Air Force Academy creates worship area for Pagans, Druids, and Wiccans

Does this include Eastern Orthodox? Mormons? Jehova's Witnesses? Christian Scientists? Scientologists? Catholics? Seventh-Day Adventists? Unitarians (do not believe in the trinity)? Universalists? Congregationalists? Unification Church? Luthern? Angligan? Assemblies of God? Episcopalian? Presbytarian? Methodist? Independent Baptist? Southern Baptist? Freewill Baptist? Calvanists? Calvary Chapel (Foursquare)? Petacostals? Quakers? Menonites? Amish? Church of Christ? Christian Church? non-afiliated Deists? etc, etc ad infinitimFaith, I do not want some cliche, unhonest answer. Honestly where do we draw the line in the sand here?

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One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It is simply too painful to acknowledge -- even to ourselves -- that we've been so credulous. - Carl Sagan, The Fine Art of Baloney Detection"You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep seated need to believe." - Carl Sagan"It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World

Don't you know that as long as you are a Christian and doing things with a Christian motive it is ok to disobey the law?Yet if a pentagram was placed outside a christian church, an all-out witch hunt (pun intended) and criminal prosecution would ensue. It is all pure hipocracy and double-standard.

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One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It is simply too painful to acknowledge -- even to ourselves -- that we've been so credulous. - Carl Sagan, The Fine Art of Baloney Detection"You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep seated need to believe." - Carl Sagan"It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World

Yes, all us evil scheming nazi socialist communist leftist atheists and non-believers want to burn your Bibles and Churches, drive you God-fearing Christians out of your homes and country, forbid you to pray, teach, preach or worship your god, etc.Oh, wait, that's right! It was Christians who promoted these same actions against the Jews and other ethnic groups! Case in point: No, this is another typical ludicrous fundamentalist strawman characture and really nothing more than projecting their own hypocritical, dogmatic and intollerance onto others. Nothing new.I am all for freedom for all religious beliefs no matter how ridiculously stupid they are (case in point, Scientology), as long as they don't infringe on the rights, freedoms and beliefs or non-beliefs of others.Edited by DevilsAdvocate, : No reason given.Edited by DevilsAdvocate, : No reason given.

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One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It is simply too painful to acknowledge -- even to ourselves -- that we've been so credulous. - Carl Sagan, The Fine Art of Baloney Detection"You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep seated need to believe." - Carl Sagan"It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World

The bottom line is that it is unfair to all Americans to promote one religion in the schools, government, etc at the expense of those who practice other religions.Freedom of religion does not grant you the right to trample the freedoms of other religions (or non-believers) whether it be at school, government, the military or any other means of employment inside the United States of America.That is true justice (the concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, fairness, or equity). And yes justice would cease to exist without their being people to which it applies to.If you want a theocracy move to Iran, Saudi Arabia or the Vatican. Or go off and create your own. Edited by DevilsAdvocate, : No reason given.Edited by DevilsAdvocate, : No reason given.

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One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It is simply too painful to acknowledge -- even to ourselves -- that we've been so credulous. - Carl Sagan, The Fine Art of Baloney Detection"You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep seated need to believe." - Carl Sagan"It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World

That's funny. Most fundamentalists say Christianity is not a religion: also I guess they can't make up their minds?

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One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It is simply too painful to acknowledge -- even to ourselves -- that we've been so credulous. - Carl Sagan, The Fine Art of Baloney Detection"You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep seated need to believe." - Carl Sagan"It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World

No he didn't. He wrote the 'Jews and Their Lies' only 3 years before his death. He died hating the Jews and advocating persecution of the Jews as shown in his last sermon four days before his death: He was also successful in having them killed and expelled from several regions of Germany including Saxony, Brandenburg, and Silesia within a few years before his death as attested to many eyewitnesses. Hmm, torturing, expelling and burning Jews. Hmm, that sounds familiar. I wonder where Hitler got his ideas from?There was no contrition in Luther's heart for the Jews. He along with Calvin were petty religious thugs who advocated and caused the persecution and deaths of innocent people. End of story. Your condoning their murderous, hate-filled speach and actions is hypocritical and revulting. And you wonder why non-believer want nothing to do with you. Edited by DevilsAdvocate, : No reason given.Edited by DevilsAdvocate, : No reason given.

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One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It is simply too painful to acknowledge -- even to ourselves -- that we've been so credulous. - Carl Sagan, The Fine Art of Baloney Detection"You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep seated need to believe." - Carl Sagan"It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World

So have the Protestants. I see no difference except in scope. They both have blood on their hands.

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One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It is simply too painful to acknowledge -- even to ourselves -- that we've been so credulous. - Carl Sagan, The Fine Art of Baloney Detection"You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep seated need to believe." - Carl Sagan"It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World

The difference is? The whole bible is a book of religious do's and don't's. In order to have a relationship with God you have to conform to these religious do's and don'ts do you not? You need to repent, pray, worship god, etc, etc. I really do not see the diference. I think you confuse yourself or I should say brainwash yourself.Edited by DevilsAdvocate, : No reason given.

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One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It is simply too painful to acknowledge -- even to ourselves -- that we've been so credulous. - Carl Sagan, The Fine Art of Baloney Detection"You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep seated need to believe." - Carl Sagan"It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World

Sure if you call enslaving indigenent people of a country and shipping them back to Europe as slaves Christian. I will go with that. Columbus was a an entrepeneurer and an exploiter who used his religion as many did, to cloke the attrocities he committed. Nothing more.Because he did not send back enough gold his first trip on his succeeding trips to the New World he sent back over 1200 Native Americans as slaves to Europe to impress King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel who financially backed his ventures, and thus effectively kick-started the massive gears of the Slave Trade machine into work. Columbus also enslaved nearly all the inhabitants he found and put them to work finding the gold he so desparetely wanted and needed to keep his ventures afloat (literally). However, there was very little gold in the Indies and so he built encampments and plantations on which he enslaved the Native Americans and put them to work to help pay back his massive debt.Here is more of the story I found interesting and quite disturbing: So basically Columbus was a cruel, money-hungry tyrant and exploiter who used religion to cloak his abuses (slavery, torture, raping native women, needless killing and murder even of native children, greed, deception, etc, etc), which was of course par for the course during that day and age (and in some places today). So you may really want to reconsider whether you want to brand Columbus' actions or motives as Christian.Edited by DevilsAdvocate, : No reason given.Edited by DevilsAdvocate, : No reason given.

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One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It is simply too painful to acknowledge -- even to ourselves -- that we've been so credulous. - Carl Sagan, The Fine Art of Baloney Detection"You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep seated need to believe." - Carl Sagan"It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World

#1 Define 'founders'.
#2 Not all the founding fathers, however you define them, actively encouraged the usage of the New England Primer, the Bible and Watts Hymnal usage in schools. Can you provide evidence indicating this to be true?
# 3 There were very few printed books that most common people had possession of besides a Bible or a hymnal, mainly because this was the frontier and printing presses were few and far between.
#4 Many children (mainly boys) were taught at home until they entered apprenticeships as opposed to school houses.
#5 Many schoolhouses in that era were actually the village church thus teaching using Bibles and hymnals were rather convenient.
#6 No schools were paid directly out of federal funds until the 1920s. All of it was paid initially by local citizens and local governments (villages funds) and then later by municipalities and states and then finally in the early 20th century by federal funds. Therefore, the federal government had little room for regulating the separation of church and state of a non-federally funded school system.So bottom line is that 'necessity' at the time made it convenient for them to use these religious materials in 'schools' and in essence most of these schools were really 'private' schools until the late 19th and early 20th century.Also, nearly everyone during that timeframe in the colonies was of the 'Christian' mindset or influence. However, the framers of the constitution, though many Christians themselves, specifically went out of their way to enforce religious neutrality and separation of Church and State both in the Constitution and other related documents so as not to fall into the pitfalls of religious persecution prevalent in many other preceding governments.Edited by DevilsAdvocate, : No reason given.Edited by DevilsAdvocate, : No reason given.

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One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It is simply too painful to acknowledge -- even to ourselves -- that we've been so credulous. - Carl Sagan, The Fine Art of Baloney Detection"You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep seated need to believe." - Carl Sagan"It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World

So if satanists outnumbered Christians in America, than you would be ok if Satanism was enforced in the US government rather than Christianity?

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One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It is simply too painful to acknowledge -- even to ourselves -- that we've been so credulous. - Carl Sagan, The Fine Art of Baloney Detection"You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep seated need to believe." - Carl Sagan"It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World

That is not what Muslims or Jews believe or nearly any other religion. This is your own stereotypical biased view of other religions. Anyone of another religion can say the same thing about Christianity.Case in point: People's Relationship With Allah Jewish faith and God: The relationship with God

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One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It is simply too painful to acknowledge -- even to ourselves -- that we've been so credulous. - Carl Sagan, The Fine Art of Baloney Detection"You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep seated need to believe." - Carl Sagan"It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World

Comparing statistics is a cop-out. Is it any more correct if 50 people are tortured and murdered than if 5000 are? However here are a few examples of attrocities conducted in the name of the protestant religion directly by protestants and invoking the Bible to defend their actions:1. The Red Holocaust: The Native American Slaughter in which Protestant Christians drove out and killed either directly or indirectly literally millions of Native Americans in the name of Manifest or Divine Destiny, in which they believed they had the God-given right and envoked 'Divine Providence' to take any land they discovered either peacebly or if necessary (and very often) by force on their westward march through North America irregardless of the native inhabitants. President Andrew Jackson enacted the "Indian Removal Act" in 1830 which by military force evicted over 70,000 Indians from most of the Southeastern USA and in which over 10,000 died either because of the forced eviction itself or the disease and starvation that directly resulted from these measures. One of the most appalling cases was the 'Trail of Tears' in which all of the Cherokee tribes (who were at the time peaceful allies of the American people) located in Georgia and Florida were forcibly removed a thousand miles to Oklahoma, and in which about 4000 men, women and children died along the way. In some cases smallpox laiden blankets were given to Native Americans in order to introduce disease into their villages and thus weaken and reduce their population. Much of these attrocities were conducted envoking their 'God-given' rights and freedoms to move west irregardless of the Native American inhabitants and the often disasterous results that ensued.2. Southern Slavery: White southern protestant slave owners used the Bible to defend their right to own millions of slaves and many though not all believed that they had the right to fervently discipline their slaves, as property. Slaves were often tortured, raped (in the case of the women and young girls), and killed if they tried to resist or escape. Many protestant pastors of the South actively endorsed these rights to owning slaves stating it was a God-given right and duty as shown in the Bible.3. Witch Trials in Colonial America. Need I say more?In fact, just the two examples above of attrocities that occured under the government of Protestant Christians puts the inquisition to shame. The Spanish Inquisition held about 49,000 trials in Europe, tortured many of those tried and killed about 4-5000 of those people. That pales in comparision to the hundreds of thousands to millions of Native Americans raped, murdered and pillaged by both Catholic and Protestant Christians alike.Am I saying that all Protestant Americans participated in these attrocities? Of course not. But were all Catholic Europeans advocates of the Inquisition?My point being that their is plently of blame to be spread around on both sides. Both sides were complicit in these attrocities and both Protestant and Catholics at the time bear the blame.Edited by DevilsAdvocate, : No reason given.Edited by DevilsAdvocate, : No reason given.

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One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It is simply too painful to acknowledge -- even to ourselves -- that we've been so credulous. - Carl Sagan, The Fine Art of Baloney Detection"You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep seated need to believe." - Carl Sagan"It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World