Liberal Atheists are at it again.

[Tassman]

That's about par for the course for your commentary, Jimmy.

The truth remains - atheists (and I should point out it's the militant ones like you, not all atheists) will not be happy until all other religions but their own are destroyed.

Atheism does not meet the definition of a "religion" despite the best efforts of the likes of you to categorise it as one. More to the point, you are free to keep your religious beliefs. But no one has the right to impose their private morality on anyone else.

[seer]

Do you think states still retain the right to establish a government-backed church? Would you want them to?

Probably not on both issues, but not allowing a cross on public property, or the Ten Commandments in school, or even school prayer, would have been laughed at by the very Founders who penned the Amendment.

[seer]

Good question.

Seer is nostalgically harking back to the pre-Constitution era of the Continental Conferences when there were a lot of religious practices exercised by the states which are not be acceptable today. The Continental Congresses met from 1774 to 1789 in three incarnations until the US Constitution took effect in March 4, 1789 and superseded all previous practices.

Homer, things like church taxes lasted into the 1830s, school prayer was wide spread until the 1960s, the Christian Chaplain service is still enforce. Congress shall make no LAW has nothing to do with whether a school district allowed teacher lead prayer (as when I grew up) or a city hall displaying a cross or the ten commandments.

[Tassman]

Homer, things like church taxes lasted into the 1830s, school prayer was wide spread until the 1960s, the Christian Chaplain service is still enforce. Congress shall make no LAW has nothing to do with whether a school district allowed teacher lead prayer (as when I grew up) or a city hall displaying a cross or the ten commandments.

by the Supreme Court in its decision in Wallace v. Jaffree (1985).

[Psychic Missile]

Does a State Church, say in England, stop other religions or religious minorities from worshiping as they see fit? You are seeing a paper tiger.

Then what harm did the founding fathers think a federal religion would cause?

[Cow Poke]

First of all atheism isn't a religion CP

Yes, it is.

[seer]

by the Supreme Court in its decision in Wallace v. Jaffree (1985).

You are completely daft, school prayer does not violate the Constitution - A school having prayer is NOT CONGRESS making a LAW. No matter how leftist courts bastardized the Amendment, the Amendment only prevents congress from establishing a religion by LAW.

[Mountain Man]

How isn't being against the government establishing a state religion or prohibiting religious express focused on protecting religious minorities?

Religious minorities might benefit from the protections of the First Amendment, but that's not its express purpose.

[firstfloor]

Yes, it is.

[JimL]

Yes, it is.

Really, and who is the god that atheists are venerating?

[Terraceth]

Which atheism does.

These things are not really part of the atheists lexicon; lacking adequate definition.

The whole definition of atheist is someone who believes there is no god. You clearly must have a definition of "god" if you are to claim there is not a god. I don't really care one way or the other whether atheism counts as a religion or not, but by your own offered definition of a religion, atheism does count, though agnosticism would not.

[firstfloor]

Which atheism does.

The whole definition of atheist is someone who believes there is no god. You clearly must have a definition of "god" if you are to claim there is not a god. I don't really care one way or the other whether atheism counts as a religion or not, but by your own offered definition of a religion, atheism does count, though agnosticism would not.

[firstfloor]

[Mountain Man]

It's interesting to me the number of atheists who recognize the inherent depravity and hopelessness of their worldview and try to address this deficiency by borrowing from Christianity despite its incompatibility with atheism.

[JimL]

It's interesting to me the number of atheists who recognize the inherent depravity and hopelessness of their worldview and try to address this deficiency by borrowing from Christianity despite its incompatibility with atheism.

Thats because you're very shallow there MM. One can find both wisdom as well as nonsense in the Bible, the same as one does in a fairy tale.