Should Separation of Church and State be more Heavily Enforced? (US)

Rebuttal: "The word "God" is just a general term among Christianity, as well as other religions"" Generally, yes, but what about Atheism? Or Buddhism? Or any other belief that does not worship a God? It is still favoring one group over another, so you haven't proven anything about this. "Also, you say that you disagree with not allowing children to pray"If it was more heavily enforced, these rulings by the Supreme Court would become the law of the land." Whoa. Can we step back a minute? Just because I think the Separation of Church and State needs to be heavily enforced, that doesn't mean I"m a religion hating a**hole who wants to ban it from the public eye. I just think people can get away with creating laws that favor AND/OR disadvantage other religions. That's like saying that because a person wants a bigger government they're suddenly in favor of government control over everything in our lives. I want equality for all groups, religious or not. Link #6 Britney (the student) was given the assignment, and they were to present the topic to the teacher for approval. When she proposed Jesus the teacher rejected the idea. We have no idea whether the teacher knew about her beliefs, but considering that about 2.2 billion people are Christian it was likely a topic close to her (not only is she was Christian, but also if Christianity had affected her life drastically.) I don't think that a person is likely to write an emotional paper on wiccans or something of that nature. Link #7 I never questioned that your arguments came from here, I questioned whether the event had actually happened. All the sites posting this story had either a religious or conservative bias so I had doubts. Questions: "Make a straw-man of me why don't you?" Let's go back a little bit, shall we? "Do you think Christians are persecuted?" "2) Yes, to some degree." I did ask that, and you said yes. Not a strawman if you believe it. Also "somewhat" still means you believe it happens, just not to as large a degree as others believe. Canada, England, and plenty of others don"t have Christian persecution, not just the US. "There are many Christians that believe that there are "actual Christians"" and those who are not." No true Scotsman? (google "true Scotsman fallacy") Also those laws you listed aren't "Christian beliefs" because we've had laws like that thousands of years before Christianity was even created. Using empathy and logic I come to the same conclusion that it is wrong to kill and steal without a God telling me to do so. "So it's our right to kill a developing baby, gotcha." Did you pay attention in health class? It is a fetus, not a baby. I think it"s a d**k move to force something like that to parents. Also orphanages suck, and overpopulation is a problem, and rape/incest cases, and letting teen girls finish school, and letting people wait until they think they are even capable of raising a child, and so much more. I could go into this more but it would be better off as a separate debate. "As far as using religious arguments, have you taken a look at my debates?" I didn't accuse you of that. Plenty of other religious people have done it, however. Atheism is not a religion. It is simply a person saying "I don't believe in any god or gods." There is nothing to worship. A religion requires a belief system and worship, but Atheism isn't tied by that. If we were officially a religion we would have tax exemption, but we don"t. Conclusion: The Separation of Church and State ensures that no religion will try to force its way into our secular government system, and ensures that all religions will have an equal standing in our country. We cannot let certain beliefs, or lack thereof, be disadvantaged and legally persecuted simply because of a few intolerant people. It has happened in the past, and it will happen once more if this separation is not enforced properly. Religions in past have only started bloody war and bigotry over beliefs for power and influence in the world, but that shouldn't be the case in a democratic nation. By keeping the government in check and making sure people are as equal as possible, it will help reduce bigotry towards other groups. People will be able to express their beliefs freely and can feel more comfortable with people of a different belief. This has proven to happen with race (although not completely) and sexuality, which is in the middle of becoming tolerated by the opposition. As long as we continue to place everyone at an equal standing, there could be a day when bigotry isn't such a large problem anymore and we can all live equally. However, if we do not enforce the separation, I can guarantee the opposite. Laws based solely in religion could easily be passed this way, and if it is from a major religion it will be too difficult to stop. Another thing is, many politicians have this type of agenda in mind and they have tried to get these types of laws passed. The fact that it has been ALLOWED before just shows that we are on thin ice. Who would want one religion, especially if you don't belong to it, to rule over them? Why should we allow laws to be passed if they don't respect people's liberties? We have no idea how far people will be willing to go to spread their beliefs and enforce them, but then again some of us do. Those people should understand the grave consequences of not keeping government secular. I lost my train of thought so I'll just say this: wanting your religion over all others is not only selfish, but unfair to everyone. boo~