Seece said: brendude13 said: Seece said: 10. makes up for 1 - 9 yay for not forcing religion on people!! Next step is getting rid of it in schools. Tomorrow is the carol service for my school and we have to go to church, sing hymns, and listen to at least an hour of what I can only describe as "preaching". Prayers at the end of each and every assembly are bad enough. I have no clue about politics, especially in the USA, but I really like Obama. He's down to Earth and honest, and all of his major decisions that have made the news (killing Bin Laden for example) have been good ones. Haha, yup, was just talking about that to someone earlier. It's definitely forced on children in that respect. Disgusting really ...

Yeah, you're not allowed to opt out of it either, which is pretty rediculous considering how many boarders go to my school. As we have to walk to the church some people make a run for it, they even check and register to see who is there, if you aren't there, you're severely punished.

I talked it over with my Mum and she's letting me take the day off, if only all parents had a backbone.

Millenium said: Player1x3 said: Seece said: Coca-Cola said: Seece said: 10. makes up for 1 - 9 yay for not forcing religion on people!! Mentioning God is not forcing religion on people.  It is in a way, expecting non religious people to have to listen to that just for the sake of religious people, he should be impartial. Too bad for them, there are 5 times more christians in US than atheists, majority of people would like/have no problem hearing that, why should he remain quiet for the sake of much smaller minority? And nobody is forcing you to listen to anything No we don't have to listen to anything, but just because I can ignore religious talk/conversation, does not give anyone the right to go to people's door (including mine) asking us if we want to "learn" about the bible & god. I don't go around people's houses selling atheism either do I? Plus, I was FORCED to take a religion class in high school, if I flunked it, I would flunk school, that IS forcing it. If I don't want to bloody learn about any religions out of my own free will I should not be punished for it in terms of education.

im not talking about going to peoples houses and teaching them about God. Im talking about president 's right to express his religious belief.

as for school, LOTS OF side subjects are forced upon students. home class, cooking,  wood techniques (dont know english name) including religion. That doesn't mean all those subjects should be banned because some students find them unnecessary

Player1x3 said: Millenium said: Player1x3 said: Seece said: Coca-Cola said: Seece said: 10. makes up for 1 - 9 yay for not forcing religion on people!! Mentioning God is not forcing religion on people.  It is in a way, expecting non religious people to have to listen to that just for the sake of religious people, he should be impartial. Too bad for them, there are 5 times more christians in US than atheists, majority of people would like/have no problem hearing that, why should he remain quiet for the sake of much smaller minority? And nobody is forcing you to listen to anything No we don't have to listen to anything, but just because I can ignore religious talk/conversation, does not give anyone the right to go to people's door (including mine) asking us if we want to "learn" about the bible & god. I don't go around people's houses selling atheism either do I? Plus, I was FORCED to take a religion class in high school, if I flunked it, I would flunk school, that IS forcing it. If I don't want to bloody learn about any religions out of my own free will I should not be punished for it in terms of education. im not talking about going to peoples houses and teaching them about God. Im talking about president 's right to express his religious belief. as for school, LOTS OF side subjects are forced upon students. home class, cooking,  wood techniques (dont know english name) including religion. That doesn't mean all those subjects should be banned because some students find them unnecessary

Lots of side subjects? In my area:

Wood works/wood techniques: No

Home class: No

Cooking: No

Religion: Yes

As a matter of fact, the only classes that were forced which had nothing today with learning language/maths/career education/etc was *drum roll* R.E.L.I.G.I.O.N

Anyways we have moved on from the thread in my opinion, I'm sure you can all agree, back to obama's america, keep the religious talk for it's seperate threads guys.

Guess you and I don't live anywhere near each other mate

LOL I've heard it all now, Food tech is forced on you in school, so should Religious education, as if they're even remotely the same. Religious education should be replaced with Finance and life maintenance.

Actually yes, that's exactly what free speech does - allowing you to say what you want, ESPECIALLY if its meant in good way, like president saying ''God bless America''. Otherwise, who gets to draw the line between what's ok to say, and what's not?  What you find offensive is an for example, totally ok for an Westboro Baptist and vice versa. mrstickball explains it better than me, so i'll just leave it to him.

And if you find a christian president of a country whos motto is In God we trust saying to his dominating christian nation God bless America ''pushing'', my tip would be to move some place else

Millenium said: Player1x3 said: Millenium said: Player1x3 said: Seece said: Coca-Cola said: Seece said: 10. makes up for 1 - 9 yay for not forcing religion on people!! Mentioning God is not forcing religion on people.  It is in a way, expecting non religious people to have to listen to that just for the sake of religious people, he should be impartial. Too bad for them, there are 5 times more christians in US than atheists, majority of people would like/have no problem hearing that, why should he remain quiet for the sake of much smaller minority? And nobody is forcing you to listen to anything No we don't have to listen to anything, but just because I can ignore religious talk/conversation, does not give anyone the right to go to people's door (including mine) asking us if we want to "learn" about the bible & god. I don't go around people's houses selling atheism either do I? Plus, I was FORCED to take a religion class in high school, if I flunked it, I would flunk school, that IS forcing it. If I don't want to bloody learn about any religions out of my own free will I should not be punished for it in terms of education. im not talking about going to peoples houses and teaching them about God. Im talking about president 's right to express his religious belief. as for school, LOTS OF side subjects are forced upon students. home class, cooking,  wood techniques (dont know english name) including religion. That doesn't mean all those subjects should be banned because some students find them unnecessary Lots of side subjects? In my area: Wood works/wood techniques: No Home class: No Cooking: No Religion: Yes As a matter of fact, the only classes that were forced which had nothing today with learning language/maths/career education/etc was *drum roll* R.E.L.I.G.I.O.N Anyways we have moved on from the thread in my opinion, I'm sure you can all agree, back to obama's america, keep the religious talk for it's seperate threads guys.

again, i wasn't talking about your own specific case

Well i don't live in America, nor would it bother me enough to move country as I already said. I don't care if the majority call themselves Christians (most arnt practicing regardless) he should still be impartial, I don't expect religious people to understand that though.

It's pretty easy to figure out what is offensive and what isn't, which is exactly how we differentiate hate speech and free speech.

He already answered your question (or refuted your point) religion is forced on him.

As an atheist, I don't mind that schools teach religion, or teach religious morals, or whatever. It doesn't really brainwash anyone - I have never heard of anyone converting religion because they had to say a prayer in school, it all comes down to the family that the child is from.

On the other hand, at the young ages at which religious education is mostly focused on, the actual subject matter of the education isn't all that important, it's actually more about getting children to learn how to learn. That's the number one job of primary education, to get the child used to the education system. Why not focus that time on subjects which will be fascinating to children (Noah's Ark, Garden of Eden, etc)... which also happens to include moral teachings very fundamental to our society?