It is foolish to believe extreme ideas must be respected in order to respect the rights of extremists.
I agree there should be more variety in the types of prayers that begin legislative sessions. A commitment to diversity, however, does not require the Legislature to give equal time to all religious leaders no matter how abhorring their teachings.
The Constitution protects freedoms, but it also draws lines to exclude extremists. Freedom of speech does not protect child pornographers. Freedom of religion does not protect the torture of animals or plural marriage to minors.
Opposition to monuments of the Ten Commandments is a perfect example of people pushing the limits of the Bill of Rights.
All the Constitution says about government and religion is: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
Defining the Ten Commandments as “an establishment of religion” is as ludicrous as defining cat sacrifices as a religious rite. They are both extreme interpretations of the same law.
Yes, the torture of animals is an important part of what some people call religion. But it is first and foremost an inhumane and unacceptable act of cruelty.
Yes, the Ten Commandments are an important part of what some people call religion, but they are first and foremost a historical document.
Another historical document that claims authority from God and is displayed in government buildings to remind citizens of the high ideals that this nation was founded upon is the Declaration of Independence.
References to God seem to be OK in: “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary…to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them… We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…”
Some of the highest courts of the land have ruled against the monuments, but since when can courts be relied upon to do what’s right? High courts have also allowed schools to ban the teaching of evolution and upheld Plessy vs. Ferguson for years.
According to CNN.com, only one in five Americans agreed with the removal of the monument in Alabama. That 20 percent, like Tom Green, are the extremists with the problem.