tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5388644395556254721.post5146774728204916890..comments2012-12-28T03:07:45.160-08:00Comments on Means & Ends: One Nation, Divided by God, With Liberty and Justice for the MajorityA. Zoroasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07473665017762017780noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5388644395556254721.post-60377630636393023732012-12-28T03:07:45.160-08:002012-12-28T03:07:45.160-08:00Thank you for your kind comment. To subscribe to ...Thank you for your kind comment. To subscribe to this blog via Google (or similarly, to subscribe to my other blog at http://zenofzero.blogspot.com/ ), click on the link (at the bottom of the page) labeled "Subscribe by email". I haven't posted much at either blog for quite a while (i've been working hard, trying to clean up my book at http://zenofzero.net/ ), but I'll be starting again, soon.A. Zoroasterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07473665017762017780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5388644395556254721.post-19882099750774782752012-12-28T02:28:52.226-08:002012-12-28T02:28:52.226-08:00I came across this entry right now and I am surely...I came across this entry right now and I am surely surprised in a good way by the manner you compose your blog post! Which methods do you turn to in order to tell your readers about the fact that you have added a blog entry to your domain?Missis Dorishttp://mytinycutestories.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5388644395556254721.post-72900767720785536642010-03-14T05:17:32.286-07:002010-03-14T05:17:32.286-07:00In response, first with respect to the questions y...In response, first with respect to the questions you enumerated:<br /><br />1. There is no reference in the opinion to Roe v. Wade! One of the plaintiffs is Jan Roe.<br /><br />2. If you wish to challenge the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Establishment Clause, I suggest that you take it up with the Supreme Court.<br /><br />3. I hope you are kidding. The case is not about restricting people from publicly professing belief in various fairy tales. It's about coercing children to profess belief in religious fairy tales as a part of a teacher-led pledge of patriotism.<br /><br />4-7. I suggest that you study psychiatric and sociological data dealing with coercion, especially the susceptibility of children to such coercion.<br /><br />With respect to your linking religiosity and patriotism: thereby, you make a grave error.<br /><br />With respect to the comment by "Daphne of Argos" about Michael Newdow, to wit: "I'm… saddened that Newdow is yet again back in the news… hasn't his 15 minutes of fame expired by now?", why would that insult me? In my comment at the site I stated: "With all the death threats that Michael Newdow has received for his attempts to protect the Constitution and the rights of a minority, do you really think it's necessary (or just self satisfying) for you to add your pathetic little insult?"<br /><br />Finally, re. your last paragraph; specifically, your statement that "God [as used in the Pledge] is used strictly as a generic term meaning 'higher power'." It would be satisfying if your thoughts could someday penetrate through the fog of your childhood indoctrination (or through the distortions caused by your use of mind-warping drugs, or whatever got you hooked on your religious fairy tale), so you could see that (unless and until we're visited by much more intelligent extraterrestrials) there is no "higher power". I totally agree that it's a scary thought, but the best that we have is human intelligence. Stated differently: you've been had by the guys with the collection plates.A. Zoroasterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07473665017762017780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5388644395556254721.post-32844313633964552742010-03-14T00:51:58.076-08:002010-03-14T00:51:58.076-08:00This judge's reasoning is all over the map. I ...This judge's reasoning is all over the map. I have a few questions about this opinion he rendered:<br /><br />1. What does Roe v. Wade have to do with taking "under God" out of the pledge of allegiance?<br /><br />2. How can something be unconstitutional if it's not covered in the constitution? There is no mention of any kind of pledge of allegiance there.<br /><br />3. Given that the majority of the country believes in God, it stands to reason that most of their children also believe in God. Who exactly are we offending by professing our faith openly in public? The Founding Fathers never discouraged the expression of faith in the public square. As Thomas Jefferson himself once said, "It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."<br /><br />-Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782<br /><br />6. Who exactly is forcing you to say Under God in the pledge? Is someone holding a gun to the head of every atheist in the country and threatening them to say it? I doubt that very much.<br /><br />7. The "under God" change was not the only change that the pledge has undergone over the years. And I quote: "In 1942 the pledge received official recognition by congress when it was included into the U.S. flag code. Congress added the phrase 'under God' in 1954" Again, no mention of being forced to acknowledge God. If you as an individual choose not to say under God, you may do so.<br /><br />If we take "under God" out of the pledge, what's next? Not being able to lay flags over caskets? Not being able to display the flag behind podiums while speaking if the venue happens to be a church or religious institution?<br /><br />And on a more personal note, I read your comment over at "Musings of a Bored Mind." Exactly who did the blogger of that site insult? You or Newdow? And if it was you, why were you insulted?<br /><br />Finally, the pledge is to the FLAG and THE REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS. The pledge is not made to any God at all. By placing "under God" in the pledge, congress acknowledged what the majority already had assumed. That the government was not the final moral authority. Nowhere in the pledge does it force you to acknowledge the belief in any sort of God, be it the Christian God, the Muslim Allah, or the Old Testament God of Abraham. God is used strictly as a generic term meaning "higher power."ArthurRex12https://www.blogger.com/profile/04123008164613002930noreply@blogger.com