Why is it...

[Dante]

[forcing us to pay for the equipment and the venue to publicly broadcast his religious views

We are not forced. we elect a President. The rest comes with the job.


The benediction is not the President's religious views. The President's always say "God Bless America" ... you think that is the same as a teacher leading children in prayer?

 

[Dante]

And he can pray in private but by forcing us to pay for the equipment and the venue to publicly broadcast his religious views is the same as a teacher leading prayer in school is it not?

HE most likely prays in private, but the Inaugural Ceremony is a public event...the stuff comes with the job description...the venue is not a celebration of the President's religious views....a teacher leading prayer in a school is not anything like a benediction by a preacher at a public ceremony

 

[Dante]

that the ******* president can have some religious nut invoking the deity at a podium paid for by tax payer dollars while he is on the federal payroll being protected by federal armed guards but children can't pray at school?

BTW I am an atheist just pointing out the hypocrisy that you ******* sheep all embrace.

It's that ******* "do as we say not as we do" attitude that Washington has.

Is it possible that you have a clue what the issues are?

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

that the ******* president can have some religious nut invoking the deity at a podium paid for by tax payer dollars while he is on the federal payroll being protected by federal armed guards but children can't pray at school?

BTW I am an atheist just pointing out the hypocrisy that you ******* sheep all embrace.

For the same reason that ‘In God We Trust’ on coinage is not un-Constitutional. See: Aronow v. United States (1970).

The National motto and religious invocations at official state functions do not compel citizens to acknowledge a given religious practice, nor do they aid religion in any manner; such ceremonial or patriotic expressions do not constitute the same type of compliance found in state-mandated school prayer, where the motive is clearly designed to promote religion absent a secular motive, manifesting an excessive entanglement of state officials with religion.

See also: McGowan v. Maryland (1961), Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)

 

[hazlnut]

that the ******* president can have some religious nut invoking the deity at a podium paid for by tax payer dollars while he is on the federal payroll being protected by federal armed guards but children can't pray at school?

BTW I am an atheist just pointing out the hypocrisy that you ******* sheep all embrace.

Tradition.

Does it bother you he swears on a bible and not a dildo?

 

[Oldguy]

A better comparison might be with public school graduation ceremonies. Individual speakers should have greater latitude in this area than required participatory programs.

Where did I say children should be required to pray at school?

Where is it written that they can't pray at school? I hate to tell you this, but kids pray at school every day, to whatever deity they chose, and it's not illegal.

What IS illegal is compulsory participation.

 

[Oldguy]

Hmm. That is an interesting point, I've never thought of it.

I wonder what would happen if the day before the inauguration, Obama announced he had fully converted to Islam, or Buddhism, or atheism, or Wicca. And he changed the swearing in to fit that new religion.

I wonder if the right wing and all the 2nd amendment purists would still support HIS freedom of religion as strongly as their freedom to bear arms.

Don't be silly. They already think he's a Muslim!

 

[Skull Pilot]

[forcing us to pay for the equipment and the venue to publicly broadcast his religious views

We are not forced. we elect a President. The rest comes with the job.


The benediction is not the President's religious views. The President's always say "God Bless America" ... you think that is the same as a teacher leading children in prayer?

We elected him to be the president not to have religious wackos broadcast their dogma at our expense.

And the God bless America shit isn't allowed in schools so it shouldn't be allowed in any public venue.

The courts should not force people to swear on a bible

The Supreme court building should not be covered in bible verses as it is now.

Since when does separation of church and state mean separation for some parts of the state and not others?

 

[Ravi]

I only wish he'd said Praise Allah. The meltdown would have been awesome.

 

[Oldguy]

that the ******* president can have some religious nut invoking the deity at a podium paid for by tax payer dollars while he is on the federal payroll being protected by federal armed guards but children can't pray at school?

BTW I am an atheist just pointing out the hypocrisy that you ******* sheep all embrace.

For the same reason that ‘In God We Trust’ on coinage is not un-Constitutional. See: Aronow v. United States (1970).

The National motto and religious invocations at official state functions do not compel citizens to acknowledge a given religious practice, nor do they aid religion in any manner; such ceremonial or patriotic expressions do not constitute the same type of compliance found in state-mandated school prayer, where the motive is clearly designed to promote religion absent a secular motive, manifesting an excessive entanglement of state officials with religion.

See also: McGowan v. Maryland (1961), Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)

I'll bet that would change if somebody attempted to change the motto to "In Allah We Trust," don't you?

 

[Skull Pilot]

And he can pray in private but by forcing us to pay for the equipment and the venue to publicly broadcast his religious views is the same as a teacher leading prayer in school is it not?

HE most likely prays in private, but the Inaugural Ceremony is a public event...the stuff comes with the job description...the venue is not a celebration of the President's religious views....a teacher leading prayer in a school is not anything like a benediction by a preacher at a public ceremony

Leading a prayer in public is part of the presidents job description?

And if public money is used to preach religious dogma that's Ok ?