Do you agree that the Government of the US funds religious practices?
105223
The abstinance until marriage stance taught to children is religious...the banning of gay marriages/rights is religous.  So yes, the government does fund religious practices.
384475
No. Religion is seperate from State, and it's not the State's business which religion I belong to.
725302
Under the First Amendment, the government cannot expend funds to promote any particular religion.  If Christkindlmarket Chicago depends on state funding to conduct the festival, then it was probably the only option.
1055309
No. And No. Americans are heavily taxed as it is. The Bible reads render to Ceasar { meaning the government }  that is due Ceaser and to God the things that are His. This does not mean to pay half of what you make to taxes as it seems that it is going toward that way.
194118
NO!! They have taken God out of schools ( I wish they hadn't). Government needs to leave the statement "In God We Trust" alone. We all need one thing that we can trust in. God is the best thing for that. If we don't have God then we might as well not be here.
654669
Absolutely not. \n\nLet me put it this way. Who's religious belief is right? \n\nIf you can answer that question, then we can have prayer in schools. If not, then you can begin to figure out why there is no prayer in school. \n\nSee, if the state begins to determine what prayers can be prayed in public school, then the state makes an endorsement of a particular religion. From there, the state gets more involved in the politics of religion. \n\nNow, the last thing you want is the government telling you how you should or shouldn't pray, right? \n\nLet me go a step further. Let's say we go with the fact that 90% of Americans believe in God. So, you say "Hey, we can just pray to a generic god. Then nobody's discriminated against." (Except the 10%, of course.)\n\nExcept, praying to a generic god is a sin. You pray to the one true god, otherwise, you're really ticking god off. Besides, Christians are pretty fond of Jesus and would get really ticked at keeping him out of prayers, don't you think?\n\nSo, we have to make a choice. Who's religion is the right one? Well, Christians outnumber everybody else by a wide margin in the US, guess we'll make Christiantiy the de facto religion of the US. (85% of believers are Christians of some form or another in the US. So we take 85% of the 90%)\n\nExcept, which version of Christianity is the right one? Do we have Catholic mass? Do we have have Baptismal hymnals? What about those who refuse to engage in the prayer? Will there be repercussions? (You bet there will be by those who do pray versus those who don't.)\n\nOK. You might say I'm complicating the problem, but I'm not. Essentially, we have a separation of church and state to avoid internal conflict in the country over who's religious belief is the correct one. We also, don't want a government telling us who to worship and how to worship. (Living in a religion dominated society is called, theocracy. See the Middle East for what our lives would be like if we had a church dominated government.)\n\nKeeping prayer out of schools and government allows us to live in a country where we have religious freedom. The freedom to worship as we choose of our own free will.\n\nIn other words nobody is penalized for not being of the "correct" faith. Everybody has the freedom to worship without government oversight and being bullied by social pressures. Nobody is at risk of the majority telling them how to live. \n\nAmerica is about freedom. Freedom from government endorsed religion is a good thing.\n\nHope that makes sense.
561683
No, America's foundation is not Christianity. It became influenced by Christianity, I don't know why since our forefathers were deists ...\n\nThe Treaty of Tripoli, approved by John Adams, states that "The Government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion".
441996
noooo it doesnt say so ..who told you this lie ..\n \nactually the koran say that everyone has his own well to choose wat religion he wants .. & the koran also say that force is not accepted to teach this religion .Killing is not accepted in islam & even wars .. \n\ni've noticed from this site that many poeple think that mohammad came with war .. but this is not true ..most of you dont know that mohammad left his tribe & went to another bcz his poeple hurt him ..& he didnt make war until they started to attack him .. there is a statement in koran that asks us not to run away from our attackers .. & if we are under attack we should prepare well so we dont loose ..\n\nhowever there is nothing & i really mean nothing in the koran or any statement said by mohammad about killing the non believers .& since i told you you cant kill unless you are defending urself some of the poeple who do jihad claim that they are doing so to protect islam (defending islam ) & i have to add that most of the islams in the islamic region are against them .\nTaxes : moslims have to pay for the government money (in islamic period) called zakat ...since non believers are not obliged to pay zakat so they pay taxes .. nowadays some of the arabic countries are not ruled by islamic governments but by politicians ..so taxes is now to all poeple & not only to non believers \n\nif you want other information feel free to contact me\n(PS:am not a lawyer ..& i dont like to defend islam but if you have missconception about islam i would help u , however , if you're aim is just to to argue ... i dont care if you agree or not )
105860
Yep, I agree with everybody else here...a lot of Americans seem to have this crazy idea that Christianity is the official religion of American and we ought to design our lives and laws around it, and anything that the Bible says isn't allowed is just sick and wrong.  Funny, 'cause I seem to remember something way back in history class about this country being founded on the idea of religious freedom.
321873
Well, if there is one thing our government does right it is go with the mass mentality. Since the major religion is Christianity then they go with it. Putting everyone under the same heading. You can bet that if there were a more popular bandwagon (not that religion is a bandwagon, don't get me wrong) they would be on that too, in a second.\nUnfortunately for the people that aren't Christian, they are put under our law. Apparently their beliefs don't "count".\nI'm sure no government can please everyone all the time but it is not fair to not take into account the many other religious beliefs. \nIn a way it's like a weird form of conversion. "If you don't believe what we believe we will just make it illegal for you to practice what you believe." "I'm sorry, pursuit of happiness? You must be thinking of some other country."
93890
I don't really understand this question, but, I think if a country wants to be run by religion -- Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Scientology, Paganism, etc -- it should be. If the citizens don't like it, they should switch countries.
602193
Yes. It's a free place, isn't it? People start wars over religion. It's better to be friendly.
584459
No.\n\nThe reason we have Freedom of Worship in this country is because the government is prohibited from endorsing any single religion.  That's called the separation of church and state.  As such, the government cannot pay for a faith-based school.\n\nAlso, people who attend private school CHOOSE to attend.  No one is force to pay private tuition fees.  So if a person chooses to go to private school, why should the taxpayers foot the bill?
895761
Yes, but it will be more up to individuals to enforce Constitutional standards rather than relying on government intervention.\n\nIn the past, "separation of church and state" was used to defend religious practice of a Christian group from imposition by government. Today it is used to defend secular beliefs from perceived threats to impose Christian dominance.\n\nThe real issue is not "separation of church and state" but "consent of the governed."  Regardless of religious or secular views, no groups or individuals want their "consent" to be violated by an outside group or authority.  So that is the real issue, not freedom of religion but free will in general.\n\nIf we interpret religious freedom to mean free will and right of consent, people should have the right to govern and to be governed as they believe, without infringement on personal security by threat of censorship or oppression, as long as everyone respects the same of others so there is peace and justice.\n\nSo by this interpretation, of religious free exercise as free will, this has always been the struggle of humanity, and will continue to surface again and again until this issue is finally addressed and resolved.  Freedom is no more or less important as it was in the past, but will rise to a higher level of understanding as a universal right that all people require by nature, regardless if they call it religious or political or intellectual freedom.\n\nIt is the same argument, reincarnated over and over, until we establish mutual respect across all institutions and nations.\n\nBy its very nature, "consent of the govern" cannot be imposed by government force, but can only be established by free choice.  \n\nOtherwise laws contradict themselves, as in trying to separate "church and state" when all laws are, in fact, a form of moral code that reflects individual or collective values and beliefs.  Again, the issue behind "religious freedom" is whether or not individuals consent to the standards enforced.
121551
I am surprised that the U.S. was giving any aid to the Palistine Authority as we do not support terrorism and Yassir Afrifat was considered one of the foremost terrorist leaders in the world 40 years ago.  The Palistine Autority has agreed to return the Money.  You say shame on the U.S. for asking for this money back, yet Hamas wants Israel driven into the sea, which is against the policy of the U.S. foreign policy.  Hamas has said they do not want to change their belief's that Israel should not exist and the U.S. asked for the return of our money.  Fundimentalist Muslims want the destruction of the U.S. because we support Israels right to exist.  Does it make sense to you that we should support those who are against our policy?  Foreign Aid is for those countries that support our policies in principal.  The Palistine Authority understands this and has agreed to return the money.  Everybody says it is Allah's will that the U.S. must be destroyed, however in the meantime they all want to spend our money.  Do you see a conflict here?
49561
Yes, but I don't think it is due to a lack of religion or the devil walking in our midst. In fact it should not have anything to do with religion as there should be a seperation of church and state. Which is not to insinuate that there is anything wrong with religion except that our goverment attempts to limit the power of factions for domestic security. I could care less what people do in their private lives it doesn't carry over to the public arena. I don't agree with the motives to follow but the US could fall as our economy is a source of security. Since WWII we have been economically dominant yet, our economic superpower is waning as various economies around the world are becoming stronger and challenging America. America will become more desperate to try and keep its self secure on many fronts therefore becoming overextended.
986192
It's an example of the government endorsing theism. And in the beginning it wasn't there in the first place. Can't say I would ever miss it. I don't pay all that much attention to all the extra things they through onto money any ways.