A prayer for true religious freedom
Religious freedom isn't easy — not if it is true freedom.
That point was made explicitly last week when First Amendment lawyer Peter Irons spoke at a Missouri State University public forum about his involvement in the Humansville school district's Ten Commandments case...
The microphone was turned over to students, who asked good questions. The civil discussion continued.
And then a middle-aged gentleman rose. "I will pray for you, Dr. Irons, and all others who are not close to the cross," he said.
That is a dangerous view: Unless you believe as I do, you are damned. Unless the nation believes as I do, it is doomed.
That theme shows up regularly in pronouncements from al-Qaida. It sets off terrorist bombs across the Middle East. It fueled decades of war in Northern Island.
Why would anyone wish that upon the United States?
Yet we have Pat Robertson warning Dover, Pa., that it will suffer God's retribution for voting out a school board that sought to promote religious belief as science. And we have people who applauded the man Tuesday night who believe it is government's role to promote their particular religious belief.
The First Amendment is true wisdom, promising that the government will never force any person to subscribe to a belief against his or her will. Government will not support any religious belief, but neither will it interfere with the individual's right to believe as he or she wishes.
This is why religion is vibrant in this country. It's why Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Buddhists and atheists could gather at Missouri State on Tuesday night and talk about religious liberty without anyone being hurt. We could each go home and pray — or not — according to our conscience.
Robert Leger, Editor Springfield News-leader
link
That point was made explicitly last week when First Amendment lawyer Peter Irons spoke at a Missouri State University public forum about his involvement in the Humansville school district's Ten Commandments case...
The microphone was turned over to students, who asked good questions. The civil discussion continued.
And then a middle-aged gentleman rose. "I will pray for you, Dr. Irons, and all others who are not close to the cross," he said.
That is a dangerous view: Unless you believe as I do, you are damned. Unless the nation believes as I do, it is doomed.
That theme shows up regularly in pronouncements from al-Qaida. It sets off terrorist bombs across the Middle East. It fueled decades of war in Northern Island.
Why would anyone wish that upon the United States?
Yet we have Pat Robertson warning Dover, Pa., that it will suffer God's retribution for voting out a school board that sought to promote religious belief as science. And we have people who applauded the man Tuesday night who believe it is government's role to promote their particular religious belief.
The First Amendment is true wisdom, promising that the government will never force any person to subscribe to a belief against his or her will. Government will not support any religious belief, but neither will it interfere with the individual's right to believe as he or she wishes.
This is why religion is vibrant in this country. It's why Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Buddhists and atheists could gather at Missouri State on Tuesday night and talk about religious liberty without anyone being hurt. We could each go home and pray — or not — according to our conscience.
Robert Leger, Editor Springfield News-leader
link
posted by Seth at 7:37 AM
1 Comments:
It is heating up and I don't see how fundamentalist Christians sound any different from wacko fundamentalist anything else...they're just wacko. I hope we can overthrow any creationism that trys to come in the area schools. I have the teacher I co-teach with now who will not say the pledge of allegiance and will not force any student to do so. She's pretty out there for a teacher.
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