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Should religious schools get public money?
" A federal appeals court ruling that a Christian university in Colorado can receive state scholarship money is the latest in a string of legal victories for religious schools seeking public dollars.
The most recent case involved Colorado Christian University, a college of 2,000 students in suburban Denver where most students must attend chapel weekly and sign a promise to emulate the life of Jesus and Biblical teachings.
Colorado Christian faculty must sign a statement that that the Bible is the "infallible Word of God."
Students "attending institutions such as CCU who take their faith-based commitment seriously should have an equal opportunity to participate in Colorado's financial aid program," said Paul Cortis, president of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities.
But critics called it the latest example of a worrisome trend.
"The bottom line is that taxpayers will now end up having to pay for religious indoctrination," said Barry Lynn, executive director of the group Americans United for Separation of Church and State. The law wasn't discrimination, but "a sensible judgment by Colorado that some colleges are so religious that they cannot expect taxpayers to support them."
The ruling cuts to a conundrum in the First Amendment, which prohibits the state from establishing any religion, but also prohibits religious discrimination. Religious colleges have argued their students shouldn't be deprived of a state benefit everyone else can get."
" A federal appeals court ruling that a Christian university in Colorado can receive state scholarship money is the latest in a string... more -
Pastors use Pulpit to Challenge Election Law
I don't even know what to say to this. Is it worse that the church is doing this, or that the IRS does nothing in return? I mean, why have laws, if there is no one to enforce them when they're broken? I don't even know what to say to this. Is it worse that the church is doing this, or that the IRS does nothing in return? I mean, why ... more
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Oprah, Obama, and the Occult
Religion is failing. People aren't meant to be controlled and here is a perfect example of the church's loss of power. A funny thing happens when people start thinking for themselves.
People repulse me so much when I see the extent to which they will try to smear somebody's name. Who cares if it's all in the name of politics, it doesn't make it right.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW4LLwkgmqA
Over 6 million people have been subjected to that crap in the video linked above.
Religion is failing. People aren't meant to be controlled and here is a perfect example of the church's loss of power. A funny thing ... more -
LA CHIESA E INTERNET
Corpo mistico telematico. Transustanziazione del virtuale. Regole.
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What does Oprah really believe?
I got this in an email, and thought it was worthy of discussion. I myself am a little confused by the whole thing....so feel free to let it all go!
I don't attend a church service on a regular basis by no means, but I do remember going to church as a child. And I do remember that in the Bible it says; I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE, NO ONE COMES THROUGH THE FATHER EXCEPT BY ME. ~ Jesus Christ
I got this in an email, and thought it was worthy of discussion. I myself am a little confused by the whole thing....so feel free to l... more -
Blind Faith: Evolving Church and State With Reason And Religion
"I mean wouldn't faith itself be more valuable if it was arrived at through question and doubt? What's the use of blind faith? Seriously, it's not difficult saying you have faith if the alternative is being burned alive. But does that mean you really have faith?"
These are the musings of the protagonist in British satirist Ben Elton's latest novel Blind Faith. Though ostensibly a work of fiction set in the year 56 AFT (after the flood), the post-apocalyptic, dystopian society Elton's book portrays is but an extrapolation of what we're seeing in America today, and perhaps serves as a dire warning of the logical conclusion of our current course.
In Blind Faith the government plays second fiddle to an authoritarian Temple, which dictates that faith is mandatory. While in America today we have a political climate that's so mindful of the religious right, that politicians are considered unelectable, on all sides, unless they wear the required conservative-white-Christian religious beliefs on their sleeves.
I want our politicians to have faith because they choose to, not because it's a requirement of the job. I also think that a politician has a right to keep his faith (or lack thereof) private, something he has now in theory, but not in practice thanks to the way overbearing pressure from our fundamentalist religious-right "Temple" has warped our political landscape. Something else we also have in theory but not in practice is the separation of church and state, something America's very religious Founding Fathers worked into the Constitution and Bill of Rights for a reason.
I want our politicians to speak of morals, with the understanding that to be moral is innately right, and not because it's a vote winning concept that need never be drawn on in practice. And with such understanding comes reason, rather than the politically savvy, de rigueur, blind faith that mollifies all and truly satisfies none.
In Blind Faith, the Temple declared that the apocalyptic floods were a result of God's will rather than man's overuse of fossil fuels, and in America today many politicians still deny reason and evidence as they deny global warming, yet as long as they proudly proclaim their blind faith they are somehow considered qualified for the job and electable, even if that faith denounces both reason and progress.
I want our politicians to be chosen because of their ability to govern, unhindered by those of faith, as I'd want our men and women of the cloth to be chosen for their abilities in the faith department, unhindered by politics. I want our politicians, who govern over a multi-faith population and must serve all, to be free to make decisions based on facts, reason, and morals (which those of faith have no monopoly on).
Similarly, I want our science teachers to teach science, unhindered by religion, and our religious teachers to teach religion, unhindered, but ironically perhaps helped by, science. It is then up to the masses to make their own decisions and judgments having been empowered by unbiased information and insight. Only then will we have truly evolved, and found enlightenment as a society. For reason does not deny faith, nor faith reason, but some might say, God gave us brains to reason.
"For no society based on nothing more constructive than fear and brutish ignorance could survive forever. No people who raised the least inventive, the least challenging, the least interesting of their number while crushing individual curiosity and endeavor could prosper for long." Ben Elton, Blind Faith, 2007
http://www.dailymantra.com
http://www.myspace.com/thedailymantra "I mean wouldn't faith itself be more valuable if it was arrived at through question and doubt? What's the use of blind faith? Serious... more -
A Detailed Analysis of Religion in Politics (in Cartoon Form)
What if the next Republican debate included Jesus?? Get more at www.LeeCamp.net
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For all of you who have forgotten the basic principles of our great nation...
So, when I hear debates about Gay Marriage and abortion, I have to ask myself- "Self, Have we forgotten all about the Bill of Rights?" and of course, "When did we abolish the separation between church and state?"
Turns out we haven't...Please, take a moment to review the principles that our Nation is built upon before pushing your beliefs onto your fellow American citizens.
Our liberty and freedom depend upon it! So, when I hear debates about Gay Marriage and abortion, I have to ask myself- "Self, Have we forgotten all about the Bill of Rights?"... more -
God-O-Meter: Democrats Just as Theocratic as Repubs.
The sight of Kerry, Gore--or Giuliani or Biden-- sitting in a church pew is the most absurd comedy of each election cycle. These intelligent men are acting for the camera. They don't believe in God (and their performance is faithlessly unbelievable).See the link to find out to what degree your favorite Democrats are pretending to love Jesus, how desperately they need the Evangelical vote, and how they will allow theocratic bullshit to infect policy that should be based around rationality and science. The sight of Kerry, Gore--or Giuliani or Biden-- sitting in a church pew is the most absurd comedy of each election cycle. These intel... more
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Church and State
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Church and State
