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Voicing My Opinion - Again
I am very sorry to say that I turned my alerts off over the time of Christmas preparations just because I did not have time to read many entries. I am sorry because I learned later about the passing of Kim from I Shaved My Legs for This. I am very sorry about that. I've read her journal for a long time. I enjoyed hearing about her exploits with her family, her girls, her son, and her continuing love affair with her husband. I enjoyed hearing about their times in the north woods and I enjoyed her photographs. She lived not far from here. I'm sorry to say I never met her, although being this close, it could have happened. I stuck with her journal from before the time she was diagnosed with breast cancer all the way through to her last entry in November. And it occurred to me that she might not make it through this fight. I wish things could be different in that regard. I wish that she and others would never have to suffer in that manner. I learned a lot from her from her struggle and from the way she wrote about it. I am very sorry to hear she passed. I'm just as sorry about Lahoma, although I never did read her blog. My prayers go out to the families of both women, and to anyone else who loses a loved one in this manner.
Okay, I'm on to another subject. The following entry in Jimmy's Journal got me thinking about the separation of church and state. Please follow my thoughts prior to passing judgment here.
1945; The U.S. Congress officially recognizes the pledge of allegiance and recommends its recitation in American classrooms.
Get that? In 1945 it was decided that children in school will say: "I pledge allegiance to the United States of America, to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
I truly believe in these words, and when I say them, I say them with pride. The date gets me though. 1945 was the beginning of the Cold War. It was a time when we were terrified that the 'godless hordes' of Asia would take over the world, pushing over nation after nation, like dominoes. We needed to show them and ourselves that this would never happen to us.
Not long after saying this pledge became law, loyalty oaths became a way of life. Hate mongers like Senator Joe McCarthy claimed there were 'Commies under every bed.' He and his followers pointed fingers and accused people of being 'commies and pinkos'. They said 'Take your oath or suffer the consequences.' And a lot people did. Now if I were a 'commie' or 'pinko', and I intended to do harm to this country, I might take that oath in order to cover my tracks. Needless to say, that was a very dark time in our history.
I am a Christian and I sincerely believe that God had a hand in the creation of this country. My religion, I'm Catholic, has always taught tolerance. Bible quotes that stand out in my mind are 'Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.' 'Judge not lest ye be judged.' 'Love thy neighbor as thyself for the love of Thee.' I'm not great at remembering exact quotes, although I'm certain I have the intent right. In other words I think one of the main ideas my religion teaches is love and tolerance. Most Christian/Judeo religions do. Love and tolerance is also taught in the Koran and is part of the Five Pillars of Islam. Most differences between churches are minimal, and whether we believe in God or not, we share the same sense of morality. Murder or theft to a Christian is just as wrong as murder or theft is to an atheist or a pagan.
Before writing the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution, our forefathers reached out to the King of Prussia, asking that he rule us as one of his colonies. He said no. Maybe he thought the distance was too great to exert any control, we were a nation of rabble rousers that would fight him like we fought King George III, or maybe he didn't want to cross Great Britain. It doesn't matter. It gave us an alternative. We could and would rule ourselves. This was called 'The Great Experiment.'
In setting up our government, our forefathers wanted to be sure that those things that Americans found appalling were addressed. They recognized that not all of our problems came from Great Britain either. In fact our Constitution and our Houses of Congress were set up after the Magna Carta and the British Parliment.
Intolerance was one of the greatest difficulties American faced, and a lot of that came from within. Many towns were established with the intention of honoring a religion as well as administering to the residents. The Puritans were not a tolerant lot and many of the towns in Massachusetts they established were founded as Puritan towns. Some Maryland colonies were Catholic. Germans established communities in Pennsylvania that followed their own ways.
Our forefathers recognized that it isn't religion that teaches intolerance. It is the
I believe that God wants us all to love and accept each other. And I believe that is why he helped us to establish a division between church and state.
Now, in my eyes, whether we say the Pledge of Allegiance with or without a reference to God, or not at all, does not change who we are or what we stand for. This is a non-issue.
Posting the The Ten Commandments on public property is a non-issue. Some say that there would be less crime if we posted the Ten Commandments where all could read them. Those same people are making an assumption that criminals and non criminals alike can read or will take the time to read them.
Times are dark again. We are looking to the future with equal amounts of intolerance and fear. When facing our worst problems we can't help but react rather than think things through and resolve those problems. For that reason I am advocating the continuation of the division between church and state just simply because our survival as a people depends on tolerance. It's time to take religion out of politics. We have real issues in this country we need to address, some of which have to do with intolerance and none of them have to do with religion.
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One thing that I have learned in my lifetime is that people can take the most benevolent of concepts and put a dark spin on them. Imagine a country where we can't pray in schools, but we can say the most vile of things and someone will definitely stand up to defend your right to say it.
I think it's not so much the particular religions involved, but the idea that people will cite them all as "offensive", yet a 10 minute listen to the music on the radio will blow your mind.
I agree wholeheartedly with your words here today. If there were more who believed the same, we might not be living in such a dark era.
But just the same, Happy New Year to you! -
Dropping by to wish you a happy and healthy New Year. I hope 2008 is very kind to you. Lahoma and Kim are both on the new J-Land journal, J-Land Angels. This is an open journal where anyone can post an entry about our departed friends.
http://journals.aol.co.uk/jeanno43/JeannettesJottings/ -
My Dear, thank you again for a truely heart warming entry. They are always so full of good things. Your thoughts and feelings are wonderful and I am so glad that I read your journal.
You always make me feel better about myself....
Your a good person you know that ??? -
I agree with separation of Church and State. I think schools should decide (by majority vote) whether or not to say the Pledge in their classrooms. Therefore, that decision would be made by the majority of the people whose children attend that particular school. Consider a cultural move. We expect our kids to stand up at least, during the pledge, but if a child doesn't speak the words, there would be no action taken. This is a free country, so we are free to choose. And some choose not to. I understand that not all parents want their kids saying the pledge to the flag... but we do say it in our school, and most of the parents and staff are pleased with that. Thanks for visiting my journal, and for your suggestions about plaster board... yeah, that's a good idea! But getting the money would be the problem. bea
http://journals.aol.com/bgilmore725/Wanderer/
1/1/08 1:56 PM
Sam