I believe that granting tax exempt status to religious groups that do not spend a large majority of their income performing charitable services is a violation of separation of church and state, so you can probably guess where I stand on this.
I also marvel at the absurdity of this kind of thing. To reduce religious belief to a bumper sticker slogan, or a little fake chrome badge, or a symbol and a pair of words seems like it's cheapening the belief. I remember learning to love others in Sunday school, and what they taught us was essentially that if you are a good Christian, that others will see it without having to be told. To see someone projecting their religion via something glued onto their car or printed on a license plate comes across to me as fulfilling a need to conform. It also seems that that if someone feels a need to announce their beliefs to the world, that they are insecure in their belief and need to remind themselves as well as everyone else of it, and that they are broadcasting it to everyone to compensate for the fact that they aren't really so devout as they want the rest of us to believe.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by aceventura3
Who cares if it carries weight with other people as long as it does not infringe upon your rights? If a public official uses a bible to take an oath of office, how does that impact you? if it is a bible, a comic book or no book, isn't it the oath that matters?
|
That's different. An elected official is swearing on what they believe deeply that they will uphold their oath. You can swear in on anything.