The awe of children

I think I'm still a little struck by Saturday's encounter. I then awoke to this article online. It leaves me in awe. Awe struck. Baffled. And it brought me back to my posting from May 31. The day AFTER memorial day. I thought of the Boston Tea Party, again. And some others that I never answered (and no reader tried to answer, either). And, most of all, our Declaration of Independence? We did these for the sake of our entire country. For the future of our United States. For OUR freedom. It's sad to think that, NO, we would not do these things again. Religious zealots and fanatics (yes, one in the same) make those of us Constitutionalists out to be wicked heathens. The fact that some of us might be something other than chrisitian only adds to the flavor and fullness of our Constitution. But this inflames christian zealots. It causes them to fight what they fear is a group of godless heathens. And godless only because the "heathens" might not believe in their GOD.

The woman from Saturday said that she could not respect another's belief because that would mean a disrespect of her beliefs. That doesn't seem right to me. Respect does not mean agreement, per se. More of an acknowledgement that this belief exists. And in this country, it has that right to exist peacefully among other beliefs. How many of these christians feel this way? I'm sure she is not alone. And it is scary to think that our lawmakers are listening to these people. People trying desperately to legislate our religion.

The pilgrims left England in a boat, the Mayflower. Have you ever seen this boat(well, ok, exact replica of)? It was very tiny. People died of illness, were cramped, cold, and hungry. Many died. And not so they could start a christian country. Why did Roger Williams leave Massachusetts and start Rhode Island? Not so he could start a christian country. Why did William Penn leave and start Pennsylvania? Not so he could start a christian country. The Mormons? Ditto. William and Mary? Yep, you guessed it. These people wanted to be able to worship FREELY. And they all did it differently. But they all did it to be FREE. Not christian.

Interesting side note: Florida was explored for the fountain of youth. Can you say "Shallow and selfish"?? Texas was fought over for land, we wanted it from Mexico. Can you say "Greedy"?? Funny these are Bush states. Shallow, Selfish, and Greedy.

Anyway, these are why our country was formed. Not to be christian, but to be FREE. Our Declaration of Independence turns 229 this June 11. We are on the precipice of bleakness for democracy. All the while declaring it from the mountain tops. We have a government working diligently to eliminate the Separation of Church and State, and succeeding in oppressing the press. All of this while going abroad and telling the world how wonderful democracy is. I'm not sure we really know how wonderful it is right now.

I do know, however, that we can do something about it. I also know that I'm trying. What are you doing? Are you aware that by the time they come for you, there may be no one left to defend you. You weren't one of them, so you stayed out of it. And that, dear reader, is apathy. Staying out of it. Another answer to another post.

Chuck