christian. Damn....gotta watch out for the cops in that city. From jail to pew. Some other wiseasses, probably the same ones, also decided that the Easter services, the one and only religious celebration held there, except maybe weddings...wonder if they are still allowed, could not be held there any more because of separation of church and state. Someone bought the land and privately held and it continues to this day to be used for Easter Celebration, La Jolla had the same problem with crosses in their fair city. I don't get it....
I am not very religious and have often wondered how a cross threatened anyone?!???!??! Do you hear things? Is GOD speaking to you through these crosses and you just have to shut his words out of your mind? Is someone standing at these crosses begging for alms? Is a priest or preacher standing in these places preaching at you every day? I should say, are these happening with the government standing along side encouraging these things to happen????

I believe in separation of church and state. However, I also believe that when the two mix, I will be of a mind to know the difference between a friggging cross standing on a mountain, or on the patch of a police officer, or the ten commandments out in front of city hall, and when the church is actually interfering in the way my government is run.......

And right now, one church does come to mind, the Mormon church who pulled out all the stops about Prop 8. And another, all the catholic bishops wanting to talk to Obama about abortion, THAT is too much.

Can't you tell???

I would call those who cannot tell "alarmists" and also they need to read the story of the "boy w ho cried wolf" one day you are gonna yell so much about it no one will listen to you any more when and if it does happen. Common sense people. Shit.

I think, to me...the thing with La Mesa HURT, inside. Because while we lived around that area, and went to Mt Helix etc...we never ONCE thought of it as, should point out speaking for myself here, being an over show of religion and government walking hand in hand and in cahoots. It was a treasured and beautiful landmark. It had been around for a long time. It was part of the histories of the cities surrounding it. It was NOT a shining call to religion. It was just there, minding its own business. Very hard to explain.

This is funny. Look at what happens when religion demands government control.

You are arrested and jailed for "religious offences" as the laws of the land are decided by religous "leaders." Religion will permeate every facet of your life - your private life as well as public. Everything will be controlled, there will be no choices in food, clothing, and sexual practices; in most cases your husband/wife will be arranged for you.

And this is all happening right now, right in front of the "enlightened" crowd who have so much of a problem with this nation's Judeo-Christian history. And there's not a peep from anyone. Why? It's as hideous and digusting as the Spanish Inquisition... (which no one ever expects, btw)... but it's happening NOW, not the 14th century.

But go ahead and whine about having some church in your backyard. What you really need is one with those lovely calls to prayer blarring over the loud speakers five times a day. But the hypocrisy of the liberal media will delete this post.

I'm an atheist... I just can't take it, personally. But I do admit to a secret liking the of show-biz schlock of the catholics - they got it down.

I've had freedom of religion my entire adult life. I don't know any different. I have learned of countries like Russia, China, Afghanistan, iran who don't provide freedom of religion. That has to suck. Being tolerant of other peoples beliefs is important for a peaceful society. Only about 10% of americans are atheists but I hope we do not make them feel uncomfortable. However if seeing a cross makes you feel uncomfortable maybe something deep inside you is trying to tell you its more than just a cross.

Thomas Jefferson ->
"Of liberty I would say that, in the whole plenitude of its extent, it is unobstructed action according to our will. But rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law,' because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual."

Remember the original arguement was that if the constitution didn't speak to it .. the power was denied to the National Government.

After some discussion the Founding Fathers decided that some of the rights needed to be specifically protected since they were educated and well versed in how other governments had gone astray.

Thus the Bill of rights and the 1st amendment which allows for public discourse and information with desenting opinions protected as well as press and religion... as well as the right to petion for redress of grevinces which seems to have gotten abridged lately

and the 2nd amendment which gives the Sovereign people the right needed to protect themselves and the other rights

I have no problem with your silly beliefs, but if one day I start believing that all Christains, for example, should be thrown to the lions, for example, by your very logic you and everyone else has to allow me to throw you to the lions. It is what I believe. And what I believe is just as credulous and what you believe.

So when that day comes, and I gather the supporters of my new religion, and I stand on public grounds and preach that all Christians should be thrown to the lions, dont be surprised.

Look, keep your silly religion in your silly church. Keep it out of my governemnet, classrooms, courtrooms, and politics. And while you are at it, get it off my money!