KathyHL Why don't the leaders of the Religious Right ask Bush a few questions about Robin Lowman Garner?

lucilius On the Roman Empire, you'll note that I didn't say the non-Christian emperors had great morals - just that the empire was far more powerful (and thus further from dissolution) when predominantly pagan. But even most Christians would have a hard time faulting the morals of Antoninus Pius, who unlike the "Christian" Constantine the Great never had his sons killed; and unlike the devout Christian Theodosius the Great, never ordered the massacre of a city's population for jeering his representatives.

singram684 It never ceases to amaze me how intelligent (and unintelligent) people can focus on one or two items from a "historical situation" and bend it to support their views.

Regarding the Roman Empire and its Fall, I think you have failed to look at the decadent slide of the empire prior to its "Christian Emperors."

As to the separation of Church and State etc. Let's look at the context of where the founding fathers were trying to go (ie away from their past). They did not want a king. They did not want a national religion (ie denomination). Both these things existed in the countries that our fore fathers fled. That is why they focused on our unalienable right to freedom so that the "Government" couldn't tell us what we had to or couldn't say.

By the way, for the first 150 or so years, religion was a required subject in our public schools if they wanted government funding.

lucilius Pjj316: Better buy a history book. And not one of those hilarious home-school fundie versions either.

There was no "Greco-Roman republic." There were Greek city-states which associated in various leagues, Hellenistic (post-Alexander) kingdoms, the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, in roughly that order.

The one we remember best and tend to associate with ourselves is the Roman Empire, the western half of which collapsed in the late 5th century. The eastern half held out for another thousand years, its capital finally falling to the Turks in 1453 - but the event we look back on as the "fall of Rome" was the end of the western imperial line in 476.

KathyHL arammell,

I support your right to practice any religion you choose, AND your right to talk about it freely to anybody at any time - UNLESS you are in a government-funded situation, such as a meeting of a county board of supervisors, or the U.S. legislature. Even in those situations, I support your right to talk about religion in a historical sense or about your personal experiences. I'm just against things like group prayers or Bible studies supported by tax money.

Let me ask you this: if a religion other than yours was the dominant religion in this country, how would you feel about displays of religion in taxpayer-funded situations?

Tyler7 Well, "The under God" thing was put in with the help of the knights of columbus and Sen. McCarthy.
Since you support him, I will too.
And the first act is calling you a communist.
But seriuosly, I am in a Missouri Junior High. I just don't say it.