John McCain is 100% pro-2nd Amendment!!!

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Why, oh why,

are a lot of folks in here who are adamant about the Second "meaning exactly what it says" so apologetic about the First, especially the inconvenient little passage about "shall make no law...respecting an establishment of religion"?

You are doing just what the antis do in regards to the Second...they try to give it a new spin by proving "intent of the founders", and "modern day interpretation", and other such nonsense. Our founding fathers knew that the right to personal or communal self-defense is a basic human right, and that government has no business making that decision for people.

Religion is a personal matter, and the only way that the rights are secure for everybody regardless of their religious creed is when government stays *absolutely neutral* on questions of religion. As soon as one religion is favored, the inevitable result is religious strife--we have thousands of faith groups in the US, whose prayer will we have in school?

Besides, do you really want to leave religious instruction of your kids up to a school system that can't even teach them English and Algebra properly?

For those who insist that we are a Christian nation: even if we were, and we turned into a theocracy, who gets to decide our policies on abortion, gun control, and all the other hot button items? Different faith groups within Christianity have different views on the issue, how will they ever come to an agreement about anything if they can't even agree on bible interpretation?

Lastly, I find it patently offensive to suggest that only religious people (or better yet, only Christians) can have morals of any kind. *Anybody* who makes such a claim does not live in reality and has no business in worldly politics. If you disagree, please point out to me why there are many atheists and non-Christians that are decent and honest people despite their unbelief...and then let us know how you would like to include them in your new theocracy if you don't even accede them the same humanity you claim for yourself. it is only a small step from declaring them less human to treating them the same way.

I am not happy about the fact that I can only vote pro-gun if I also vote against my convictions in the field of religion. If you feel that the Second Amendment means what it says, you have to let the First stand in the same light. Otherwise your position becomes hypocritical. Conspiracy theories about the evil leftist godless crowd trying to de-Christianize the nation won't help much in a factual discussion, and they sound like the arguments that the Antis use against gun ownership.

Religion flourishes in this country. We have many prayer groups in public schools, many tax-exempt churches and many parochial schools. The only thing that the First Amendment means is that religious activity cannot be *state-sponsored*, because that would be favoritism and a sure recipe for religious strife. That's all that it ever meant. Nobody has made prayer in school illegal, it just can't be organized or led by a government-paid teacher. You can pray all you want on your own time, and you may choose to send your children to parochial schools, and the freedom to do this is still there because of the First Amendment.

Don't try to make people that are not of your faith less human....don't pretend that everything would be great if national policies would be so much better if they could only be dictated by *your* faith group. Look to Ireland for proof to the contrary...they are all Christians, albeit of different denominations, and the killing there has been going on for ninety years. If religiousness makes peaceful and righteous, somebody forgot to tell them....and they live in a *Christian nation*.
 
This thread is starting to take a while to load... so lets break it now for a part two.

This has gotten a little heated by a few folks... So every body cool of before round two.
 
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