To read the tribute to SFC Marcus Muralles, please click here
Thursday, June 30, 2005
This is INSANE
We do have freedom of religion in this country, right? We are able to raise our children as we see fit (as long as we're not raising them to be criminals, that is), right? Then please explain this to me:
By this ruling, the commissioner (and the judge) have said that you can only raise your children by one set of rules- their rules. If your beliefs are not "mainstream" (by whose determination?) then you don't get to raise your kids.
Let's take a look at the rules we're supposed to be following, shall we?
'Why should you, an evangelical Christian, care about a Wiccan activist not being allowed to "indoctrinate" his child in what is (according to some) a "non-mainstream" and maybe even "evil" religion?' I can hear some of you asking. Glad you asked.
This moron is trying to determine which religions qualify as "mainstream" and which are not. If they set up those boundaries, then those lines can officially be changed. When an atheist gets in there (or... probably even worse, a radical Islamist) they can move those lines. And then I would not be able to raise my children as I see fit.
That it why I care.
A Wiccan activist and his ex-wife are challenging a court's order that they must protect their 9-year-old son from what it calls their "non-mainstream religious beliefs and rituals." ...What in the world was that court commissioner thinking? I mean, anyone who knows me knows that I'm quite the evangelical Christian, and I think that the Wiccan faith is... incompatible with my belief system. But I'm on their side on this one.
A court commissioner wrote the unusual order after a routine report by the court's Domestic Relations Counseling Bureau noted that both Jones and his ex-wife are pagans who send their son, Archer, to a Catholic elementary school.
In the order, the parents were "directed to take such steps as are needed to shelter Archer from involvement and observation of these non-mainstream religious beliefs and rituals." The judge let the wording stand.
By this ruling, the commissioner (and the judge) have said that you can only raise your children by one set of rules- their rules. If your beliefs are not "mainstream" (by whose determination?) then you don't get to raise your kids.
Let's take a look at the rules we're supposed to be following, shall we?
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.Y'all might recognize that. It's the First Amendment to the US Constitution. Just to play fair, let's check out the Indiana Constitution, as well.
Section 2. Right to worshipHmmm... "according to their dictates of their own consciences"... "no law shall... control the free exercise and enjoyment of religious opinions"... So, what I'm reading here is that the court has violated these parents State and Federal Constitutional rights.
Section 2. All people shall be secured in the natural right to worship ALMIGHTY GOD, according to the dictates of their own consciences.
(History: As Amended November 6, 1984).
Section 3. Freedom of religious opinions
Section 3. No law shall, in any case whatever, control the free exercise and enjoyment of religious opinions, or interfere with the rights of conscience.
Section 4. Freedom of religion
Section 4. No preference shall be given, by law, to any creed, religious society, or mode of worship; and no person shall be compelled to attend, erect, or support, any place of worship, or to maintain any ministry, against his consent.
'Why should you, an evangelical Christian, care about a Wiccan activist not being allowed to "indoctrinate" his child in what is (according to some) a "non-mainstream" and maybe even "evil" religion?' I can hear some of you asking. Glad you asked.
This moron is trying to determine which religions qualify as "mainstream" and which are not. If they set up those boundaries, then those lines can officially be changed. When an atheist gets in there (or... probably even worse, a radical Islamist) they can move those lines. And then I would not be able to raise my children as I see fit.
That it why I care.
