and then some assbackwards state will pass a measure banning metric system
or claim since we're a christian nation....

Ah, Pennypacker. It's always such a joy to see a righty putting words in the mouths of atheists. Nobody expects all our government representatives to be atheists, although that would be nice now that you mention it. Rather, we expect them to treat all religions, or lack thereof, with equality.

We expect our representatives to represent ALL of us, not just a vocal minority. And yes, those who would like the US declared a Christian nation are a minority. Even if they are Christians themselves, it has no place in the laws of the land.

Like a kindergarten teacher who makes amateur porn, leave that shit at home.

From the perspective of someone living in Turkey right now, the "We are not a Christian nation" thing makes me regret upvoting the Ronaldinho and Grafite football goal videos, because this should be number one.

>> ^Xaielao:
Off topic, someone needs to upload last nights The Daily Show bit where John Stewart showed how bat-shit crazy conservatives (particularly on FOX) have become after 10 weeks out of power. Funny as hell.

Et voila... http://www.videosift.com/video/TDS-4-7-09-Baracknophobia-Obey

I don't know how FOX reacted to this, but I know CNN had a pundit talking about how this country was founded on christian principles and while we have freedom of religion it cannot be denied that the nation was founded on Christianity.

Which is nothing less then a shovel of bullshit that these people (the conservative movement) have pushed on themselves so much they now believe it. Many of the most renown Founding Fathers were considerably AGAINST fundamental and organized religions.Several, like John Adams, Tomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington either weren't religious or religion simply did not pertain to their work as our Founding Fathers, like Tomas Jefferson who famously quoted;

"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and State."

So Obama is absolutely correct. We are NOT a christian nation, nor a Jewish Nation, no any other nation of a particular religion. We are a nation of citizens with their own beliefs and rights.

I know the fundamentals in this country would like nothing better than to make this country a Christian nation, to make Christianity the state religion. But to even suggest the founding fathers would have been behind that is beyond asinine.


Last, Winstonefield, I don't think that the majority are arguing that those who work in the government should be atheist and only atheist. But simply as the above quote states, that religion should be between them and their particular god and should have no place in their work.

The seperation of church and state isn't in the constitution as it was written, but the Supreme Court has knocked down any case that comes up against that in every single case that has come before them. Frankly, the simple fact that nobody can obtain a higher office in this country (particularly that as president) without vehemotly announcing their CHRISTIAN faith. The founding fathers should be rolling over in their grave that such unannounced stipulations are indeed fact. With evidense all around us, with the continued perpetuation that Obama is a Muslam (which was perpetuated by the fundamental conservative movement to prevent him from obtaining votes in the election,) being the most recent.

On a personal level I am not against religion. I am religious myself. What I think is wrong, and what I think many of our founding fathers thought was wrong, was fundamental, organized religion. Religion should be between a man (or woman) and their personal faith. It should start there and end there.


Off topic, someone needs to upload last nights The Daily Show bit where John Stewart showed how bat-shit crazy conservatives (particularly on FOX) have become after 10 weeks out of power. Funny as hell.

We are no more a Christian nation than we are a white nation.

Well, since we are SUPPOSED to have separation between church and state, his statement is theoretically valid...

No - there is no statement in the Constitution or any of its ammendments that says there is a 'separation of church and state'. That is a projected desire of certain people based on a comment made in a letter by Thomas Jefferson while discussing the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of the First Ammendment.

The Establishment Clause does not mean that religion and government will be completely utterly 100% seperate. It only means that the government of the United States will not pass laws that seek to establish a national religion by congress or pass laws that will allow one religion to be preferred over another. At no point in time does the Constitution ever state that religion and government will be 'seperate'.

Quite to the contrary. Many of the documents of our founding clearly are rooted in religious practice, morality, and philosophy. The concept that government is supposed to be populated by non-religious persons is some sort of atheist fantasy that is fabricated from threadbare piecemeal stray comments.

But that does not mean that Obama was wrong. Nope. He was correct. We are not a 'Christian' nation because the government is not run by 'Christianity'. There is no such thing as a 'Christian' church. Christianity has thousands of factions. There is no single Christian faith. Therefore it is impossible for America to be a 'Christian' nation, because there is no such church. But it is silly to dicker. Over 70% of the nation belong to various Christian denominations, and it can be accurately said that America is a "Nation of Judeo-Christians".

Congratulations! Your comment has just received enough votes from the community to earn you 1 Power Point. Thank you for your quality contribution to VideoSift.

Now we just need to get certain people in the US to realize we're not a Christian nation.

>> ^Doc_M:
I editted... yeesh, you're quick. And BTW, you're probably right. But half of atheists are equally as dense and embarrassing in my eyes.


personally, I've found belief in atheism to be a strong predictor of the ability to adapt to new information and understand complex concepts. Its not perfect...but there is a strong association.

>> ^quantumushroom:
Barry claims to be a Christian but his teleprompter is an atheist.

FAIR AND BALANCED.


An Atheist wouldn't have gone to the same church for the last two decades.

Are you still on that teleprompter thing? Are you upset that he likes to prepare his statements rather than poorly adlibbing and getting all confused like the last guy in office? Or are you just jealous because he can READ?

Seriously though, let it go, it was stupid when Rush brought it up, and it is still stupid now.

Your video, Obama to Turkey: We are not a Christian nation, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

>> ^MaxWilder:
Atheists don't believe in religion. If you put yourself in the non-religious/secular/non-practicing category, you are an atheist.

False, fallacious and fractious. Take this as an analogy: Bananas are not vegetables. If it is yellow/long/edible, it is not a vegetable.

Atheists don't believe in gods; the word itself precludes such a belief. "Non-religious" and "non-practicing" do not preclude a belief. I agree that the categories are not complete, but this definition of atheism has problematically blurred lines.

>> ^gwiz665:
Showing once again one of America's finest strengths: Saying one thing and doing something else.


At least US courts have consistently struck down creationism/ID from public school science curricula.

The OFBCI is another can of worms. Under Bush, the all of the religious organizations it funded were conservative Christian organizations. Any government funding of religious institutions with taxes is against the intentions of the authors of the Constitution and the First Amendment. When it goes to just one sect, the violation is even more flagrant.

>> ^gargoyle:
What would be there difference between "non-religious/secular" and atheist?


I suspect there may be varied opinions on this but I'd wager "non-religious/secular" is referring to people who believe in a creator but don't really follow a specific religion or go to church, while "atheist" would refer to someone who does not believe in gods of any kind.