That’s it!! We can create a religion around Dan Rather’s obviously prophetic utterances on Election Night!
Let’s see:
Yea, though the Prophet has told us that Slim has left town, we fear no evil. For the Great Frog has side pockets, and carries a gun, with which to protect all who fear the Hippopotamus-Which-Shall-Run-Through-The-Newsroom-Before-George-W.-Bush-Asks-Ralph-Nader-To-Be-In-His-Cabinet. All praise the Big Wheel in the Cotton Field!
I am very devoutly and faithfully Christian; however, the combination of church and state is only a combination for disaster. This country is founded on basic human rights, which includes the persuit of happiness. How can one find happiness when they are forced to practice something they don’t believe in? Furthermore, the first amendment guarantees freedom of religion among other liberties. So, a state religion? Not on your life buddy…it’s simply not right; people are entitled to express their personal decisions regarding religion as they wish.
first the stunningly obvious: WHY DO SOME PEOPLE KEEP BRINGING THIS SHIT UP?!?!?!
apparently, the OP may have forgotten that there are people who will do quite a lot to get out of going to church, i am one of them. i had gone to a baptist church during my childhood, and once i got to be more than eleven, i questioned why the baptists did what they did, and said what they said.
and i “cut” church, i went to sunday school, and when the time for morning sermon came, i snuck off the property and walked around the neighborhood. Not the brightest decision at the time but i was almost desperate.
hhhhoooocckkeeeeeeeyyyy! whoooo hooooo!!!
Anyway. What gives someone else the right to decide where i should go to church? Maybe since i am mexican, they will tell me to go to the Catholic Church about a block from my house. Maybe since i have fair skin and brown hair, they will tell me to go to a Methodist Church located behind the high school. How ridiculous is that?
i believe that i can be good without going to church.
That is why i do not want people telling me which church to go to.
[Moderator Hat: ON]
I’m sorry we didn’t catch this thread earlier, because it’s obviously a Great Debate topic. So, even though it’s got more than its fair share of silliness (which we certainly would never have in GD), I’m going to move it over.
David B, SDMB Moderator
[Moderator Hat: OFF]
And now that the thread is here, let me please note that there is only room for one religion on this message board, and that religion is the First Church of David B. In fact, it would be adviseable for all you false gods to join immediately and send in your dues to avoid unfortunate circumstances…
Is a God trying to blackmail his followers?
That’s pretty much standard behavior for a god. What do think heaven and hell are all about?
We do have a state religion. It is called capitalism. The idol is the almighty dollar. The main temple is at the Federal Reserve Bank, where the Ayatollah, the Overseer, and the Pope Alan Greenspan announces from up high in the Holy Conference Room what rates of interest banks, therefore us, can borrow of the almighty dollar. All economic, social and political activities stop when he steps up to the microphone and announces the Board’s next move.
Tasty!
An orgiastic fertility cult would be nice.
I would like to second coffecat.
IS this a great debate? would anybody like to make a case in favor of state religion?
A state religion? That’s about as unamerican and unlikely to happen as banning football, which you also suggested.
As has already been pointed out, a state church would be unconstitutional and would lead to the loss of personal freedoms.
It is also unlikely because it would one of those matters where states would prefer to determine their religion on a state by state basis. After all, the religious make-up varies from region to region. For example, the LDS church is just over 1% of US population. In Utah, the LDS make up 70% of the population. Somehow, I don’t envision Utah accepting a federally mandated state church peacefully.
Then, it would seem that the only logical way to determine a state religion would be “which is the most popular?” Remember, you can’t just say that “Christianity” should be the state religion because Christians can’t agree what is required to be Christian. You have to look for the most popular denomination.
Here’s the [url=“http://www.adherents.com/rel_USA.html#religions”]top five list:
Catholic 46,004,000 26.2%
Baptist 33,964,000 19.4%
Methodist 14,116,000 8.0%
Lutheran 9,110,000 5.2%
Presbyterian 4,985,000 2.8%
Therefore, it would appear that the state religion would be Catholicism since it holds the plurality. However, a plurality is not a majority. In fact, it would seem that a majority (73.8%) of Americans don’t want to be Catholic.
Religion tends to involve deep emotions and convictions and there are people who are willing to kill or die for their beliefs. If a state religion were declared (which won’t happen) constant bloodshed and terrorism would become a daily fact of American life, IMHO.
I meant to hit preview and hit post instead. Here’s the fixed top five url.
What? Have you all forgotten the Church of the Gay Guy? Bow down before me (that’s right, on your knees) and worship my uncircumcised penis! {Muhahahahahahahahaha!}
{ahem}
Sorry, been watching “The Homosexual Agenda” again. Makes me feel like I have power over the minds of underage children, Hollywood, politics and traditional American family values. :rolleyes:
Esprix
Do those count as separate religions?? I thought it was more like flavors of the same thing.
Anyway, the day we have a state religion is the day I move to another country.
I think we should have a state religion that severely punishes those who cannot correctly spell historical names, make spelling errors in thread titles, and write sentence fragments posing as questions; say, death by immolation.
IMHO, of course.
Esprix
That name was already taken.
Being a devout member of the Church of the Little, Weird Cowboy ( http://www.themose.com/ ), I strongly object to any of the so-called ‘mainstream’ cults taking over as the national religon.
There. I’ve said m’ piece. Now, I got to go back to diggin’ my bomb shelter, which I’ll probably need if the there ever is a national religon.