Official: You know what really grinds my gears?

Interesting philosophical question.

I didn't think separation of church and state was an actual clause, more of a quote basically taken from an opinion piece from a founding father at the time?

Also, if the government cannot acknowledge the existence of God, why does it say "In God we trust" on all of our currency?

 

Wouldn't they come from the constitution? And, the Bill of Rights?

 

From thinking about it. Which is why things change. Thoughts evolve. Thoughts build off previous thoughts. If we aren't changing we are stagnant and what's the point of that?

Just to enjoy the scenery? That's basically masturbation. Which is fine. But in the end meaningless.

 

They didn't want a bill of rights because they were afraid of what they were excluding and were afraid it would be used against people or that there were plenty of things that should be on it bit they hadn't thought of. It was meant as a good starting point to expound upon.

 

I think I had one class in high school that was called government and civics. It was only a half semester (half year) in either junior or senior year. They tried to pack a lot into it but obviously there should be a lot more time devoted to teaching the history of our government, how it works, and how the people are responsible for holding it accountable. Would be nice if they also took some "hot topic" current issues, brainstormed some solutions, and then looked at how (if those solutions were put into law by legislators) those solutions would affect the different demographics of the entire country.

Would give them an interesting perspective and make them think about how their vote affects the entire population.

 

I agree. But, what I'm saying is that rights aren't necessarily granted by our religious beliefs. But, granted by the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and maybe added to as necessary.

 

I suppose, if one is religious, then that is what they would believe. But, we are also granted freedom of religion. So, even atheists should have rights, don't you think?

 

If you believe that God is your creator, then yes.

 

This seems like a better interpretation to me.

 

So, you believe that people are born with rights, whether or not God granted them?

 

I suppose my first reply to this conversation wasn't really accurate. Of course, our constitution allows us certain "rights." But, I think a lot of human rights should be based on basic morality.

Also, damn you for quoting me before I corrected all of my errors!

 

After looking back at the original question, I regret answering in the first place, lol. I read right past the conundrum and threw my stupid opinion in there as usual.

 

At least when I say something stupid around here I usually end up learning something.

 

I got into a long, deep conversation about morality and religion once. It essentially turned into a "which came first - the chicken or the egg?" discussion. It was interesting.

I feel like we're skirting forum rules but love to see some civil conversation about tough topics. Proves it is possible

 

When and where did you go to school? Public school?

I graduated high school about 20 years ago and only remember having a single civics course. Maybe we had more in elementary and middle school that I'm not remembering?

 

Haha!

I believe they try to let conversations go as long as they're civil.

 

It's difficult sometimes, to judge from a purely text form on the internet, what is some good natured ribbing, serious off the rails shit, or trolling. Makes it easier when people reply and converse enough that you can get a sense of what they're saying.

It's very easy to take a statement in text and put a negative spin on it if you put your own inflection on it. That's when people take things personally and start name calling it seems

 

You calling me weak?

 

To bring this thread back around, I think it was the auto headlights or too much technology thread where I said I liked auto headlights in this area due to all of the lighted roads and people not realizing they don't have them on...

Driving home the other night saw someone roll up to the red light across from me with no headlights. I flashed my lights but they didn't pay attention. They then proceeded to turn right on red (they at least used a signal there), pulling out in front of someone coming down the road, and then stopped to make a u-turn without a signal, almost getting hit in the back because they had no tail lights. As they came up to the light on my left to make a other right turn (they essentially turned right on red and made a u-turn so they could turn right on red again to run the red light) I turned my lights off and on twice to let them know they didn't have their headlights on.

It made no difference - on they drove into the darkness of my rearview and side mirrors, with no lights on in the pitch black except for the road lighting

 

I graduated high school in 1979, and yes, there was years of civics. On top of that, the one year I spent in high school in California, there was a mandatory two semester class on California history. Too bad it is not taught anymore.

 

Careful with that... In some parts of California, if you flash your lights to remind someone that their headlights are off, they will pull guns and shoot at you.

 

I went to school in the south - not sure if that has some affect on curriculum choice. Not sure if I got a light dose because of region or if it's just not a focus anymore

 

What years did you attend?

The majority of my elementary and high school years were in Ohio.

 

Impossible, California is the safest state regarding guns because of all of the fabulous laws

 

I've been guilty of this myself. Well, aside from the asshole move to skip the light. Ever since the dashboard lights started being on all the time, I've forgotten to turn them on way more than ever before. Plus, my work truck has automatic headlights so I've really gotten out of the habit of turning them on.

I actually had a guy pull up next to me a few weeks ago and flick his lights off and on. My initial thought was "what the fuck is his problem!?" And then I realized what he was doing and turned on my headlights.

 

Haha, at least they learned something!

 

I graduated in the early '00s. I'm still a youngin to some people. I call myself a grumpy old man in a slightly younger man's body

 

Times were different then. And I'm grumpy most of the time!!

 

My '04 JGC had auto headlights so I got spoiled. I just run my headlights on 24/7 on the 4runner and hit the lock button twice to turn them off after parking. That's become habit and easier to remember. Only issue is that the clock doesn't respond to the brightness roller but I fixed that by mounting a dash mount so now I can't see it!