theres a god of the gays?

well damn...i should start telling people im a musician

have you actually ever been back stage or on a tour bus?

yes....girls really do much worse than this as well

having personally seen the titties of thousands of groupies chicks, it gets kindda boring after a while.

might as well share herpes sooner than later

what? no women ever send me their breasts!

if you died for your beliefs, you weren't shooting good enough

oops sorry...i meant to send that to someone else

Mozart














oops wrong 80s

all of this has been covered since the first page. im guessing minds wont be changed if they havent already

wasnt but a little over a year ago that i finished rebuilding my house.

All due respect to those affected by Rita, it was merely overshadowed by the 80 billion dollar devastation that Katrina caused.

i was going to "pray" this thread would stay on topic

Ive already pointed out it isnt in the constitution but it is definitely implied by the first amendment. I think all should go research exactly what the Establishment Clause of the first amendment actually means. I think most people seem to think "separation of church and state" means "separation of religion and me- no matter who i meet, where i go, or what i do".

No need to demand it; this is implied in the first amendment.




This makes no sense. Ethics are derived from ones moral principles. Some 75-80% of the US population identify themselves as Christian.





Speaking one's mind is a desirable trait as a representative. The voters of Oklahoma will have their own voice come election time.

Who said? This isnt written anywhere in the constitution or laws of the United States. Respect has nothing to do with it. As I recall, the premise of the argument is "church and state". Now you've expanded to include anywhere you happen to be.




Thanks for giving permission for something I was already aware I had according to the first amendment. I wasnt aware that I ever imposed my belief on you or your children.



How cool we are is irrelevant. I wasnt aware that I ever tried to impose my beliefs on you. I can assure you, i will never try to either.



has anyone ever forced you to participate? If not, then you have nothing to complain about. However, by insinuating that the public should cater to your desires because you dont believe something would be disrespectful to them...not to mention suppressing their freedom of religious expression.

The same could be said about opponents of religion.



Has anyone ever forced them?



Why?



You do not have to. You can choose affirmation.



Then I suggest you hang out among your peers. If wanted to go to a prayer meeting and they made me play baseball, I likely choose to go elsewhere myself. You know...because thats what they do there.




So they should give up their freedom of religious expression just because you showed up? Again, the first amendment doesnt work like this.



That pretty much would include any authoritative entity.



Again, when were you ever forced? Have you ever been arrested, cited, incarcerated, or other held accountable for not engaging or practicing any religion?




Why? Because you disagree? You can't make up your own rules to suit your own desire.

under the first amendment, the government wont ever require you to. This is all it guarantees.

Separation of church and state - idea that the government and religion should be separate, and not interfere in each other's affairs. In the United States, this idea is based on the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which states that the government cannot make any laws to establish a state religion or prohibit the free exercise of religion.

This is all it is. Atheists try to argue it means more than it was ever meant to. It was NEVER intended to allow protection from others religious expression.


This is the letter from Thomas Jefferson that created what would become twisted some 200 years later:

To messers. Nehemiah Dodge, Ephraim Robbins, & Stephen S. Nelson, a committee of the Danbury Baptist association in the state of Connecticut.

Gentlemen

The affectionate sentiments of esteem and approbation which you are so good as to express towards me, on behalf of the Danbury Baptist association, give me the highest satisfaction. my duties dictate a faithful and zealous pursuit of the interests of my constituents, & in proportion as they are persuaded of my fidelity to those duties, the discharge of them becomes more and more pleasing.

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.

I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection & blessing of the common father and creator of man, and tender you for yourselves & your religious association, assurances of my high respect & esteem.

Th Jefferson
Jan. 1. 1802.

The government doesnt back any religion. You have totally missed the scope of the first amendment. It wasnt to give atheists and agnostics legal recourse when they hear something they dont agree with. Im about as religious as...well lets just say not very but my logic wont let me twist the words of something intended for freedom of religious expression. The first amendment was never meant to be protection from others religious expression.