Let's Talk Religious Freedom

Because the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act has caused so much controversy, I thought I'd weigh in with my thoughts on the subject. I was taught that our country was founded to ensure religious freedom. My understanding was that many were persecuted for practicing a religion in their homeland that was not approved by the government. So, they came to America in order to have the freedom to practice their religion. Unfortunately, once they got that freedom, many groups proceeded to impose their beliefs as the only valid belief systems. This is still true today.

We have "Patriots" telling others that ours is a "Christian" nation and that Christianity is the basis of our laws. This is NOT true.  But, try to tell them that and watch the sparks fly! Our Constitution was written by men who believed there should be no established state religion and they specifically inserted it in the Constitution, Article VI paragraph 3, "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Religious_Test_Clause

The framers of our Constitution believed so strongly in freedom to practice any or no religion that they included it in the very first amendment to the Constitution.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_religion_in_the_United_States

"Freedom of religion is also closely associated with separation of church and state, a concept advocated by Colonial founders such as Roger Williams,William Penn and later founding fathers such as James Madison and Thomas Jefferson." 

In defending the Indiana law, Gov. Pence stated that Barack Obama had voted for such a law while serving in the Illinois State Senate. What Gov. Pence failed to tell or did not know, was that the Illinois law is different than the Indiana law in that it specifically bans discrimination based on sexual orientation.   http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-indiana-illinois-religious-objections-met-20150327-story.html

As expected, the economic effects of this law are getting the attention of the legislators in Indiana and they are now looking at ways to fix the law to protect all citizens.  http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/03/30/396361058/indiana-republicans-say-they-will-seek-to-clarify-religious-freedom-law  

In my humble opinion, no citizen should be discriminated against for any reason or be allowed to discriminate against another.  No one should be denied service or treated differently because of their race, sex, gender, religion, or sexual orientation. And, I believe that our Constitution prohibits that type of discrimination.  

Can You Fill In The Blanks?

My Congressional district is: ______________________________
My Representative's name:  _______________________________
My Senators are: ____________________ and __________________
My state legislative district is: ______________
My state representative is: _____________________________
My state senator is: _____________________________________

The three branches of our Federal government are:  ___________________________________________________________________

The Bill of Rights is: ____________________________________________________

There are this many senators at the Federal level: _______________________

The highest court in the land is: ______________________________

There are this many justices on that court: __________________________

The chief justice is named: ____________________________________________

My polling place is located at: _________________________________________

The next election that I can vote in is: _________________________________

These are the minimum things that I think a person needs to know to be a good citizen. What would you add to my list.

What Makes a Good Citizen?

I recently read an article about how uninformed most Americans are today. It really was appalling. If you didn't see it, you can find it here:  http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/millions-americans-are-embarrassingly-ill-informed-and-they-do-not-care-0

It is a long read but well worth the effort. Anyway, it got me thinking about what a person needs to know to be a good citizen. In searching for answers, I came upon this set of brief essays by 11 yr olds in Mr. W's class:  http://www.lcsd.k12.wa.us/~wwesterberg/la6/citizen_essays.htm  I am glad that we have teachers who ask kids to write essays on this topic.  Mr. W prefaced the kids essays with this: "In this assignment, students were asked what they could do now, as sixth graders to be good citizens. Both classes read an article and an essay about citizenship before setting out to write. Essays are posted in the same form they were turned in whenever possible." 

Please take a look at what the kids are saying. According to their criteria, are you a good citizen? If not, what will you do about it? They really synthesized it all into this: be involved, obey the law, be nice to others. 

Lastly, from this little chapter:
 http://moodle.esd113.org/pluginfile.php/1519/mod_resource/content/3/p105-108.ch8.pdf are the following ideas:  be of good character, know your neighbors, love to learn, participate in your community, think about the common good and individual liberty, learn science, don't think you have to know everything, lean toward optimism, think of yourself as a very powerful person, question authority, don't hate government, and lastly, keep the faith (As in believe in government)

Now, what do you think it takes to be a good citizen?

Priorities

I recently attended a YWCA event where the speaker challenged us to consider how we spend our time, our money, and what words we tell ourselves. This got me thinking about our GOP members of Congress. If we reflect on those three topics in regard to the GOP in both houses of our Congress, we see that they've spent their time and our money trying to repeal Obamacare, shutting down the government, setting up budgets that cut money for needed social service programs while giving tax breaks to the 1% and corporations. The words they tell themselves are despicable. They demonize the poor and lionize the wealthy. They claim to be Christian while cutting services that help poor people and provide assistance to them. 

What are the GOP priorities? They have told us repeatedly. Privatize services, tax cuts for wealthy, cuts to basic services that people need, and lessening regulations on corporations. Now, how many people who vote for GOP candidates support these goals? We must help people realize exactly what they are supporting when they vote for Republicans. We only have a short time to get voters educated. Will you help? Write a letter to the editor. Tweet something. Post something about it on Facebook. Tell your friends and family. Together we can make a difference. But, we must act. We can't wait for any political party to do it for us.