Squirrelbait,
As a minister I would be remiss if I didn't point out that of the 55 men who signed the declaration of independance only 3 were what we would consider Christian today and that of those 52 that were left three were athiests and the rest were Masons, Deists, Theists, Quakers, and a few other that would be called other names today. In the original text of the declaration the spelling of a lot of words were questionable but one thing that was consistent was that God was never capitalized. It was considered a title that all those different religions could accept. Somewhere after the civil war it began to be capitalized under the influence of the growing Christian populations in our country. I should also point out that prayer is perfectly acceptable in the public schools of our country. What is not allowed is that the teachers and representative cannot require any students to take part in prayer. If a student or group of students want to pray they are free to do so but a teacher can't lead the prayer. I am very happy about that! I have met too many radical teachers who want to have our children take part in Islamic prayer, or the prayers of other religions that I would not want my children exposed to. I am sure that most of the parents feel the same way. I know the Islamic parents wouldn't want their children led in Christian prayers, 7th day adventists are very careful in the way that they pray. Of the 208 different religions in this country very few of them would want a different religion taught to their children. I am glad that we are free to practice the religion that we feel in our hearts and minds is the right one. It would be a sad day when we would have to choose one religion to have everyone follow - even if it was Christian - which one of the many Christian religions would it be? Catholic? Jahovah Witness? Baptist? Methodist? Evangelical? Christian Science? or what if it was not a Christian religion - say if it was Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, or one of the third world religions that fit into the broad spectrum of pagan religions or the newer versions of the old religions that are lumped into neopaganism? Which religion would the USA have as its own state religion and how would it be selected?
No, we are much better off free. Free to serve the creator as our conscience demands. Let each man, woman and child worship as they find it helps them to find their way to salvation. That was what our founding fathers wanted when they set forth the Constitution and the first ammendment. They were some smart folks and they showed us that it was worth dying to keep our neighbors right to do just that. It is not my right to worship that I fight for, it is yours that I fight to uphold.
Blessings to all!

Amen, Reverend Paul.
Ed

Yup...And we have our very own Sky Pilot. Not bad for a web site. Not bad at all. And if I might be so bold as to ask. What religious group to you represent?

Bushmaster wrote:

"some soda's"...?? What kinda store you go to? besides it wasn't any ol' store. It was a man's store...HARDWARE, FEED AND GRAIN!!! A potbelly stove in the back with chairs around it. Place smellin' like oiled leather, grain seed, hay and coffee beans. With a wooden pickle barrel and a long fork to get them 8 to 10 inch pickles out of that barrel.

You can still find them out west in dem small out of the way towns..Pop. 27 and growing. I've seen em.

squirrelbait wrote:

It is sounding to me that some people don't think we should remember or honor our heritage. Where did this great nation come from. How did we start. Does our government force or demand anyone to "believe" any particular religous system? Maybe we have "In God we trust", the 10 commandments, and get upset with taking prayer out of school because these are the things that help mold this great country into what it is. I don't recall requirements to follow a particular God. Is there something wrong with maintaining the history/heritage that we came from..........and if someone moves here from somewhere else........grow up. We celebebrate those things important to this country. If is s a bother........go home. Sorry, don't mean to offend anyone, nothing personal, but I just don't get it.

I like that ....... especially the near the end stuff.

Bushmaster wrote:

Yup...And we have our very own Sky Pilot. Not bad for a web site. Not bad at all. And if I might be so bold as to ask. What religious group to you represent?

Sky Pilot....Sky Pilot....ahhhh, brings to mind an absolute classic song by Eric Burdon and the Animals.....featured a wonderful bagpipe tune....now what was it called???? Ah, yes, thats it....All The Blue Bonnets Are Over The Border......UH OH.....I can feel a song brewing

Hey Padre Paul....don't make no matter to me what denomination you represent or belong to....you is a man of God and a pretty reasonable sort of a cove so you'll do me.

Cheers, Vince

WOW, must of hit something. I believe my point was that in this country's the government does't teach or force anyone to believe anything. I believe I was trying to point out that since MOST of the folks who came here were of a Christian/Judao background and used their values to establish this country. For many years those values and some of those principles have been a part of this country and has been publicly displayed such as the 10 commandments. Don't believe I mentioned anything about everyone required to pray to the "same" God. I thought I was trying to be generic and "inclusive" in as much as can be when talking about the foundations of this country.
I think I'll move on. Must be a bad subject.

Politics and religion...tish, tish, tish...Squirrelbait...I think you found the choir...

Squirrelbait,
Most of the people who came here before it was the United States were not Christians. The non-Christians were being persecuted in England, France and Spain. Those are the people who put together the USA. Only three of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were Christians. If you look at your history you would find the the Christian concepts that the USA was founded on were from the Masons. I can tell you in very certain terms that the Masons were not and are not Christians. They are a mixture of some Jewish, Islamic, Christian and Zoastarn religions tied into a cult that is filled with some very strange ideas about "the great architect" and pagan concepts from Greek mythology. They believe that through their work they can become masters of the universe and become a god of sorts in much the same way that Latter Day Saints do. If the Christians of that time had founded the USA we would all be practicing Catholicism, Anglicans or Lutherans. They didn't tollerate those outside their own faith and the anglicans and Catholics were the worst. The free thinking fathers of our country were much more tollerant than the Christians of their time and made sure that the government that they were building would never reserve one religion to be required.
I am a pastor of a non-denominational neighborhood church. I tend to be more open minded than some because I serve on a multi-faith alliance organization where a few of the 200+ religious faiths are represented. I have gotten to know some facts about some of the other religions and find that although there are some major differences between us there are also some similarities. We work together for the homeless, hungry, and sick. In that way we are all the same - each of the religions represented have a desire to serve their creator by helping others. Some teach openly and seek to convert others to their own religion like we do and others make it darn hard to get into their religion. Some tithe and others don't and dome don't pay their clergy. As an un-paid clergyman I can tell you that that makes having a church a bit tougher. The congregation chips in to keep the church up but I could give them more of my time if I was on a salary. Oh, another difference is that I am a minister - not a preacher. You see a preacher like those on TV tell folks how they should live. A minister helps folks to deal with the way they do live.
I don't want anyone to think I was angry when I posted - I wasn't. I am not angry now. I do try to assert the truth about the history of this country and the way it is now. It used to be that a large majority of folks in this country were one form of Christian or another. Now the two fastest growing religions in this country are Islam and pagans. I don't know where it will end up but I hope that the Islamic faiths don't win. If they do we will be an Islamic country because part of their faith says that they must convert the world to Islam. At least the pagans don't have that as one of the tenents of their faith. I don't understand how a religion that makes it so hard to get in can grow so fast. The salvation with them is that there are so many different faiths under the "pagan umbrella" that no one faith will ever be strong enough to be a threat to our freedoms. I would like to see everyone a Christian but I know that will never happen until after the tribulations. All I can do is help those who ask and let people know the love I found in Christ.
(Stepping down from the pulpit now)
Lets get back to talking about guns - or politics.

Politics/religion/guns...They are all intertwined. One is not without the other. I know polititians that are against guns and I know religious sects that are against guns. Even the AARP doesn't want you to protect yourself and is against private ownership for self defence. They want us old folks to lie down and let the criminal ransack and pilage. FAT CHANCE...

So preach on..

What an interesting thread this has turned into. It's hard to see if anyone really cares if we want God around or not
Keep it coming...

Yep, the AARP can kiss my rosey red cheeks. Come to think of it they will have to take a number, behind Teddy, Barbara, Nancy, ChucK, Criss, Byden, etc., etc.
Ed

You have lots of enemies Swampfox? Me too. My list starts with palotcy (sp), boxer, finstiene, kennedy, oboma, a few of yours and a host of other left wing idiots...