This is from a Facebook discussion I just finished. The names have been changed to keep the focus on the actual discussion, as well as some editing by removing timestamps and other formatting not relevant to the discussion.
Original Poster
I believe in Jesus Christ and proud to say it!! Let’s see how many people on fb aren’t afraid to show their love for our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ our Savior! Repost this as your status. Let’s get God back in this country like He should be!!! If you agree post this in your status update. Just copy and paste!
I don’t believe in Jesus, and I’m proud to say it. God is all over this country and people support it, as you have show… God has no place in the Government, though. Unless you don’t like the First Amendment that also allows you to post things like this.
Original Poster
Places with separation of church and state: USA, Australia, Germany, France, UK, Japan
Places without: Medieval England, Iran, Egypt, Somalia, Sudan,
Ill-conceived indeed.
If the founding fathers hadn’t wanted religion separate from the state, they wouldn’t have put “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” as the very first words of the very First Amendment. There is no luck needed in that debate.
Poster #1
Check your history brother. Why did we come to this great piece of dirt to begin with? Our Country is founded as “One nation under God.” We are a nation who placed God at the center of our foundation, as the cornerstone of our Government. This is a historical fact that can not be ignored, regardless of your personal “feelings” on the subject. I do not support forcing people to believe a certain way, but you can not ignore the importance of God in our nation’s history.
Pitabred
And your continued devotion to an imaginary being makes me sad, that you waste your time praying instead of doing something. See how we can all be pompous and self-righteous?
And I’ll see your Madison quote with one from someone more famous and more influential in the forming of the nation:
“Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because if there be one he must approve of the homage of reason more than that of blindfolded fear.”
-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr, August 10, 1787
And you claim that I don’t see the entire picture. The concept is that people are trying to force their religion on everyone in the country, rather than “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’sâ€. Religion has no place in government because it makes every single person who doesn’t follow the established religion into a second-class citizen. That you don’t recognize that scares me, and it scared the framers of the Constitution so much that they made it the first amendment. Feel free to believe whatever you want. Just keep it out of legislation.