Just a couple things I felt like sharing with you (and by extension, the world).
First, the English Premier League started on Saturday, and I am very excited. This is not a soccer blog, but I usually mention it when big things happen.
This year there is a lot on the line: my dad, brother and I have entered into a friendly wager: if you guess the winner of the league, the rest of the pool has to buy you the book of your choice (naturally, within financial reason. No first edition Austens or anything like that). Between the three of us we ended up picking the three teams most likely to win; Chelsea, Arsenal, and Manchester United. So one of us is going to lose. Come on Chelsea!
I didn't get to watch any games this weekend, but I am very excited to see that I will be able to watch some replays on ESPN360. Words cannot describe how awesome this is. Sometimes I think the internet isn't worth the trouble; but right now I love technology.
Second, for what its worth (and I figure its less than two cents), they should build that mosque (though isn't it more of a community center?) in New York City. Maybe the ADL is right, and the guys wanting to build the mosque should be a bit more sensitive to what they are doing and the passions they are arousing (at least I think that is there position).
I am surprised to see so many people who would argue that America is no longer true to its founding priciniples come out and argue against this mosque. And yes, I recognize the fact that at America's birth we were a Christian nation in practice if not name and that not every founding father was a Thomas Jeffersonish agnostic. BUT, like it or not, our constitution as it currently stands and as it is currently interpreted by the courts says that we all can worship as we chose (or not at all), and therefore there is nothing wrong with building a muslim center on private property.
Should Imman Rauf itemize his funders? I don't think that's necessary. If I wanted to build a church on the same sight, I probably wouldn't have to tell anyone who is donating to the church to make it possible (and those people very well may wish to remain annonymous). IF everyone in the nation is still to be treated equally (which again, our constitution as it currently stands and is interpreted by the courts says that should be the case), then Imman Rauf should be subjected to no more scrutiny than anyone else would who wanted to build a relgious center of anykind.
So there you go. You want to go ahead and change the constitution? Make us a Christian Nation? Go ahead and try. I'll vote against that wholeheartedly, becuase that is not what this country is all about.
And Newt Gingrich? If he is going to seriously run for office, he better stop demanding that Saudi Arabia start building churches building in their country. I mean, yeah, it would be NICE if they did, but that's not so much what they are about. We can't bend our principles on relgious freedom just becuase other countries have little or none at all.
When I think about how it's almost like people are now pushing for America to become a theocracy, I say to myself, "I hear the Middle East is lovely this time of year."
ReplyDeleteRight after I posted the above comment, I realized its meaning may not have been entirely clear. I was just meaning to point to theocracies in the Middle East and how not so great they turned out.
ReplyDeleteYeah. I think what would happen here though is that people would view Christianity in contempt (becuase we view everything the goverment does with contempt, save the military), and our church lives would be less vibrant. My understanding is that is part of the reason why Christianity is in the dumps over in Europe.
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