School districts, layoffs and other things of interest....

[Dunkopf]

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Lots of people get up in front of crowds and openly slur gays, racial groups and entire religions. No they don't get in trouble. Some are actually rewarded with election. The most overpaid talk personality on radio makes a habit of open racial comments. He doesn't even get censored. Here in Colorado you will get detention for calling someone fat in a public school.

Separation of church and state was handled very nicely by Aquaeyes. I would like to ask who the creator is and why don't gay people have the same rights as the rest of us. So yes if it was in the Constitution it would be open to interpretation.

As for the prisoners. Most are a result of bad parenting. The belt being used in place of an occasional hug. Let's face it. Some people are better parents than others. Whipping a child doesn't accomplish anything except making them think violence is the way to solve problems. Yes prisoners are restrained but aren't supposed to be physically punished. Never been in prison myself but have sure seen a lot of nasty stuff on TV and in the movies. I imagine it happens some places. Violent prisoners usually have a lot more problems in their background than being spanked as a child. No I don't think that spanking kids makes them into criminals. I just think it's a bad practice and get tired of people saying that's why society isn't as wonderful as it used to be. "We just don't beat our kids enough". To me that's a sign of a sick society.

 

[AquaEyes]

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Thanks. There is no "creator" mentioned in the Constitution. It appears in the Declaration of Independence as a justification for rights endowed upon all people that were being violated by rule of the colonies by the British. In the Constitution, there is a clause stating that no religious test may be used for public office, and the oath of inauguration of the President allows for an "affirmation" rather than a "swearing."

I must concede an error on my part. My wires must have crossed. Jefferson didn't actually take pen to paper for the Constitution (I mixed that up with the Declaration of Independence), but many of its principles followed those set by him earlier. He was a staunch supporter of separation of church and state prior to the writing of the Constitution in 1787. The letter I referenced was written to him regarding interpretation of the First Amendment as it applied to the treatment of a church of a minority religious sect in Connecticut.

The marriage thing is another whole can of worms. Marriage is really just a legal contract between two people which, as now written, must be of opposite gender and must be of legal age to sign into such a contract. It provides tax benefits to the married couple as opposed to two single individuals, and with one wave of a legal wand, cements transfer of property, next of kin, and a myriad of other benefits into effect. There is no requirement for love, procreation, religious conviction, etc.

The law recognizes marriages conducted in religious settings, but does not require a religious setting for marriage. Thus atheists can marry. There is no legal enforcement that married couples must have children, and no prevention of marriage between individuals who can't have children. Thus women past menopause, or otherwise infertile individuals, can marry, and individuals choosing not to have children can remain married. If I wanted to marry a female friend but live together as roommates, and allow her to gain my health insurance as a spouse and me to gain tax benefits from having a wife, there is no law that says I can't do so.

Basically, all the arguments for keeping "traditional marriage" between a man and a woman have no bearing in law, other than that the participants must be of opposite gender. That being the case, it's really, well, unconstitutional to enforce. Put it this way: I can sign into a marriage contract with Jane, but Mary would not be allowed to sign into the same contract with Jane. At a basic level, this means that Mary is not entitled to the same freedom to enter into this contract with Jane that I am, and that is solely because of Mary's gender. The reasons cited for this are all religiously-based. Upholding a legal definition of who can enter into a contract based on religion's dictations seems to violate the First Amendment. Find any other legal contract which upholds this inequality for me, please.

 

[Dunkopf]

It's an issue I feel very strongly about. It is funny how certain rights are only for certain people though. Let's not stray to far into that topic though. People have a hard time being rational about it. I think that eventually people of a different orientation will get equal rights. At least we're not as bad as some countries where they kill people for it. I should say that at least the government here doesn't condone killing people for that.

 

[chickened]

You only listed about 10 of over 400 some odd commandments from the Old Testament. You obviously posses a secular view of scriptures and really do not understand them in thier own right. If someone cannot see God at least in the creation then we have nothing to really talk about on that subject.

Without the Declaration you would have no Constitution. Any scholar of the Constitution will tell you that Judeau Christian values were a big part of crafting the Constitution

Justice is an eye for an eye and so on. Justice is for the victim not the guilty. Punishment is a deterent to most rational folk. As for the unrational well you tell me what to do with them.

Aquaeyes are you in your early 20s'? I once thought like you fresh out of school I think lifewill teach you different. If you take the time to study the Old testament it will show what I mean about our country being modeled after it. For example equal rights to all where else in the world do people have the human rights like they have here and if they do it is from our influence. You can make the Bible out to be many thing if you remove yourself from it by calling yourself an athiest (which first contradicts itself by acknowledgeing something you claim to not believe in.) I am pushing 50 and can tell you your thinking on subjects like God, polotics and the like will change. The ten commandments were put where they are because they are a model or schoolmaster if you will on what is known as a universal law or guidelines a benchmark of sorts they were never intended to be able to fully live by but to point to a future fullfillment.

The difference in justice is not as wide as you may think. Why is murder wrong? why is stealing wrong? it was deemed wrong by Gods' laws not some court or legislative body murder was considered no different than hitting someone in the early existence of man there is no other writings predating the Bible about the subject the same for marriage.
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[chickened]

Kobe Bryant was just fined $100,00.00 for his gay remark.
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Lots of people get up in front of crowds and openly slur gays, racial groups and entire religions. No they don't get in trouble. Some are actually rewarded with election. The most overpaid talk personality on radio makes a habit of open racial comments. He doesn't even get censored. Here in Colorado you will get detention for calling someone fat in a public school.

Separation of church and state was handled very nicely by Aquaeyes. I would like to ask who the creator is and why don't gay people have the same rights as the rest of us. So yes if it was in the Constitution it would be open to interpretation.

As for the prisoners. Most are a result of bad parenting. The belt being used in place of an occasional hug. Let's face it. Some people are better parents than others. Whipping a child doesn't accomplish anything except making them think violence is the way to solve problems. Yes prisoners are restrained but aren't supposed to be physically punished. Never been in prison myself but have sure seen a lot of nasty stuff on TV and in the movies. I imagine it happens some places. Violent prisoners usually have a lot more problems in their background than being spanked as a child. No I don't think that spanking kids makes them into criminals. I just think it's a bad practice and get tired of people saying that's why society isn't as wonderful as it used to be. "We just don't beat our kids enough". To me that's a sign of a sick society.

 

[AquaEyes]

Freedom of speech is guaranteed protection from the federal government. It has nothing to do with private restriction of speech. Thus while you are within your federal rights to say as you wish, you may violate other rules if that speech takes place within a private-sector realm. There is no breach of federally protected "freedom of speech" if I am reprimanded by my employer for something I say while I'm at work, which is basically what happened with Kobe.



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Lots of people get up in front of crowds and openly slur gays, racial groups and entire religions. No they don't get in trouble. Some are actually rewarded with election. The most overpaid talk personality on radio makes a habit of open racial comments. He doesn't even get censored. Here in Colorado you will get detention for calling someone fat in a public school.

Separation of church and state was handled very nicely by Aquaeyes. I would like to ask who the creator is and why don't gay people have the same rights as the rest of us. So yes if it was in the Constitution it would be open to interpretation.

As for the prisoners. Most are a result of bad parenting. The belt being used in place of an occasional hug. Let's face it. Some people are better parents than others. Whipping a child doesn't accomplish anything except making them think violence is the way to solve problems. Yes prisoners are restrained but aren't supposed to be physically punished. Never been in prison myself but have sure seen a lot of nasty stuff on TV and in the movies. I imagine it happens some places. Violent prisoners usually have a lot more problems in their background than being spanked as a child. No I don't think that spanking kids makes them into criminals. I just think it's a bad practice and get tired of people saying that's why society isn't as wonderful as it used to be. "We just don't beat our kids enough". To me that's a sign of a sick society.

 

[AquaEyes]

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[mom'sfolly]

Actually, the oldest written material on marriage comes from India, and are in fact, religious texts. Hammurabi's Laws also predate much of the Bible, and are among the oldest written legal codes, dating from 1700 BCE. These laws were written in stone, metal and clay, and can be found almost complete in a variety of places. It includes the presumption of innocence and the need for evidence, it even includes the idea of a speedy trial. This predates the laws of Moses by several centuries at least.

There are several other existing law codes that predate the Bible by several centuries, at minimum, both in Asia and the Middle East. While there are not surviving texts of ancient Egyptian law, there are references to it in existence.

Our countries laws are not modeled on the Old Testament. Old Testament laws on marriage, inheritance, food, religious practice, or many other things are not, and never have been part of the American tradition. While Christianity is part of the culture and history of Europe and the US, it is not basis for the legal code. The Old Testament isn't even considered Christian Law.

As for funding schools, I don't think there is anything in the Bible about that either.

 

[AquaEyes]

mom'sfolly :

Actually, the oldest written material on marriage comes from India, and are in fact, religious texts. Hammurabi's Laws also predate much of the Bible, and are among the oldest written legal codes, dating from 1700 BCE. These laws were written in stone, metal and clay, and can be found almost complete in a variety of places. It includes the presumption of innocence and the need for evidence, it even includes the idea of a speedy trial. This predates the laws of Moses by several centuries at least.

There are several other existing law codes that predate the Bible by several centuries, at minimum, both in Asia and the Middle East. While there are not surviving texts of ancient Egyptian law, there are references to it in existence.

Our countries laws are not modeled on the Old Testament. Old Testament laws on marriage, inheritance, food, religious practice, or many other things are not, and never have been part of the American tradition. While Christianity is part of the culture and history of Europe and the US, it is not basis for the legal code. The Old Testament isn't even considered Christian Law.

As for funding schools, I don't think there is anything in the Bible about that either.

 

[chickened]

I think you may reconsider the book of Job. Many believe it predates them all. What Moses writes about predates 1700 bc but was from the 4000 bc era as someone smarter than myself have said. The Bible is not regarded as a history book but does contain enough tidbits of information for one to conclude it speaks of a time predating any other civilization unless you hold to evolution then everything you so eloquently have posted may be true and that we came from cosmic dust from a large explosion which may take more faith to believe that than Christianity.

The influence of Christianity can be traced back to its origins simply by archaeological digs in the middle east and how it began was displayed by the pagans leaving the sadistic practices of the past and conforming to a better way of life and one can trace the same improvements in society to more modern examples within the last 500 years that are well documented. The Age of enlightenment as you call it could be considered a result of Judeo Christian values as well as Hammurabis law was most likely influenced by a presumption of some form of diety. The American Indian knew that there was a higher being than them selves and that was evidenced by the fact there was warring and peaceful tribes not to mention thier reliance on worship within their culture. And please I do not need a long essay on how I am wrong about that either or how your professor s' version is much better Try to form your own opinions about God not someone elses' opinion taught to you, it will take more than 34 years I can assure you as much as someone older than I told me for I am still learning about him..Does not the God of the Bible say all good comes from God? The problem is not with God my friend it is with man. Some say Ghandi was a Christian or he could not have done what he did.

You are right about the school funding not being part of the Bible but the system is failing never the less and we can both agree on that point. The OP has found that out and is now curios why, well the short answer is the system is emploding from within and we can blame all sorts of groups and people but don't blame God as he may have done what he was asked to do and that was get out.
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