#separation of church and state

[gray-r-regan]

This is fucking gorgeous and reminds me of my theory about what that angel was a metaphor for: fear.

You can't re-enter Nirvana if you've got ten tons of daily survival shit on your mind.

Everything you fear guards your peace -- against your own entry.

Until you learn how to find time away from everything in daily life and be silent, focusing on just breathing, you can't ever go home.

The rich man can't go to heaven any more than a camel can fit through the eye of the needle. He's got too much shit on his mind to quiet it. To go home to himself.

The straight and narrow path to heaven is the Buddha's manifold path because the key to life is balance between your silent, meditative mind and how much you time you spend being "of the world."

Mmmm.

Humanity would be such a beautiful place if people understood that the bible is full of stolen Eastern philosophy told first in fairytale form to the illiterate so they'd believe it as fact from the educated and mysterious rich who knew they'd continue to be revered and obeyed as gods as long as they were the ones who could tell the peasants what god wanted in exchange for the peasant's safety, and then used that way until this very day and age where people who know the truth look at the religious with embarrassent and pity that they can't wake up from the dream in their heads.

Ohm is a very nice sound.

Way better than, you know.

Amen.

[liberalsarecool]

Public schools are a public investment. They are not a christian religious school indoctrinating religious opinions.

Public money does not build churches. Public policy has no influence over church doctrine.

See how the separation works?

[socialjusticeinamerica]

[odinsblog]

🗣️This is an illegitimate and deeply corrupt Supreme Court

Justice Samuel Alito spoke candidly about the ideological battle between the left and the right — discussing the difficulty of living “peacefully” with ideological opponents in the face of “fundamental” differences that “can’t be compromised.” He endorsed what his interlocutor described as a necessary fight to “return our country to a place of godliness.” And Alito offered a blunt assessment of how America’s polarization will ultimately be resolved: “One side or the other is going to win.”

Alito made these remarks in conversation at the Supreme Court Historical Society’s annual dinner on June 3, a function that is known to right-wing activists as an opportunity to buttonhole Supreme Court justices. His comments were recorded by Lauren Windsor, a liberal documentary filmmaker. Windsor attended the dinner as a dues-paying member of the society under her real name, along with a colleague. She asked questions of the justice as though she were a religious conservative.

The justice’s unguarded comments highlight the degree to which Alito makes little effort to present himself as a neutral umpire calling judicial balls and strikes, but rather as a partisan member of a hard-right judicial faction that’s empowered to make life-altering decisions for every American.

(continue reading)

[canadianabroadvery]

[polyamorouspunk]

IF CUTTING OFF THE HEAD DOESN’T WORK BURN THE WHOLE THING!

[porterdavis]

Is this what you want?

Whatever happened to separation of church and state?

[todaysdocument]

Memorandum Opinion - Madalyn Murray O'Hair v. Thomas O. Paine.

Record Group 21: Records of District Courts of the United StatesSeries: Civil Case FilesFile Unit: 69CA109: Madalyn Murray O'Hair and Richard F. O'Hair v. Thomas O. Paine

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

WESTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS

AUSTIN DIVISION

Filed Dec 1 1969 Dan W. Benedict, Clerk

by W E Lyons Deputy

MADALYN MURRAY O'HAIR, ET AL. (brackets)

VS. (brackets)

THOMAS O. PAINE, ET AL. (brackets)

CIVIL ACTION NO. A-69-CA-109

MEMORANDUM OPINION

This is an action brought by Madalyn Murray O'Hair,

Richard F. O'Hair and the Society of Separationists, Inc., against

Thomas O. Paine, individually and as Administrator of the National

Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The plaintiffs are

seeking an order enjoining NASA from (1) doing any act whatsoever

which abridges the plaintiffs' freedom from religion or establishes

Christianity as the official religion of the United States, and

(2) enforcing any policy or regulation which has been heretofore

promulgated and which has such above effect. The plaintiffs

also seek a temporary restraining order enjoining the defendants'

"from doing any act whatsoever which restricts or abridges plaintiffs'

freedom from religion and specifically enjoining NASA and its

administrator and and personnel from further directing or permitting

religious activities, or ceremonies and especially the reading

of the sectarian Christian religion Bible and from prayer reci-

tation in space and in relation to all future space flight activity."

Jurisdication of the case is founded upon 28 U.S.C. 1346 (a) (2).

Upon request of the plaintiffs, a three-judge court was

convened in accordance with Jackson v. Choate, (name is underlined) 404 F.2d 910

(5 Cir., 1968). That Court, consisting of the United States Circuit

Judge Homer Thornberry, United States District Judge Adrian A. Spears,

and United States District Judge Jack Roberts, determined that this

case was not properly a three-judge matter. Sardino v. Federal Re-

serve Bank of New York, 361 F.2d 106 (2 Cir. 1966); Pennsylvania

Public Utility Commission v. Pennsylvania Railroad Co., 383 U.S. 281

(1965). The case was accordingly remanded to Judge Roberts of

decision.

The various plaintiffs are atheists, deists, and believers

in the complete separation of church and state. They have asserted

the right to bring suit in two separate grounds: (1) taxpayer status; [complete document and transcription at link]

[sixbucks]

The border I want to close is the one between church and state.

[liberalsarecool]

Conservative churches exploit their tax-free status.

[socialjusticeinamerica]

[canadianabroadvery]

[delicatehologramballoon]

[porterdavis]

Fair is fair

In a letter to the editor of The Washington Post, Larry McClemons of Annandale, Va., took issue with Oklahoma’s new edict that the Bible be taught in every classroom: “Perhaps, in a show of fairness, these state officials could mandate the teaching of algebra in churches.” (Arthur Rothstein, San Francisco)