EXACTLY

[velessa]

Borrowed from ajslj:

In 1787, the majority of people in this country thought African Americans were worth only three fifths of a human being. In 1887, the majority of people in this country thought Interracial Marriage was an abomination. In 2008, the majority of Californians thought marriage should only be between a man and a woman. Just because the majority of people in this country agree with you doesn't mean that you are right, it just means that a lot of people are wrong.

Comments

[randyandrews.livejournal.com]

How can you have a government by and for the people without taking their religious beliefs into account? I mean there are some people who base their entire identity on their religions. Are all these people bad people for following what their leaders (who they believe are inspired by God) tell them to?

Christianity has made some mistakes in the past. So have the Muslims, and I'm sure the Jews. In fact I bet you can find some Buddhists somewhere that did something wrong. Does that mean that all of those people should be condemned? Should they have their right to vote taken away based on the mistakes of the past?

These aren't just rhetorical questions either. I'd like to know your answers to them. Though to be honest, I don't know if I even have a good answer for one or 2 of them myself...

[velessa.livejournal.com]

I don't think religion has any place in society. You don't need some god or preacher to determine right from wrong for you; unless you're psychotic, that knowledge is innate. Religion may not necessarily be a bad thing (there are usually some good points like teaching people they should be love and help each other), but I certainly think a lot of them have done a hell of a lot more harm than good over the centuries (crusades, inquisition, suicide bombers, etc.).

Anyway, I take issue with people who don't or won't think for themselves and just swallow whatever they're told without question. Hence you have some people hating others just because they aren't like them and they were told to. Maybe they're not inherently bad, but the brainwashing they've suffered causes them to do bad things (hate/hurt/kill people who aren't like them). So yeah, in that sense they're "bad" for doing bad things that their leaders tell them to. The bad people are those leaders doing the brainwashing; I guess they gain more money and power the more people they convert or something. I sure as hell don't think those people should be in charge of the government, like when the Catholic church basically ran all of Europe.

[randyandrews.livejournal.com]

Gotcha. I'm ok with the notion of the separation between church and state, however in this country, you won't ever be able to separate a lot of the voters from their church.

[greenanimal.livejournal.com]

We're not intending to take any individuals right to vote. However, the millions of tax free dollars collected in the name of that god, and only what that god wants, should not be used for political purposes. THAT is not separation of church and state. If that money was not tax sheltered, then who gives a crap.

[randyandrews.livejournal.com]

Heh, yea, that's another issue that is a hot button issue for me. Taxes. It's ludicrous how much the government takes away from everyone in taxes each year, and yet we still manage to run into the red every year.