'twas quite fun, our teacher forcing us to adress controversial issues. I have here my debate speech on the issue of The United States being a Christian Nation. What doth thee decree of he?
" The Bible, The Constitution...how, if they are, are these related? The answer...is that they are not. The fact is that most of the founding fathers, the ones who wrote The Constituion, were Deists. Deists believe in a god, but are not followers of the Christian bible. Some prime examples of founding fathers who were Deists or strongly believed in many Deist beliefs: Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, Ethan Allen, and John Adams.
The few beliefs that the Constitution shares with the Bible are not religious values, merely common ethics. The faultiness of Murder, Adultery, and theft are simple laws that many people hold to be moral values-people of any and even no faith.
Not once has the Constitution ever mentioned the term "Jesus". I, along with many others, believe that people's seeming attitude that the United States is a Christian Nation is based on the nineteenth century Revivalist Movements. A major example is when the Pledge of Allegiance was made into a public prayer along with it's original intention of being a Patriotic oath. The Congress, under Dwight D. Eisenhower's movement, added "under god" to the Pledge in 1954. The original Pledge of Allegiance, devoid of the words "under God" was written in August 1892 by Francis Bellamy, a baptist minister.
I for one do not believe that American Christians should lack the right to say "under God". But neither do I believe that American Muslims should lack the right to say "under Allah". I do not believe that America should go so far as Canada has. Canada has created freedom FROM religion, instead of freedom OF religion. I simply believe that any statement or constitution or pledge written and expressed by the government of the United States should not hold, in the official written form, any mention of religion. That addition should be made by the choice of the reader, the patriot, the listener, or the singer.
I know that a Religious government is not the answer to the world's problems. But I also do not believe that freedom of expression should be tampered with. People should express themselves as they choose to, but they should not be shown a certain manipulative(intentionally or not) expression by the President, Congress, court, or any other political figure or place. They should choose that expression for themselves, not feel condemned to it by an offical."
(quoted later, not during the speech, but merely during discussion)
" Perhaps the term "under god" would seem to display freedom of religion, excluding atheists, but apparently they don't exist for you people. Anyways, you would be right if the president lead a prayer to "god". But the pledge does not say "under god" and officials do not mention "god". The Pledge of allegiance quotes "under God". American currency quotes "in GOD(God) we trust." and I can't really quote anything else, since it really wouldn't be exact. Not that this is perfectly quoted, but it's close enough.
So I know it misses a few things and it's kinda unorganized, but uh, whatcha think?
By the way, I'm a High School freshman, if that has any effect on uh...the speech's relevance or dictation.
" The Bible, The Constitution...how, if they are, are these related? The answer...is that they are not. The fact is that most of the founding fathers, the ones who wrote The Constituion, were Deists. Deists believe in a god, but are not followers of the Christian bible. Some prime examples of founding fathers who were Deists or strongly believed in many Deist beliefs: Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, Ethan Allen, and John Adams.
The few beliefs that the Constitution shares with the Bible are not religious values, merely common ethics. The faultiness of Murder, Adultery, and theft are simple laws that many people hold to be moral values-people of any and even no faith.
Not once has the Constitution ever mentioned the term "Jesus". I, along with many others, believe that people's seeming attitude that the United States is a Christian Nation is based on the nineteenth century Revivalist Movements. A major example is when the Pledge of Allegiance was made into a public prayer along with it's original intention of being a Patriotic oath. The Congress, under Dwight D. Eisenhower's movement, added "under god" to the Pledge in 1954. The original Pledge of Allegiance, devoid of the words "under God" was written in August 1892 by Francis Bellamy, a baptist minister.
I for one do not believe that American Christians should lack the right to say "under God". But neither do I believe that American Muslims should lack the right to say "under Allah". I do not believe that America should go so far as Canada has. Canada has created freedom FROM religion, instead of freedom OF religion. I simply believe that any statement or constitution or pledge written and expressed by the government of the United States should not hold, in the official written form, any mention of religion. That addition should be made by the choice of the reader, the patriot, the listener, or the singer.
I know that a Religious government is not the answer to the world's problems. But I also do not believe that freedom of expression should be tampered with. People should express themselves as they choose to, but they should not be shown a certain manipulative(intentionally or not) expression by the President, Congress, court, or any other political figure or place. They should choose that expression for themselves, not feel condemned to it by an offical."
(quoted later, not during the speech, but merely during discussion)
" Perhaps the term "under god" would seem to display freedom of religion, excluding atheists, but apparently they don't exist for you people. Anyways, you would be right if the president lead a prayer to "god". But the pledge does not say "under god" and officials do not mention "god". The Pledge of allegiance quotes "under God". American currency quotes "in GOD(God) we trust." and I can't really quote anything else, since it really wouldn't be exact. Not that this is perfectly quoted, but it's close enough.
So I know it misses a few things and it's kinda unorganized, but uh, whatcha think?
By the way, I'm a High School freshman, if that has any effect on uh...the speech's relevance or dictation.
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