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From: nyssa@abnji.UUCP (nyssa of traken)
Newsgroups: net.politics,net.religion
Subject: Re: USA: a religious country?
Message-ID: <883@abnji.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 28-Sep-85 07:02:38 EDT
Article-I.D.: abnji.883
Posted: Sat Sep 28 07:02:38 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 29-Sep-85 06:19:15 EDT
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Xref: watmath net.politics:11236 net.religion:7802

>But the government of this country *cannot* ignore that the *majority* of
>people in this country are Christian.  *That* is the key....Christians are
>the majority, and therefore the government must cater to their needs...

Could you explain this?  I could easily say that since the majority 
of people in this country are white, government should cater to
their needs.

I would really prefer that the government protect the minorities in
this country from the excesses of the majorities, be they white,
Christian, or whatever.

>Some of the separation of church and state fanatics that I know insist
>that separation means that the government must ignore the existance of
>and operate without acknowledging religion.  However, think what it would
>be like if Christmas was NOT a national holiday!

I, for one, would much rather have a an extra day's holiday to take
when I damn well please rather than be forced to take off a (usually)
bleak day in December to satisfy some peoples' primitive superstitions.

If Christmas were not a national holiday, that could be the case.

>We'd have a big problem,
>because a lot of people would be pretty pissed.  

I'm sure a lot of people are pissed at Affirmative Action laws (or 
taxes!), does that make them wrong?

>And for those atheists who get pissed at the word God being on our money,
>in our pledge of allegiance, etc, REAL atheists don't even care about God
>or the lack thereof and therefore should just laugh at it (?).

As I understand it, an atheist is one who denies the existance of a
god or gods.  (From a-theist, etc.  Look up your Latin! :-)

>AND...yes, unfortunately various and assorted Jews, Buddhists, Moslems,
>and Hindus may not appreciate Christmas being a national holiday...

But tough on them because they're in a minority, is that what you're
trying to say?

>but
>in ISRAEL you can bet Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are national holidays...
>I've heard it argued: "But Israel is a Jewish state."  

And they were founded on that principle.  The United States was founded
on the principle of allowing anybody to worship as they please without
a state religion.

>But if it wasn't, and the majority of people there were still Jews, R.H.
>and Y.K. would STILL be national holidays.

And it would be as wrong for them to do that as it is wrong for us.

>You have to try to please MOST of the people MOST of the time.

Governments *should not* be in the business of trying to please
most of the people.  They should be in the business of seeing that
our society continues to function in a rational, civilised fashion.

That means, among other things, protecting the rights of the minorities,
not imposing the will of the majorities.
-- 
James C. Armstrong, Jnr.	{ihnp4,cbosgd,akgua}!abnji!nyssa

I'll keep an eye on the old man, he seems to have a knack for getting
himself into trouble!

-who said it, what story?


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