What does "Freedom of Religion" mean?

@Fido,

Fido wrote:

RexRed wrote:

MORE TAXES ON THE POOR YEA!!!

In England it was the churches that were responsible primarily for social relief for the poor, and one that was taken advantage of so that at times, the more the churches helped the poor the less the poor were paid, and you see the same thing today where Wallmart and the like will encourage their underpaid employees to get on food stamps... It is expected that the churches will take the worst of the sting out of sociatal poverty, and for that they are not taxed... If this were all they do it would be just, but they support the status quo and the economy which results in so many poor, just as the churches supported the power structure in Judea that resulted in so many poor... If they were doing God's work on earth they would not have a cent left for advertizing, or need to... What their true business is, is self service... They meddle in politics and attack the rights of the people, and they do this knowing the result will be more misery and that misery will result in more people at church demanding relief, or thanking God they are spared the suffering they must witness... The churches, like the constitution itself, are a force against democracy... If we could democratically demand justice there would be no reason to pray for it...

Very true, I think we need to redefine "charity". If people are simply feeding the poor, that is charity, but if people are indoctrinating the poor with more divisive religion, then feeding them, that is socio-political and religious black-male.

The bible says to feed the poor and "God" will pay the church back. Or do these church people not have enough faith in God's bank account that they need to raid the bank accounts of the poor, just in case? When they come asking for charity from the government we should reply, "Let your God create money if he/she is so almighty and powerful." Disband your religious armies and let your God alone fight for you instead... Otherwise, secular charities are the only sane and honest way to go.

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Who is Joseph Kony?

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@RexRed,

If you believe Aristotle, religions, like goverment are created for good... If you look at Feudal and Monarchial Europe, you can easily see their true intention because they cam in time to own a fifth to a third of most countries... The protestants needed a new religion to justify the avarice they held dear, but they soon found those made wealthy with the help of religion soon gave more attention to their business than to their souls...

They have always had a double standard for rich and poor... In England, for example, a man might be fined for hoeing his garden on Sunday, but not for working Sunday in the mill... And I personally do not take offense at anyone doing good, or trying to do good, and many who give to their church do so in the expectation that good will be done with the money... When neither church nor government actually acts to end the injustice in society nor the misery that follows from injustice, but only palliates the illness in order to avoid the pain sympathy demands of each of us when we witness pain, then it is easy to conclude that the good they mainly do, the do for themselves...

The Catholics in particular have a feudal character, but an international outlook, and missionary priest are forever begging for their missions... What is the ultimate aim of this money??? They medicate the sick and teach disease to survive medication... They give medicine and food and forbid birth control, and in that fashion create a dependency...They no where make a stand for fredom and equal human rights... They always defend the powerful against the poor... I am one of them, and I do not in the least trust them... They remember everything, and learn nothing...

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El coyote Profundamente

Why does this make me so amo?

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Please sign my petition Smile

End Church Tax Exempt Status, Faith Based Politics: Have religions and churches pay their fair tax share

https://www.change.org/petitions/end-church-tax-exempt-status-faith-based-politics-have-religions-and-churches-pay-their-fair-tax-share

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@RexRed,

RexRed wrote:

Please sign my petition

End Church Tax Exempt Status, Faith Based Politics: Have religions and churches pay their fair tax share

https://www.change.org/petitions/end-church-tax-exempt-status-faith-based-politics-have-religions-and-churches-pay-their-fair-tax-share

It is easier, and more likely successful, to wait for the system to destroy itself than to waste any energy at reform... It is so entirely pointless to ask those who benefit in their own eyes from the system as it stands to change it so they no longer enjoy a benefit... Now, tea party, the right generally, and the religious reactionaries are all about the destruction of the government that protect their privilages as though those prvilages can stand alone without support, as things in themselves... They cannot stand alone, but I will not ask those who benefit from them to change their behavior or resist from destruction... They do not like sharing power, and they do not like having to pay the government to protect them... Well; they are getting the best deal now that they will ever get, and change as they ask for it may well cost them their heads...

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WE ARE WISCONSIN THE FILM

http://vimeo.com/36855888

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The Japanese monkey, Macaca Fuscata, had been observed in the wild for a period of over 30 years.

In 1952, on the island of Koshima, scientists were providing monkeys with sweet potatoes dropped in the sand. The monkey liked the taste of the raw sweet potatoes, but they found the dirt unpleasant.

An 18-month-old female named Imo found she could solve the problem by washing the potatoes in a nearby stream. She taught this trick to her mother. Her playmates also learned this new way and they taught their mothers too.

This cultural innovation was gradually picked up by various monkeys before the eyes of the scientists. Between 1952 and 1958 all the young monkeys learned to wash the sandy sweet potatoes to make them more palatable. Only the adults who imitated their children learned this social improvement. Other adults kept eating the dirty sweet potatoes.

Then something startling took place. In the autumn of 1958, a certain number of Koshima monkeys were washing sweet potatoes — the exact number is not known. Let us suppose that when the sun rose one morning there were 99 monkeys on Koshima Island who had learned to wash their sweet potatoes. Let’s further suppose that later that morning, the hundredth monkey learned to wash potatoes.

THEN IT HAPPENED!

By that evening almost everyone in the tribe was washing sweet potatoes before eating them. The added energy of this hundredth monkey somehow created an ideological breakthrough!

But notice: A most surprising thing observed by these scientists was that the habit of washing sweet potatoes then jumped over the sea…Colonies of monkeys on other islands and the mainland troop of monkeys at Takasakiyama began washing their sweet potatoes.

Thus, when a certain critical number achieves an awareness, this new awareness may be communicated from mind to mind.

Although the exact number may vary, this Hundredth Monkey Phenomenon means that when only a limited number of people know of a new way, it may remain the conscious property of these people.

But there is a point at which if only one more person tunes-in to a new awareness, a field is strengthened so that this awareness is picked up by almost everyone!

~By Ken Keyes Jr

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Homeland Security Grants Rigged to Favor Religious Groups

http://www.allgov.com/ViewNews/Homeland_Security_Grants_Rigged_to_Favor_Religious_Groups_110727

1 Reply

@RexRed,

RexRed wrote:

Homeland Security Grants Rigged to Favor Religious Groups

http://www.allgov.com/ViewNews/Homeland_Security_Grants_Rigged_to_Favor_Religious_Groups_110727

Surprise... Church and state defending the same privilages against the rabble...

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A "smartass" religious zealot:
"... go get the constitution in front of you (for the first time) and read it until you get to the phrase "seperation of church and state" if you don't see it the first time, don't worry, read it again and again. Let us know when things become clearer..."

A perfect secular response:
"... You are correct. Though please also read the constitution and look for the word "god." The word "God" does not appear within the text of the Constitution of the United States. After spending three-and-a-half months debating and negotiating about what should go into the document that would govern the land, the framers drafted a constitution that is secular. The U.S. Constitution is often confused with the Declaration of Independence, and it is rather important to understand the difference..."

LIKE and SHARE... it might be handy...

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@RexRed,

RexRed wrote:

A "smartass" religious zealot:
"... go get the constitution in front of you (for the first time) and read it until you get to the phrase "seperation of church and state" if you don't see it the first time, don't worry, read it again and again. Let us know when things become clearer..."

A perfect secular response:
"... You are correct. Though please also read the constitution and look for the word "god." The word "God" does not appear within the text of the Constitution of the United States. After spending three-and-a-half months debating and negotiating about what should go into the document that would govern the land, the framers drafted a constitution that is secular. The U.S. Constitution is often confused with the Declaration of Independence, and it is rather important to understand the difference..."

LIKE and SHARE... it might be handy...

This so called separation is a legal fiction... If the churches are not taxed, then church members can use their churches to hide wealth... Now, property alone has become such a bank of wealth, and t hat was made possible by the income tax... For those subject to the income tax who wanted to use their charity for themselves, or to focus their strength politically, the churches provided the way... It is a tax dodge in every sense that it is not a self serving political organization... Where I went to high school, the ministers always powow, and decide who will hold the main offices in the town... It is all done before anything happens...

Believe it or not, the Russians used such a method to hide their wealth from the Golden Hord once, and when the Iron Limper, Tamerlain beat the Golden Hord, the Russians came out of the protection of the monestaries and took over what was left... The Mongols believed in Religious Freedom, and it led to their being right back where they started, in Mongolia..

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A secular government must have influence over all prevailing religions of the land.

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@RexRed,

RexRed wrote:

A secular government must have influence over all prevailing religions of the land.

Influence, yes... The ability to tax, certainly... Authority over; NO... We can see the dangers in English history of having the state the prisoner of the church, or having the churches hostage of the state...

What would be nice, is if church people governed themselves and paid their due tax, and stayed out of politics; but this would require that they obey the law and will of the people, and have the right to defend their rights on any stage or platform... And their rights are not different from our own: to believe as we see fit, to not injure others in the conduct of our lives, and to not be injured by others in the conduct of their lives... Right now, the churches as they stand are an offense and injury against this whole people; even those who follow and believe, and this injury is done under the special protection of government... This situation should end...

1 Reply

@Fido,

Fido wrote:

RexRed wrote:

A secular government must have influence over all prevailing religions of the land.

Influence, yes... The ability to tax, certainly... Authority over; NO... We can see the dangers in English history of having the state the prisoner of the church, or having the churches hostage of the state...

What would be nice, is if church people governed themselves and paid their due tax, and stayed out of politics; but this would require that they obey the law and will of the people, and have the right to defend their rights on any stage or platform... And their rights are not different from our own: to believe as we see fit, to not injure others in the conduct of our lives, and to not be injured by others in the conduct of their lives... Right now, the churches as they stand are an offense and injury against this whole people; even those who follow and believe, and this injury is done under the special protection of government... This situation should end...

Two words: Waco Texas... (I would call that government influence.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waco_siege

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Spirit of giving? Boston Archdiocese defends six-figure salaries for top church employees

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/21/10798101-spirit-of-giving-boston-archdiocese-defends-six-figure-salaries-for-top-church-employees

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Fear mongering Christians and other radical religious terrorists do not believe in separation of church and state. Is separation of church and state compatible with religion?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#

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Ex-Philadelphia priest pleads guilty to sex abuse charges

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/22/10816869-ex-philadelphia-priest-pleads-guilty-to-sex-abuse-charges

Comment: More tax exempt faith based "initiatives"...

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What does "Freedom of Religion" mean?

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