The immoratlity of burning any book let alone a book of people's belief

I hope true American values enter the heart and mind of the Rev planning on burning the Koran on Sept 11. He lacks all moral and sensible standing eventhough the law can not stop him. He is a man NOT of the G-d he claims to be his.

An existing Mosque near Ground zero?

I just recieved an email from a friend who said that there is a previously existing Mosque near ground zero. Amazing that was never mentioned before.

NYC Mosque

If we act like our enemy the enemy has won. A majority liking something or not cannot dictate in a free nation the "what, where, why or who" of other people's beliefs. The ground zero area Mosque cannot be stopped. In this situation even the future protests will play into the real terrorists hands. Live and let live even when it's hard or the real terrorist enemy wins. The government must not intervene without opening the door to future religious entwinements. Who would be next?

So already, comment and spread the word

So already, comment and spread the word. This blog has got to start reaching other people so the debate can go forth and help to fix the wrongs theocracy causes. Mention this blog on others that you follow (especially if they are in opposition.) Talking amonst ourselves solves nothing. Defending through debate, not imposing, is a good step toward conciliation and peace .

Praise for overturning ban on same sex marriage. Constitutionally protected Citizen rights

The constitution applies to all people living within the United States. Since marriage in not mentioned or even implied within the document, I don't see the connection the theocrats keep insisting exists. The constitution establishes an implied wall of separation between church and state, protecting all citizens from the myopic biased untenable views of theocrats. Saying some people can marry while others can’t is based on theocratic bias and has no place in the fair treatment of all people. For those of you who do not really know the constitution, Article VI states that no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States. Also, oaths, for those believing in a deity, are given equal weight to affirmations, for those who do not. The First Amendment supports these statements in the body of the constitution all of which imply, without having to state exactly, that there is a separation of church and state in the United States.
Marriage by anyone to anyone else within our country is a personal and private matter and is not dictated in the constitution by theocratic dogma.
My faith is my business and I will not impose it on other people. Those of a different understanding, practice it on your own time not ours. There are many paths to understanding the Universe, mine, like yours, is not dependent on each other. Peace

The AJC factcheck at : http://www.politifact.com/georgia/statements/2010/aug/03/sam-olens/olens-says-he-beat-aclu-cobb-prayer-case/ found that Olens' ad was only half true. I wish that the article had mentioned that Cobb County had to pay a court ordered monetary award of $2501 to the plaintiffs. Not only did Olens fabricate what the suit was about for political gain, he ignored the fact that losers, not half winners, have to pay. Regardless of what the claimed official policy was, the Cobb Commission was overwhelmingly served by Christians and a rare Rabbi. No one else, until the plaintiffs gave the Commission Imam Zata Tafeek, was there ever a Muslim called to give the invocation. To this day, not even the previously excluded Mormon faith has been invited. The opening up of the invocation, to all beliefs, was ordered to both the Cobb Commission and the Planning Commission, and yet it still in reality seems myopic in its faith view. Also, as I wrote before, Olens doesn't have the right to judge the sincerity of an invocation just because of his own short comings and bias as was done against Ed Buckner the only person of no religious belief to give the invocation. Last thing, the factcheck was wrong in referencing the plaintiffs as all men. There were two women involved also.

GA primary runoff and the right to offer an invocation at Cobb County government meetings

The primaries in Georgia are almost over. Several races face runoffs. The position for State Attorney General of Georgia is one of these. Let’s see if the media responds finally with some honest research to shine light on the hyperbole offered by Sam Olens. I really don’t have a horse in this race. I just want an Attorney General with some integrity. We do not need anyone who fabricates reality in order to entice a specific group of voters into voting a certain way. To often Sam’s targeted audience has been mislead for personal political power and not the good of the people.

I pose the question to Sam, and to anyone else who might have an answer, “What does it mean, in relationship to winning or losing, when a court awards payment from a defendant to a plaintiff. Who is the winner?” Also, who is the winner when the plaintiffs get more than they bargained for? Now instead of specific government accepted sectarian invocation, all citizens of any belief must be given the floor to recognize the universe as they see it, even if it is different from a supposed mainstream.

Any citizen of Cobb County, of any belief, wishing to offer an invocation at a Cobb County government meeting, please contact them, and sign up. After all, the prayer case opened the invocation up to all belief structures because of the FACT that the county’s representative, when inviting clergy to give an invocation, crossed the Mormon faith out of the phone book which she was using. The court rightfully saw this as favoring one citizen’s beliefs over another and that just isn’t government’s role. Hopefully people of the other faiths, living in Cobb, will come and claim their court-recognized rights.

Stand up for your rights as citizens. Do not let the Cobb County government isolate certain citizens because of their beliefs as was done to fellow citizens of the Mormon faith and others. And when your turn comes to offer an invocation, stand against any demeaning introduction of your belief like the one done against Ed Buckner by Sam Olens.

Political hyperbole to attract theocratic voters

Setting the Cobb County Prayer Case Record Straight

The primary election season is upon us, and so the hyperbole is in full swing. The bickering back and forth between Sam Olens and Max Wood, both running for Georgia Attorney General, is a prime example of how politicians misrepresent information so that they can appeal to their specific electorate. Mr. Olens erroneously claims, in a TV ad, that he protected prayer against the ACLU. As one of the plaintiffs in the 2005 Cobb County prayer case, I will verifiably set the presently distorted record straight.

The case was NOT initiated to remove prayer or a moment of spiritual reflection from the beginning of any government meeting as was depicted in Olen’s ad. The offering of an invocation was never in question. It was quite the opposite. A previous case, Marsh vs. Chambers, found it acceptable to offer invocations at government meetings as long as they were not specifically sectarian. In other words prayer is acceptable as long as it doesn’t isolate any part of the citizenry by specific references to Jehovah, Allah, Vishnu, Jesus, Zeus, or whatever God or no God that anyone in the citizenry believes. That’s what separation of church and state is about, allowing all (I reiterate, all) of the people to be a part of our great and free nation. No one can be made to feel less of a citizen because the government fosters one type of invocation over another. All faiths in the eyes of government must be viewed as equal, whether there is one adherent or one billion adherents, the government in our free country cannot repress anyone practicing their belief (short of living sacrifices).

In Cobb Commission meetings, the invocations were overwhelming given in the name of Jesus. The occasional Rabbi offered their prayers to God. There were no Imams until the county invited one they chose from a list of community leaders the plaintiffs offered. While there are many leaders of other faiths and no faiths living in Cobb, the commission’s representative chose not to ask them to give an invocation.

While Judge Story decided this case differently than Marsh, in that he allowed for specific sectarian reference, he did so with the understanding that all beliefs or no beliefs of the citizenry must, going forward, be given an opportunity to present their version of an invocation. He based this on the fact that the Cobb Commission’s representative, who invited clergy to give the invocation, crossed the Mormon representatives out of the phone book that was being used to call potential invocators. Faiths like Wicca, not listed in the phone book would not even be sought out for consideration.

The county was found to be wrong in its deliberate practice of not choosing invocators outside of its Christian / Jewish focus and was ordered to open the invocation to all belief structures. The plaintiffs, while not stopping the sectarian references, did resolve an important issue in that court order. Cementing that victory, the court further ordered the County to pay $2,301 in attorneys’ fees to the plaintiffs and the civil-rights organizations that represented them. Olens thus plainly exaggerates when he claims that the lawsuit resulted in an unmitigated win for his side.

Regardless of what fabrication the politicians make up about the county winning the suit, the fact is the Cobb County Commission had to mend its anti-American ways. It now must give all its citizens, regardless of their belief or no belief, an opportunity to express their understanding of the universe without the government expressing “repugnant” distain for any offering. Just because an official might feel politically uncomfortable listening to an unfamiliar but heartfelt approach to belief doesn’t justify, as both Mr. Woods and Mr. Olens feel, the unlawful future banning of the individual invocator as was done to Ed Buckner, President of American Atheists. It is after all not the government’s place, especially a potential attorney general’s place, to judge an invocator’s offering, theistic, or atheistic, in a negative light just to gain political leverage. That is why we must protect our liberty preserving separation of church and state. Just because the specific words of separation are not used in our founding document, what other intent could there be for phrases like “no religious test shall ever be required,” except to be respectful of all citizens beliefs without fear of government repression.