In Jewett City, Connecticut there is a Baptist church whose chimes go off every hour followed by a song. An atheist from another town was driving through the borough when the chimes went off and then over it's P.A. system played "Onward Christian Soldiers".
The P.A. system is owned by the local town government and they let the church use it. The man is now bringing a suit to court to get them to separate church and state (ie: stop having the church use the P.A. system to play music which may be 'offensive' to some). And for the record, the church also plays "America The Beautiful & Somewhere Over The Rainbow."
Please share your thoughts and opinions on this.
2006-12-05 18:46:20 · 12 answers · asked by genaddt 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
The man does not even live there and he is bring suit? I think that he is just being vindictive just to be so. Does he have any support from anyone in the town? If he does, than I say the suit is justified. If no townspeople agree, than it is none of his business.
2006-12-05 18:53:35 · answer #1 · answered by Gorgeoustxwoman2013 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In my opinion, the fathers of the constitution never meant for the separation of church and state to get to this point. I believe that they did not want the state to control the churches and tell people where they could worship and control what was preached in the churches. But for the interpretation in todays world of nothing having to do with religion being in anything run by the state is going a bit far. Not being allowed to have a nativity scene in front of the city building or playing "church" music over a city owned pa system is not what they had in mind. I think they would be appalled at how their original constitution has been interpreted in our modern world.
2006-12-06 03:00:30 · answer #2 · answered by ? 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
1. Well, it DOESN'T respect the separation of church and state
2. It is noise pollution..there is too much noise invading my world already...assholes talking loudly on cell phones, cars with the bass you can hear from 2 blocks away...
3. I love 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' but I wouldn't want it imposed on me over a PA system every hour.
4. How would a Christian react if a mosque in blasted 'call to prayer' over a loudspeaker 5 times a day like they do in Islamic countries? Would you just avoid that part of town? What if it was across the street?
5 America the Beautiful is a good example of a nice sappy and patriotic song that you Americans love to love....but again, I don't want somebody elses musical choices imposed on my day...keep it inside. ( for the record. I don't want to hear C&W, opera, Rap or Phillip Glass either )
6. OCS, is a blatantly militaristic call to religious war, no different in some ways then a call to jihad.
7. As a fellow atheist I think he over-reacted, as it is clearly for the locals to decide. But I understand the place that came from...he did his own version of that "Network" scene ("I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!") that more and more of us apostates are reaching with religion.
2006-12-06 02:56:23 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I believe in the seperation of "Church and State", but if the out of towner does not like, what he is hearing, maybe he should go back to his town. I believe the towns people should be aloud to decide, what goes over the P.A. If the towns people don't object, it is no one elses business. The out of towner obviously just wants to complain and cause controversy.
2006-12-06 02:53:38 · answer #4 · answered by o 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
While I believe in separation of church and state, this is not really my focus. More people need to vote against Bush, not worry about songs on the radio or the city renting out halls and churches.
2006-12-06 02:48:45 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If I could just say exactly what I wanted I would tell the guy to mind his own business and don't go into the town if it offends him. Of course, no one would listen to me as I'm not a trouble maker. My husband might disagree with me on that one.;) It sounds like the guy just enjoys stirring up trouble and getting attention for himself. Kind of like my three year old. Hope things go well for your town and church.
2006-12-06 02:54:05 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Atheists will stop at NOTHING to try to get Jesus and God forcefully shoved out of our country just because they don't believe that they exist. It's not even about them believing or not as far as I can tell. It's just one big power trip. The atheists are so busy patting themselves on the back for being so "intelligent" as to believe that there is no God that even if Jesus stood right before them and performed a miracle they still wouldn't believe because they are so set in their ways.
2006-12-06 02:54:55 · answer #7 · answered by AngryAmerican82 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Just Americans abusing the court system trying to get rich so he can eat all day breakfasts at the Waffle House for the rest of his lazy life
David
2006-12-06 02:51:47 · answer #8 · answered by David T 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The probability of a divine being needs to be taken into account. If it is merely a wish that god exists, then it needs to be kept separate from my tax dollars.
2006-12-06 02:48:57 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Good for him. Onward Christians is evil anyway, like the crusades theme song. I hope he wins.
2006-12-06 02:51:12 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋