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We are voting on a new mayor in April for our small town. One of the candidates in particular I am not very found of. He just released his candidate profile and included the below paragraph:
"Another important goal I have concerns our Christian beliefs. I want all the Christian organizations in (city name) to declare and baptize the city of (city name) as a Christian community. Then I want to encourage the same distinction in neighboring towns. I am a strong believer in God, and it is thanks to Him, that I have been successful in business, community, and family life."
Is it legal for him to mix religion with politics? He can't really symbolically "baptize" our town as a Christian community, right? He has a lot of pull in this town to get elected next month so I am a little nervous about it.
This guy sounds like a nut. I don't know about the legality of "baptizing" a city as a christian community, whatever that means. I would think he (and the city) would be ripe for a lawsuit by any resident who objects to being forced to be part of a "christian community," or who objects to the city wasting its resources on this idiocy.
yes it is . There are communities all over the country that have a commonality in the religion of the inhabitance. The Amish ,and Orthodox Jewish communities come to mind. The 1st Amendment was to protect the us from the national goverment imposing and establishing a state church . It was intended to protect religion from government and not the other way around .
What is the composition of your town ? Would you say the majority of your town agrees with him ? Also his gesture seems pretty meaningless to me except for some feel good symbolism . Why does it make you nervous ?
\What is the composition of your town? Would you say the majority of your town agrees with him ? Also his gesture seems pretty meaningless to me except for some feel good symbolism . Why does it make you nervous ?
The town is mixed between catholics, lutherans, baptists and non-believers. I would say there are a lot more catholic/lutheran people than the others. I have spoken with some other citizens who are religious. I get a lot of mixed opinions on the matter. Some say its a great and wonderful idea and he is such a great man for even thinking of the idea...blah blah blah. Then the others feel that even though they are christians, church and state should not be mixed, period.
It makes me nervous because I am not a religious person. I have no problem living around people that believe in religion but to say that our entire community is a christian city is insane.
I think legally speaking he is ok to say what he did.
...but a city cannot be baptised - and even "symbolic Baptism" is a ridiculous idea. I think that all he gained by saying that is a loss with the vote.
There's another thread going on here right now about Obama's church leader. There are those who complain that he's a separatist - that his church teaches division instead of togetherness.......
These white old men are blind to the fact that their own churches teach division, just like your candidate is doing. They don't know that they're doing that...... I have no idea WHY they don't know that, but it's clear that they don't.
excon
PS> I'm gonna post this on both threads.
PPS> Don't vote for the guy.
PPPS> Christians, please explain to me how declaring this nation to be a Christian nation is NOT separatist!!!!!!!!
He can call your town whatever he wants, but he can't force people to call it that, or act in the way he wants.
For example he can't make a town law that everyone must go to church on Sundays, or that everyone must say a prayer of thanks before eating a meal. He also can't make a law prohibiting services for people who are not Christian.
But as Tom said, if the ACLU catches wind of it and threatens a lawsuit, the guy will probably back down.
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