Thanks to the OP for posting this. I want to read it to my kids, so they understand how lucky and spoiled we are.
I think the persecution of the Jews in any culture is wrong.
And so is the persecution of any religion.
I think the freedom of religion, including the right to pray in schools, on T.V. and radio, in government, etc. is a freedom that the U.S. was not only founded on, but what people have died for, and I am grateful for that.
I'm glad that things have changed in the former Soviet countries. I wish that things weren't changing for the worse here.
I have to put up with people telling me about "separation of church and state", which was never meant to be interpreted as it is today. If you can have atheism practiced in schools and taught by teachers, I should be able to have prayer in schools and religion taught by teachers. That is separation of church and state. No one should tell me what I can or cannot do as long as I'm not impeding others' freedoms and pursuit of happiness.
And I put up with my government that:
* attempts to restrict our freedoms in the name of protection
* tries to act in our best interest, but never actively asks what our best interests are
But, we are spoiled. I'll take my every phone call and Google search being scanned by the U.S. over the crap people had to put up with in the Soviet Union before.
>If you can have atheism practiced in schools and taught by teachers, I should be able to have prayer in schools and religion taught by teachers.
Religion isn't taught in schools because people have different religions (and, within religions, different interpretation of religion). Religion is taught at institutions focused on particular religions (i.e. churches).
While some genetic characteristics can be considered Jewish, not all Jews have those characteristics, so it could also be considered "anticulturalism". As a Christian and gentile, I don't understand what it is like to be discriminated against on so many levels. Christians have only been persecuted for < 2000 years, and we span the globe in radically different races and cultures. Only certain faiths have as strong tendency to intermarry as Jews (almost always marry another person of faith X)- Mormons and Scientologists come to mind (note: that is the truth, not meant to be a slight against Mormonism).
I think the persecution of the Jews in any culture is wrong.
And so is the persecution of any religion.
I think the freedom of religion, including the right to pray in schools, on T.V. and radio, in government, etc. is a freedom that the U.S. was not only founded on, but what people have died for, and I am grateful for that.
I'm glad that things have changed in the former Soviet countries. I wish that things weren't changing for the worse here.
I have to put up with people telling me about "separation of church and state", which was never meant to be interpreted as it is today. If you can have atheism practiced in schools and taught by teachers, I should be able to have prayer in schools and religion taught by teachers. That is separation of church and state. No one should tell me what I can or cannot do as long as I'm not impeding others' freedoms and pursuit of happiness.
And I put up with my government that:
* attempts to restrict our freedoms in the name of protection
* tries to act in our best interest, but never actively asks what our best interests are
But, we are spoiled. I'll take my every phone call and Google search being scanned by the U.S. over the crap people had to put up with in the Soviet Union before.