What separation?
State Rep. Warren Chisum works hard to erode the line between church
and state.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/4713799.html
[excerpt]
STATE Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, is a busy man. Too busy, it
sometimes seems.
One would think he'd have enough on his plate as chair of the
budget-setting House Appropriations Committee, the most powerful
committee in either chamber of the Legislature. But he has ample time
to sponsor and support a number of bills under the aegis of the Texas
Conservative Coalition, of which he is an active member and a former
leader.
Many of those bills are unabashedly tailored to introduce religious
precepts cloaked in a secular aura of wholesome family values. The
effect is an attack on the wall that divides church from state.
Let us count just a few of the ways Chisum has squandered the
taxpayers' time and money in his quest to bring religion into
government: His latest crusade is part of a Texas Conservative
Coalition agenda to cut down on divorce rates and reduce financial
burdens on the newly single, who will then, the reasoning goes, be
less dependent on poverty programs. Proposals include voluntary
prenuptial classes, marriage contracts and measures to discourage
divorce. (Whatever happened to the part of the Texas Republican
Platform that says, "We believe in a strong and vibrant public sector
unencumbered by excessive government regulations"?)
As seems to be par for the course, Chisum's first installment, a
so-called "healthy marriage" bill, is already ailing: the House
originally voted to more than triple the $30 marriage license fee to
$100, which would be waived if couples took a prenuptial class, taught
by anyone from counselors to clergy. But Rep. Senfronia Thompson,
D-Houston, swayed the House, calling it a "marriage tax," and said it
made no sense to promote marriage by raising the license fee. The
House then voted to keep the fee at $30, thereby effectively gutting
the bill.
[end excerpt]
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You are invited to check out the following:
The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm
American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm
The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation of
Church and State in general, listed below]
HRSepCnS · Historical Reality SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
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.. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why "a
page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v. Eisner,
256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
.. . .
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USAF LT. COL (Ret) Buffman (Glen P. Goffin) wrote
"You pilot always into an unknown future;
facts are your only clue. Get the facts!"
That philosophy 'snipit' helped to get me, and my crew, through a good
many combat missions and far too many scary, inflight, emergencies.
It has also played a significant role in helping me to expose the
plethora of radical Christian propaganda and lies that we find at
almost every media turn.
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THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
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