Originally Posted by Chris99

Way to generalize (wrongly I might add). Google "William Wilberforce" (1759-1833) and you will find someone who understood the idea of absolute right/wrong and hated slavery because it is inherently wrong. Google "Northern abolition" and you will find out that half the US got this and between 1810-1840 practically all African Americans in the North were freed. The Declaration of Independence states "all men are created equal" and contains references to "God" and "Creator"--is this document unconstitutional? Your generalization would be more accurate if you turned it around and said "the minority of the population wants to own slaves, why don't the majority of us just mind our own business and not say anything about it. We wouldn't want to infringe on their supposed rights." Guess what, the right to own slaves doesn't exist, just like your supposed right to be free from hearing/seeing religious expression.

[B]The Declaration of Independence pre-dated the Constitution, so technically it couldn't be Un-Constitutional. In my opinion, TJ probably used wording "God, Creator" for affect, I don't think he actually believed in God.

I think it's more telling that after the winning the war, and sitting down to write up the Constitution, they left those words out of the carefully crafted document.

"No Right to Freedom From Religion" argument. I'll admit I haven't thought this one through as much. I know Hannity likes to throw it out whenever he's losing the debate with an Atheist, but I need to hear others explain their take. If you walk into a Starbucks and it's plaster in "Merry Christmas", you can be "offended" but I don't see a Constitutional violation. Same if you go to a tattoo parlor and see Satanic images. But if you go to the Public Library and see a Islamic/Christian/Hindu/etc shrine, I think you've got a Constitutional violation on your hands (with a good "offended" feel to boot).[B



I couldn't find an instance where caroling was banned in a restaurant--not that it matters. You really don't grasp what the Constitution is saying--what about Congress singing "God Bless America" on the steps of the Capitol (multiple times)? Is that unconstitutional? You can sing Christmas carols or songs that reference God anywhere you want, the government just can't establish a RELIGION. Think about it this way: some people don't like to hear others curse, but you don't see them trying to make cursing outside of your own home/"backyard" illegal. If that doesn't make sense, think about the freedoms of religion and speech. People don't check who they are at the doors of a "government" building because it is a "religion-free" zone. That's absurd. Our freedoms guarantee our right to say what we want to (even if it offends someone else), when we want to. How can you not understand that?