The only time I want to walk into any religious building that is being used as a government building is if I know they are being taxed.
ENOUGH… Tax all churches now
The only time I want to walk into any religious building that is being used as a government building is if I know they are being taxed.
ENOUGH… Tax all churches now
The quote the Rabbi quoted in the article…
"The fact of the matter is that there are a lot of stupid people here,”
Perhaps more accurately a Republiwont? I think that brings out the willfulness a bit more.
I hope one day we will look back on these times and say: “what a silly people we were.” Inclusion is absolutely the answer. Pushing people away is not going to work.
Wouldn’t wanna get them cooties…
Perhaps the solution is total voting by mail. Fill out your ballot at home in complete privacy. Then mail that sucker in. That way ya won’t get any Mooselim cooties.
or a 12-year-old with a toy gun.
So, let’s raise taxes so we can pay more to get polling locations to hold elections!
Huh? Is that what these fools want? HIgher taxes?
Locating suitable voting locations is a pain in the ass. It needs to be easily identified, accessible to all, available for fourteen straight hours with enough space to accommodate at least a precinct’s worth of traffic. School cafeterias/gyms would be great, except that students are present and using them on that Tuesday. If we declared voting day a holiday, then schools would be more available and we could forego using houses of religion. Meanwhile, there should be no picking and choosing of which denominations are “approved.” Usually the voting is done in the equivalent of the parish hall, not the sanctuary.
I don’t understand your point. There is a categorical difference between voting activity and clothes drives or bingo night. The former is a government function, the latter two are charity and entertainment being hosted by the church for the church’s own purposes.
I also believe that election polling places should not include churches of any denomination. Separation of church and state is important, plus as you said some folks don’t wish to enter the church of other faiths. Put the polls in schools and fire houses.
On the one hand, I would prefer that religious facilities not be used as polling sites. On the other hand, such facilities often have ample parking, rest room facilities, and the like that make them fairly well suited for handling large numbers of people. As long as any religious facilities are used for polling purposes, none should be discriminated against simply because of the prejudices of narrow-minded idiots.
Schools are often used as polling places. When classes are not in session, their parking facilities, etc., are very convenient. When classes are in session, however, parking can be problematic. Of course, this could be solved by having a national holiday, during which schools would be closed, on election day. This would also alleviate much of the current need to use churches, thereby eliminating the need the appearance of mixing church and state.
When I first moved here 20 years ago, my new polling place was at the Evangelical Lutheran Church.
I had previously voted at the school, firehouse, senior center, or Town Hall. I went in to vote and the place is covered with all sorts of wall hangings with various biblical admonishments.
Aggravated, I wrote to the Board of Elections to complain. Basically said “Separation of Church and State, wtf?”
I got a nice letter back which boiled down to: “Sorry, but you were the only one who complained”. I wrote it off, not wanting to pursue it in the new burgh.
Oddly enough, next election, all the religious crap was now covered up! I felt victorious!!
It stayed that way for two or three years, then we moved to the Town Hall, then a school I could walk to, and now back to the Town Hall, since they are turning the schools into fortresses now with checkpoints to get in.
No voting in any religious buildings.
I agree that Election Day should be a federal holiday to promote full participation of our citizenry. But of course, that is too much of a “liberal” idea, that the other side could not possibly agree with that principle.
Question: Does the state pay a fee for use of religious buildings as polling places? How much? Are there not schools or vacant properties that may serve as such without raising the church/state argument? That asked, if one church is a polling place then all churches become open as necessary to serve the polling electorate. If the Constitutional test is passed, then any arrangement the elections managers make cannot and should not be challenged. Kudos to supporters of the notion that “…all men (and women) are created equal and endowed with certain unalienable rights…”
I was making the point that churches are often used for two functions: places of worship and convenient buildings for various civic purposes. I would argue that bingo nights, Sunday sermons, and pancake breakfasts would have no similarity to an observer but have long been acceptable on church property. It’s been my experience churches are usually willing to let their facilities be used for functions they find acceptable even if they aren’t church-sponsored functions.
I don’t consider voting to have a political bias or to be a threat to the separation of church and state. It’s a fundamental action in a democracy and has to be done somewhere. The hosting site takes no position on the outcome of the vote and is simply a convenient location. I guess some persons think the location of a polling site is making a statement, but anywhere out of the rain is all right with me.
Bigots have been using various weapons this year to suppress the vote. I don’t want messing with polling locations to be part of that, and I think vote suppression was behind what happened in Florida.
Fire houses? Oh yeah, that’s fucking brilliant. Because firehouses always have abundant parking and nothing bad could possibly happen if there are a lot of cars and people milling around them.
And for fuck’s sake How does using a church or a synagogue or whatever as a polling place impinge upon separation of church and state. It’s not like they’re going to force you to convert or participate in a service or genuflect or proselytize you and it’s not like the government pays the churches to let them use them as polling places.
No. They don’t.
Yeah well you’re so bright you should know that where I come from they actually do use fire houses, and yes they do pay to use church space for elections and yes some people don’t want to go into church buildings of a faith not of their choosing which of course is their right. So take your know it all bullshit and tell it to someone who cares what you burp out of your pie hole. As for your foul language, I bet your mom would be proud.