This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It was originally published at The Conversation.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1473077
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1473077
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Ban the Bill!!!
And,while you are it it, ban Daylight Savings Time as well!
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If the law is challenged in court and upheld, teachers could teach that the motto was adopted when the nation was emerging from McCarthyism and fear of communism was widespread. Moreover, they could teach that many people of faith throughout U.S. history would have viewed this sort of display as against U.S. ideals.
This is clever, and wise. I was raised in a mildly religious home, but even then my public school education made it impossible to not recognize coerced religiosity as an affront to the much-vaunted “founding principles.”
May it be so with others.
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Matthew 6:5-8 “When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men … but when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your father who is unseen.”
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“forced worship stinks in God’s nostrils.”
And anybody else’s who’s being forced to worship. “I order you to believe what I believe, and if you don’t I will punish you severely,” is tempting, but it pretty much never works. Trouble is, the kind of people who order others to believe as they do are usually happy to substitute an enormous and cruel state apparatus of repression and persecution for compliance. “Our dear Lord loves it when I put the thumbscrews to foul sinners.”
Jesus Christ this stuff is old.
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Why not go with “In Trump We Trust” since he is your new found God.
Then you will only be charged with worshipping a asshole.
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In [Imaginary Abusive Sky Daddy] We Trust.
Also, there are elves and fairies in my garden.
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The utter hypocrisy of those claiming to be religious is simply astounding. It is simply a way on forcing control over individuals and preventing thought. The most important characteristic that I have that differentiates me from doorknobs and other objects is the ability to think. No one or religion will take that away from me.
Now let’s go further - the Republican Party that claims to be religious are simply all frauds and con artists. They claim to be for the right to life, but once a child is born, its suck to be them. They have done everything in their political power to hurt children and families that are not like theirs (i.e., white). They do not support any safety net programs designed to help families with their health, their welfare, their education, etc. Now, they clearly do not support the rule of law or the US Constitution. Recognize the acceleration of their hideous views over the past 4 years. And the press either through mainstream networks, paper, or electronic is MIA. They are part of the problem.
So, the game is on and it’s for real. The Republican Party needs to go.
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Still heating up, trust in God notwithstanding. But it’s great news for weird jellyfish!
So yeah, pray your asses off! Knock yourselves out! The Cnidarians don’t care.
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Teach Truth
"a type of civic deism
Deism holds that God created the universe and does not intervene in human affairs. Also, be sure to include the authority of the Pope and Christian church over the government.
There is no such thing as civic religious belief, otherwise everyone can claim to be saved.
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Whatever happened to “E pluribus unum” as our “national motto”?
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It isn’t going anywhere due to the structural rigidity of our two-party system, but it can change over time into something less destructive.
The one hope I have that’s based on any real evidence is the steady decline in the number of people who identify in polls as being a member of an organized religion. There is rot at the core, although it may not seem like that right now with the elevation of Johnson as House Speaker. The Christian Right is making a lot of noise right now that is disproportionate to their actual numbers.
Our relative success in the 2022 midterms with a focus on abortion rights is proof of that, and I think the Ohio vote on abortion rights is about to show the same.
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How do we know this? How can we be certain? It’s still a matter of faith. I have no idea myself but I do think it’s rude to assume that the universe was pulled, rabbit-like out of a hat by a magician existing, essentially, outside of it.
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You’re right. We don’t know it.
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Ann Coulter already did!
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This phrase was put on our money in 1956 in response to the “godless” Commies, so time to retire it
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And who or what created the magician? And so forth.
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The purpose of government is the purpose of the Republican Party – to force breeding, scare children straight, and support billionaires.
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Faith required by law is pretty weak cow poop.
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First cause for creation is an intellectual trap. It’s the foundational idea of every religion that requires blind belief without evidence.
Best avoided by being comfortable with not knowing how it all started, pushing as far as we can to understand it scientifically, but being comfortable without a final answer. We don’t need that particular final answer to live a good, morally positive life.
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