|
Register | Sign In |
|
QuickSearch
Thread ▼ Details |
Member (Idle past 6383 days) Posts: 989 From: Leicester, UK Joined: |
|
Thread Info
|
|
|
Author | Topic: Could the US become a theocracy ? | |||||||||||||||||||
nator Member (Idle past 2199 days) Posts: 12961 From: Ann Arbor Joined: |
Yes, I think it is a real danger, and I think if it happens it will not happen in a "bloody coup", but slowly and gradually.
In fact, I think that we have been moving that way ever since Reagan made a lot of political hay from courting the extremeist Christian right.
|
|||||||||||||||||||
nator Member (Idle past 2199 days) Posts: 12961 From: Ann Arbor Joined: |
The ACLU recently defended JERRY FALWELL in a case, even though he has expressed his seething haterd for that organization on many occasions.
|
|||||||||||||||||||
nator Member (Idle past 2199 days) Posts: 12961 From: Ann Arbor Joined: |
quote: I read it a long time ago. I have thought of it often over the last 4 years. We are so close to that being a reality.
|
|||||||||||||||||||
nator Member (Idle past 2199 days) Posts: 12961 From: Ann Arbor Joined: |
quote: That you seem to really believe this is quite frightening to me. It is the attitude that allows a steady slide into facism and the end of liberty and freedom and our very way of life here in America. You are expressing very, very un-American attitudes.
|
|||||||||||||||||||
nator Member (Idle past 2199 days) Posts: 12961 From: Ann Arbor Joined: |
You are expressing very, very un-American attitudes. quote: The Founders were quite emphatic in leaving any kind of "moral absolutes" out of our constitution in particular and out of the realm of government interference in general. You are correct that you are expressing the far right political view, which is facist or dictatorial, but my point is that this view is very, very un-American. If the founders were alive today they would be horrified by your idea that the government should be imposing moral absolutes to the extent you suggest.
|
|||||||||||||||||||
nator Member (Idle past 2199 days) Posts: 12961 From: Ann Arbor Joined: |
quote: Whoa, whoa, whoa, there, phat! If you have a problem with movies and TV, then I'm afraid that you have a problem with capitalsism, not the system of government that our founders set up. You have lots and lots of control over what you watch on TV for free and what you pay to see in the movie theaters. If you don't like it, you turn the TV off and you don't go see those movies. I think that the Founders would be horrified by the following: 1)The low percentage of the eligable population that votes.2)The way the press has become nothing more than a sensationalistic money-making entertainment enterprise instead of a way to investigate issues and government to help citizens learn the truth. 3)the erosion of our civil liberties. quote: Yes, they absolutely would have been horrified by religion gaining power into the American government like it has. Remember, those men were products of the Rationalist movement. Several of them were quite anti religion. Please pay special attention to the Jefferson quotes I have bolded. "I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind has preserved--the Cross. Consider what calamities that engine of grief has produced!"--John Adams in a letter to Thomas Jefferson "Religion I found to be without any tendency to inspire, promote, or confirm morality, serves principally to divide us and make us unfriendly to one another."--Benjamin Franklin "To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical."--Thomas Jefferson, _Statute_for_Religious_Freedom_, 1779, _The_Papers_of_Thomas_Jefferson_, edited by Julron P. Boyd, 1950, 2:545 "History I believe furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance, of which their political as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purpose."--Thomas Jefferson to Baron von Humboldt in 1813, _The_Writings_of_Thomas_Jefferson_Memorial_Edition_, edited by Lipscomb and Bergh, 14:21 This message has been edited by schrafinator, 12-09-2004 09:50 AM
|
|||||||||||||||||||
nator Member (Idle past 2199 days) Posts: 12961 From: Ann Arbor Joined: |
quote: quote: Of course, once we told them that medical science has advanced so that we now understand that second hand smoke is injurious to others besides the smoker, I am sure they would understand their need to smoke away from others.
|
|||||||||||||||||||
nator Member (Idle past 2199 days) Posts: 12961 From: Ann Arbor Joined: |
quote: Didn't they ban headscarves for children at school? And did they ban the other religious symbols at school, too? I had only heard about the headscarves and thought that if they were singling out the muslims it was wrong.
|
|||||||||||||||||||
nator Member (Idle past 2199 days) Posts: 12961 From: Ann Arbor Joined: |
quote: I think it's wrong to ban headscarves and other religious gear or symbols which are required by a person's religion. This ban favors Christians and other religions that don't have such a requirement in their tennets.
|
|||||||||||||||||||
nator Member (Idle past 2199 days) Posts: 12961 From: Ann Arbor Joined: |
I'd appreciate a reply to message #66, please.
|
|||||||||||||||||||
nator Member (Idle past 2199 days) Posts: 12961 From: Ann Arbor Joined: |
OK, if you want to dismiss the findings of over 30 studies and the opinion of the EPA, the US Surgeon General, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Cancer institute, be my guest.
404 Error - American College of Chest Physicians
Environmental Exposures Before and After Birth Can Harm Children's Lungs Asthma Symptoms in Infants Caused by Combustion Pollutantsand Tobacco Smoke (NORTHBROOK, IL, October 11, 2004) — Children prenatally exposed to pollutants, such as motor vehicle exhaust, and postnatally exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) may be more likely to suffer from asthma and related symptoms early in life. A new study in the October issue of CHEST, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Chest Physicians, shows that young children who are exposed to these pollutants may be significantly more likely to develop respiratory conditions at ages 12 and 24 months. "A great deal of new evidence suggests that the respiratory system may be vulnerable to damage caused by inhaled environmental agents during the prenatal period," said Rachel L. Miller, MD, the study's lead author at the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health, part of the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY. "This study indicates that the combination of exposure to combustion by-products in the womb and to second-hand smoke during infancy can cause significantly more respiratory problems than either exposure on its own," added Dr. Frederica Perera, the study's Principal Investigator and Director of the Center. http://cis.nci.nih.gov/fact/10_18.htm
Health Effects Associated With ETS Exposure In 1986, two landmark reports were published on the association between ETS exposure and the adverse health effects in nonsmokers: one by the U.S. Surgeon General and the other by the Expert Committee on Passive Smoking, National Academy of Sciences' National Research Council (NAS/NRC). Both of these reports concluded that: ETS can cause lung cancer in healthy adult nonsmokers; Children of parents who smoke have more respiratory symptoms and acute lower respiratory tract infections, as well as evidence of reduced lung function, than do children of nonsmoking parents; and Separating smokers and nonsmokers within the same air space may reduce but does not eliminate a nonsmoker's exposure to ETS. In 1992, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirmed the above findings in its study on the respiratory health effects of ETS. In addition, the EPA classified ETS as a Group A carcinogena category reserved only for the most dangerous cancer-causing agents in humans. The EPA report, a compilation of 30 epidemiological studies that focused on the health risks of nonsmokers with smoking spouses, concluded that there is a strong association between ETS exposure and lung cancer. Scientists estimate that ETS is responsible for approximately 3,000 lung cancer deaths per year among nonsmokers in the United States. Recent studies and the EPA's report point to a 20—percent increased risk of lung cancer in nonsmokers due to ETS. This message has been edited by schrafinator, 12-10-2004 09:16 AM
|
|||||||||||||||||||
nator Member (Idle past 2199 days) Posts: 12961 From: Ann Arbor Joined: |
quote: You are free to think this, just as I am free to think that my kids AND your kids need to never blindly believe anything just because it makes them feel good. However, it's not unbelievers like me trying to get control of the government in order to get a philosophy like mine instilled as doctrine that everyone must follow. It is believers in your religion who are trying to get control of the government to force me to follow YOUR beliefs and YOUR religion. I am happy to live and let live. Your side is not content to leave me and mine the heck alone.
|
|||||||||||||||||||
nator Member (Idle past 2199 days) Posts: 12961 From: Ann Arbor Joined: |
quote: Do you think that smoking should be allowed in the workplace, in office buildings?
|
|||||||||||||||||||
nator Member (Idle past 2199 days) Posts: 12961 From: Ann Arbor Joined: |
OK, but he started it.
(pouts sullenly)
|
|||||||||||||||||||
nator Member (Idle past 2199 days) Posts: 12961 From: Ann Arbor Joined: |
quote: I notice that you mention nothing about crime. If crime levels stay low, what's the problem?
quote: I would never want to dictate to someone else, by law, their morals. It is impossible anyway. People's morals are their own. If there was no increase in crime, I probably wouldn't do anything.
quote: If your teenagers run wild because of bars and gambling suddenly being around, then you did a terrible job of instilling your values into them.
|
|
|
Do Nothing Button
Copyright 2001-2023 by EvC Forum, All Rights Reserved
Version 4.2
Innovative software from Qwixotic © 2024