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Why do people hate the ACLU so much?

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by WaylonJennings, Jan 26, 2008.

  1. Football_Bat

    Football_Bat Well-Known Member

    Um, Ruby Ridge happened on Poppy's watch.
     
  2. Buck

    Buck Well-Known Member

    But there's an absolutist stance there that is as questionable as the NRA's.
    Mentioning 'God' in the Pledge of Allegiance or printing it on money seems to me to be more about state sponsored religiosity. I don't think it rises to the level of state-sponsored religion.
    Putting a nativity scene up on the lawn at a town hall of a community that is 90-95 percent Christian seems to me to be an expression of the community, not state-sponsored religion.
    Even putting a cross up on the White House lawn could be viewed as a religious expression of the ihabitants of the house rather than state-sponsored religion.
    I'm an atheist, but I'm not offended by religion. I find it silly, not objectionable.
     
  3. No public money for religion.
    Period.
    My compromise position.
     
  4. alleyallen

    alleyallen Guest

    It's things like faith-based initiatives that make an absolutist stance on religion so absolutely necessary.

    And Hondo, whether you like it or not, far too many Americans think it's OK for the Christian religion to be espoused in some governmental form, simply because it's the majority religion of this nation. With ill-conceived thinking like that, a group like the ACLU is absolutely necessary for the preservation of everyone's rights, not just those who agree with Christian teachings.
     
  5. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    For the record: yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU. But the more important question is why aren't you, Bob? Now, this is an organization whose sole purpose is to defend the Bill of Rights, so it naturally begs the question: Why would a senator, his party's most powerful spokesman and a candidate for President, choose to reject upholding the Constitution? If you can answer that question, folks, then you're smarter than I am, because I didn't understand it until a few hours ago. America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, 'cause it's gonna put up a fight. It's gonna say "You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country can't just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then, you can stand up and sing about the "land of the free".
     
  6. Chi City 81

    Chi City 81 Guest

    Thank you, Andrew Shepherd.
     
  7. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    I always thought his whole speech was pretty cool -- although I wouldn't have made such a fuss over Annette Bening.
     
  8. alleyallen

    alleyallen Guest

    Are you f-ing kidding me?!? Annette Bening was hotter than an Enron pension check in that movie!
     
  9. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    Puh-leeze... with Samantha Mathis on staff?
     
  10. hondo

    hondo Well-Known Member

    There were manger scenes and the 10 Commandments in courthouses, courthouse lawns and other public property for 200 years before the ACLU started getting their panties in a wad about it. If allowing that was going to lead to state sponsored religion, it sure was a slow process...and it never happened.
     
  11. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    People run traffic lights all the time. Why should the police ticket you when you run one?
     
  12. Actually, hondo, here in liberal Massachusetts, Christmas itself was banned for nearly 25 years, and nobody celebrated it conspicuously until the mid-1800's. The reason for that was an unacceptable commingling of church and state, which is why No Public Money is the best solution of all. Put up your Nativity scene on your lawn. Not on mine.
     
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