Whether public religous displays should be allowed.

REBUTTALS: You stated "Religion I believe should be kept to our selves." I assume this is because religion can be offensive to people. Well, By implying religion can offend people, you are also saying that this is a reason to ban public religious displays and things like that. However, the constitutional law says that we have an opportunity for religious freedoms. The Constitution is higher than your opinion that that religion should be kept to ourselves. So I believe that just because somebody is offended by religion OR disagrees with it should not be a reason to ban public displays of religion. Thank you for excepting this debate. And this jumps us right into my first point... CONSTITUTIONAL RELIGOUS FREEDOMS! The constitution gives us the right to religion. That means we can publicly express this religion. By taking away our freedom to religion you would be in a full violation of the constitution of the United States of America. " The 1998 International Religious Freedom Act made religious liberty an official part of U.S. foreign policy. The United States committed to promote freedom of religion as "a fundamental human right and as a source of stability for all countries" and to "identify and denounce regimes" that engage in persecution on the basis of religion. Condemning and curtailing religious persecution is a critical goal, but religious freedom includes much more. Our vision of religious liberty must be robust. Attempts to relegate religion to private life or to prevent religious institutions from conducting their business according to their beliefs threaten this fundamental freedom. Religious individuals and institutions should be free to exercise their religious belief within their private spheres as well as to ENGAGE PUBLICLY on the basis of religion...Individuals should be able to leave or change their religion without fear of reprisal, and all should have the right to protection under the rule of law regardless of belief. "The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool." " Martin Luther King, Jr. 1963 The most secure and consistent protection for religious liberty needs to be rooted in constitutional government. U.S. public diplomacy can support the development of such robust religious freedom by telling America"s success story. In the 21st-century war of ideas, U.S. public diplomacy must rely on the bedrock of American founding principles in the fight against potent ideologies that present strong, coherent, and deeply misguided explanations of the nature and purpose of human existence. Evaluating religious dynamics around the world should become a regular function of analysis, and articulating the role of religion in the U.S. should be a consistent feature of communications strategy." --Heritage.org I believe having the freedom to exercise your religious practices as you see fit is very important and is guaranteed by our constitution. The constitution and its creators believed strongly in religious freedom. So exactly why cant somebody who owns a public gas station who is Catholic put up a manger and St. Mary? And why cant the Muslim who owns a public area put up his religious symbols during Ramadan or any other Muslim holidays? Or the Jew who owns a public area put up a menorah during Hanukah? Those are my questions for you. Thank you for this debate.