Are we a Christian nation

[Beekissed]

Used to...not so much anymore, as I think Aly pointed out.

 

[dragonlaurel]

Quail- Please don't judge Wicca by that woman. Many witches have had too much harassment from the more narrow minded Christians but she had a chip on her shoulder.
I am pagan and learned Wicca thouroughly through my years. There is alot of emphasis on personal freedom for all people as long as they are not hurting anyone. You both had the right to be yourselves, and trying to control you was not being a friend. She was rude. I'm glad you had the self respect to drop that relationship.

By the way- worry stones are not religious symbols. There are just something to hold when stressed. Seems like she needs to learn to relax, but maybe the worry stone was a step in that direction. The pentagram is an important symbol and I wear one 24/7 but don't object to other people wearing their religious items.

I pray silently if I am in public normally but most religions have some way to give thanks/bless food. I don't see what they were worried about. I don't like having religious stuff obviously on display in government buildings or public schools because those places are supposed to be impartial. A persons private property that stays with them is different.

I have had to deal with religious discrimination before. A coworker tried to get me fired when she found out my religion. One manager was trying to cooperate with her about it. I wish I had known sooner what was going on- I would have my farm already. That manager went way too far.
My husband has had more incidents- some of them potentially dangerous.
I'll bring the chips and throw in some spinach dip.

 

[FarmerChick]

That shows how tolerant the USA is in general. You'll never see Hijabs or crosses banned. Of course in Europe there is such an influx of Muslims that the established people are feeling that their very roots are being threatened. That's what I hear on NPR. That's my only source for that. So of cource it could be hogwash.

As a parent I would certainly have something to say if I was Christian and my child was not allowed to say a short prayer and make the sign of the cross. There's a big difference between a teacher saying a prayer to start a class and a kid blessing their meal.

I have listened and read about that in Europe also. Their immigrant problem is cutting their very own throats. The population also talks massive "close the border" and "kick them out" issues also.

 

[Blackbird]

Thanks Laura, we needed those chips

 

[Wifezilla]

I understand where you are coming from, but it is not the school's job to teach all things equally.

Agreed....unless you want your kids learning about Norse creation stories and putting them on the same footing as creationism and evolution...

" In the beginning of time, there was nothing: neither sand, nor sea, nor cool waves. Neither the heaven nor earth existed. Instead, long before the earth was made, Niflheim was made, and in it a spring gave rise to twelve rivers. To the south was Muspell, a region of heat and brightness guarded by Surt, a giant who carried a flaming sword. To the north was frigid Ginnungagap, where the rivers froze and all was ice. Where the sparks and warm winds of Muspell reached the south side of frigid Ginnungagap, the ice thawed and dripped, and from the drips thickened and formed the shape of a man. His name was Ymir, the first of and ancestor of the frost-giants.

As the ice dripped more, it formed a cow, and from her teats flowed four rivers of milk that fed Ymir. The cow fed on the salt of the rime ice, and as she licked a man's head began to emerge. By the end of the third day of her licking, the whole man had emerged, and his name was Buri. He had a son named Bor, who married Bestla, a daughter of one of the giants. Bor and Bestla had three sons, one of whom was Odin, the most powerful of the gods.

Ymir was a frost-giant, but not a god, and eventually he turned to evil. After a struggle between the giant and the young gods, Bor's three sons killed Ymir. So much blood flowed from his wounds that all the frost-giants were drowned but one, who survived only by builiding an ark for himself and his familly. Bor's sons dragged Ymir's immense body to the center of Ginnungagap, and from him they made the earth. Ymir's blood became the sea, his bones became the rocks and crags, and his hair became the trees. Bor's sons took Ymir's skull and with it made the sky. In it they fixed sparks and molten slag from Muspell to make the stars, and other sparks they set to move in paths just below the sky. They threw Ymir's brains into the sky and made the clouds. The earth is a disk, and they set up Ymir's eyelashes to keep the giants at the edges of that disk.

On the sea shore, Bor's sons found two logs and made people out of them. One son gave them breath and life, the second son gave them consciousness and movement, and the third gave them faces, speech, hearing, and sight. From this man and woman came all humans thereafter, just as all the gods were descended from the sons of Bor.

Odin and his brothers had set up the sky and stars, but otherwise they left the heavens unlit. Long afterwards, one of the descendants of those first two people that the brothers created had two children. Those two children were so beautiful that their father named the son Moon and the daughter Sol. The gods were jealous already and, when they heard of the father's arrogance, they pulled the brother and sister up to the sky and set them to work. Sol drives the chariot that carries the sun across the skies, and she drives so fast across the skies of the northland because she is chased by a giant wolf each day. Moon likewise takes a course across the sky each night, but not so swiftly because he is not so harried.

The gods did leave one pathway from earth to heaven. That is the bridge that appears in the sky as a rainbow, and its perfect arc and brilliant colors are a sign of its origin with the gods. It nonetheless will not last for ever, because it will break when the men of Muspell try to cross it into heaven."

Or maybe Cherokee creationism....
"The earth began as nothing but water and darkness, and all the animals were in Galnlati, above the stone vault that makes up the sky. Eventually Galnlati became so crowded that the animals needed more room, and they wanted to move down to earth. Not knowing what was below the water, they sent down the Water-beetle to explore. Water-beetle dove below the water and eventually came back with some mud from below. That mud grew and grew, and finally it became the island that we call earth. This island of earth is suspended at its four corners from ropes that hang down from the sky, and legend has it that some day the ropes will break and the earth will sink back into the water."

Here is another Native American creation story....
" Earthmaker made the world with trees and fields, with rivers, lakes, and springs, and with hills and valleys. It was beautiful. However, there weren't any humans, and so one day he decided to make some.

He scooped out a hole in a stream bank and lined the hole with stones to make a hearth, and he built a fire there. Then he took some clay and made a small figure that he put in the hearth. While it baked, he took some twigs and made tongs. When he pulled the figure out of the fire and had let it cool, he moved its limbs and breathed life into it, and it walked away. Earthmaker nonetheless realized that it was only half-baked. That figure became the white people.

Earthmaker decided to try again, and so he made another figure and put it on the hearth. This time he took a nap under a tree while the figure baked, and he slept longer than he intended. When he pulled the second figure out of the fire and had let it cool, he moved its limbs and breathed life into it, and it walked away. Earthmaker realized that this figure was overbaked, and it became the black people.

Earthmaker decided to try one more time. He cleaned the ashes out of the hearth and built a new fire. Then he scooped up some clay and cleaned it of any twigs or leaves, so that it was pure. He made a little figure and put it on the hearth, and this time he sat by the hearth and watched carefully as the figure baked. When this figure was done, he pulled it out of the fire and let it cool. Then he moved its limbs and breathed life into it, and it walked away. This figure was baked just right, and it became the red people."
http://www.gly.uga.edu/railsback/CS/CSPotawatomi.html

 

[Big Daddy]

Do you think over baked is politically correct? Is that where the term "Don't run off half baked came from"? Other than that I think I can make it work. It would be great as a school play.

 

[Big Daddy]

Those were great stories. I really like the half baked and over baked though. The question is do you think these different tribes believed these stories?

 

[DianeB]

I think they did. Most creation stories are very symbolic and deeply tied with a societies view of themselves. It may seem ridiculous to us but would make perfect sense to them.

 

[me&thegals]

I love reading some of the African and Native American creation stories. Every culture and religion has its own creation stories. I believe mine, no matter how foolish it may seem to someone else. But, that doesn't mean I believe it belongs in the public sphere. It's not a matter of being ashamed of my beliefs, but it's a belief system, a religion, not part of public education like reading, writing and arithmetic.

 

[DianeB]

Please don't take my post the wrong way. I was to say that those on the outside wrongly accuse others of being foolish when they have their own beliefs that others don't understand.

Sorry, quite a bit of people have a hardtime getting my meaning. I am working on improving.