between freedom OF religion, and freedom FROM religion?
And, why would you stop Christians from their freedom to live according to their beliefs?
2007-02-20 05:50:08 · 37 answers · asked by Jed 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Separation of church and state...read the original documents. It is not in there.
2007-02-20 05:53:39 · update #1
An example: prayer taken out of schools.
public prayer at town meetings. etc.
The war on Christmas, especially in schools. Do none of you read the papers?
2007-02-20 05:57:29 · update #2
Now, I wish atheists would only realize that the public schools have been teaching our kids their liberal religion for quite some time now. They insist on teaching us their moralities, their opinions on homosexual lifestyles, and how to bang each other in the schoolyard. If freedom of religion is guaranteed by the Constitution, then it really ought to apply to everyone.
2007-02-20 05:55:44 · answer #1 · answered by LGT 3 · 1⤊ 7⤋
Jed I hope you can appreciate the irony of your question, when historically speaking, few religions have been more suppressive of other religions than has those claiming to follow Christ. The practitioners of many Pagan religions have been completely wiped out, usually in the most barbaric terms imaginable. But I digress. I myself choose to adhere to the words of Christ, and Buddha,Gandhi, and all others who dedicated their lives to the spiritual betterment of humanity. I have no fear that the foundations of my own spiritual convictions can be shaken by exposure to, or interaction with those who believe differently. Sadly, and it is especially true among most christian based churches, many spiritual affiliations incorporate as a part of their dogma both an intolerance of other faiths, and the belief that as theirs is the only true path to grace,heaven,nirvana,Valhalla,etc. they are divinely ordained to exterminate the competition. Also there is the consideration about public displats of faith. Again I find it interesting that though most Christians claim a desire for prayer in school to be allowed and accepted, that is only right up until an islamic student stops his studies, gets out his prayer rug, and begins his devotions in the classroom, or lets consider the child from a family practicing Santoria. Would the good and gentle Christians be tolerant of animal sacrifice in school? Besides, anyone who honestly thinks that prayer doesn't happen in schools, can only have enjoyed a school career in which they never felt unprepared for a test. Before ANY Christian can begin to holler foul on the issue of tolerance, they need first address the intolerance of their own backyard.
2007-02-20 06:03:42 · answer #2 · answered by porhtronranie2 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes, I do know the difference. I believe we should be guaranteed both in the U.S.
I don't want to stop Christians or Muslims or Pagans or Satanists or Scientologists or anyone else from their religion. Everyone should have the freedom to live according to their beliefs. What they don't have the freedom to do is impose their beliefs on the rest of us by forcing their morality and religious systems into the laws of our government. That, I will fight until I die or they stop trying, whichever happens first.
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Look, no one's telling your kids they can't pray in school. The school just can't force kids to pray. The "war on Christmas" thing is ridiculous propaganda. No one's trying to take away your rights, we are just trying to ensure our own. For that matter, the church should be in favor of the separation of church and state--it was originally instituted in order to stop the church from being regulated by the government. Protection works both ways. Study some history, m'kay?
2007-02-20 05:54:29 · answer #3 · answered by N 6 · 4⤊ 1⤋
Jed, what do you take Atheists for ? You make it sound as if we're rather dense. Do a little background work, you'll find just the opposite to be true.
Do you know of a single Atheist who is attempting to stop any Christian from believing whatever he cares to believe ?
Read these questions that pop up on Yahoo Answers, you'll see more Christians bashing Atheists than the other way around.
You're suggesting that Atheists don't know the difference between OF and FROM, and you accuse us of trying to stop you from practicing your beliefs, but still you can't see why we don't just take insults and lies without defending ourselves.
2007-02-20 06:04:08 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Freedom OF religion sounds like you live your life without religion being a direct influence. Freedom FROM religion however seems like trying to live your life while avoiding anything that has any religious semblance, connotation, or meaning to it. Personally I try to respect others beliefs no matter how different they may be from my own. It's something I'd want from others.
2007-02-20 06:51:19 · answer #5 · answered by DI$CO 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is amazing to me that atheists are very eager to evoke the "freedom of religion and from religion" mantra yet don't see that all of this includes their own hopeless, diluded religion. And then they insist on deists, theists and others to passively sit by while they force their ideology down our throats.
They have ever right to espouse their toxic beliefs and to fight for laws helping them to expand their vision of what "America" should be. So do Christians. We have as much right to fight for our views and beliefs as atheists do. Because we are driven by two opposing ideologies there will most certainly be conflict. But let that conflict stay in the debate and not overflow into charachter assasination and name calling. That tends to make us all look stupid, don't you think?
2007-02-20 06:34:51 · answer #6 · answered by Bud 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
11 of the 13 founding fathers were not Christian. We have freedom of personal practice of religion, not turning religion into law. You can't have your religion funded by everyone's tax dollars... People can pray in school if they want. Christmas was stolen from the pagans and has nothing to do with Christianity. You sound like a little kid.
2007-02-20 05:57:11 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 1⤋
I am not an Atheist but why are the Christians trying to stop Atheists from freedom of their religion and stop them to live according to their beliefs. It goes both ways, and by the way I am a mystic.
2007-02-20 05:54:45 · answer #8 · answered by Lynnemarie 6 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Freedom of religion means everyone is free to chose what religion they believe in. Freedom from religion means you no longer are bound to believe in something and the religious brainwashing that is applied to us as a child will no longer be working. I am not stopping anyone from their freedom to live according to their beliefs but I would like to be able to practice what I believe freely just like you.
2007-02-20 05:57:50 · answer #9 · answered by livewire 4 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Freedom OF religion is the freedom to worship or NOT worship as you chose.
Freedom FROM religion is protection for EVERYONE ELSE from people who force THEIR religious beliefs on others.
For example-
A law protecting the people's freedom FROM religion would punish a religious nut pharmacist who refuses to fill a woman's prescription for her birth control pills because HE doesn't believe in birth control and it's against HIS religion. He should lose his license or be black listed from pharmacies everywhere. He can go work in a chruch someplace where he never has to encounter the real world.
It would also protect MY right to govern my own uterus and to make decisions about what can be in my body. They protect me from crazy people who think that I must allow rape and incest and if those acts of violence force a fertilization of one of my eggs, I must carry the pregnancy to term.
Oh yes, I fully understand freedom FROM religion vs. freedom OF religion.
No one should ever be allowed to force another human being to do, think or be something they do not voluntarily want to become.
2007-02-20 06:00:57 · answer #10 · answered by Mimi Di 4 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Freedom of AND from are part of the separation of church and state. I don't mind that Christians live their lives in whatever way they see fit. What I DO object to is legislation of religious doctrine.
I have just as much a right to live as I see fit, but I'm not able to when Christians siphon their particular religious morality into secular law.
Religious entanglement is the reason why same sex marriage is still illegal in all but one state. Religious entanglement is the reason why atheists cannot hold public office in over half a dozen states. Religious entanglement is the reason the abortion debate is so contentious. Religious entanglement is the reason that researchers are being prevented from furthering their studies on embryonic stem cells, a project that could be the most important venture for medical science in recent history.
Oh, and by the way... I know that the exact phrase "separation of church and state" isn't in the constitution. Know what else isn't? The exact words "right to a fair trial". You're not suggesting that you haven't got the right to a fair trial... are you??
*edit*
An example: prayer taken out of schools. (school sanctioned organized prayer never should have been allowed in the first place. Public schools are government owned and operated, and the government is must NOT promote or condone specifically religious activity. And besides, organized prayer has nothing to do with secular education. If you want kids to pray, send them to a private Christian school.)
The war on Christmas (this is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of. People turn the phrase Merry Christmas into a fetish, something done for its own sake instead of using it as a sincere greeting. It’s an aggressive statement about one’s own identity that is thrown in the face of others as a challenge or even an insult. It’s not about defending religious meaning in Christmas, but defending a religious identity and a set of traditional privileges. Why not just say Merry Christmas? As the religious pluralism of America increases, so must the sensitivity of its citizens. It’s impolite to make assumptions about people you don’t know.
What's the problem with trying to be more inclusive??)
2007-02-20 05:52:06 · answer #11 · answered by ZER0 C00L ••AM••VT•• 7 · 16⤊ 5⤋