Conversation with Somone Who Wants to Introduce "God" into Our Public Schools

2009-04-28T09:15:00.000-07:00

Perry Smith to Michelle: please don't invite me to any other causes about "keeping god in school". do you remember the separation of church and state? and how about people like me who are atheists? what about my religious freedom? let's make a deal. i won't come to your church and introduce atheism to your church and you don't come to my state run institutions (like schools) and force your religious beliefs on me. no disrespect, but i'm a proud american, i respect everyone's religious freedom, and i ask the same of my fellow americans. please respect mine.

Michelle Williams to Perry: Perry, I'm sorry you feel this way and since you wanted to voice your opinion for all to read, I thought I would do the same. . . . The "state run institutions" you are referring to where built by a government that was created by our founding fathers. These were the men who founded our country "One nation under GOD" and faught for your religious freedom. I am not forcing my religion on anyone. I was actually raised in a town where being a Catholic, I was the minority (as you know). My school never forced another religion on me nor do I feel by advocating GOD in schools am I forcing a "religion" on others. I feel that not teaching the song "God Bless America", the Pledge of Allegiance or removing "In God We Trust" from the Constitution is defacing history! Our country is raising "self-centered" children that have very little respect for authority or their peers. I think they may think twice before killing their classmates if they know God is watching. I will pray that you will understand this one day stop closing the door on God.

Perry Smith to Michelle: "under god" was added to the pledge of allegiance in the 1950's NOT by our founding fathers. "in god we trust" was added to our currency in 1864, again NOT by the founding fathers. "in god we trust" does not appear in our constitution anywhere and never will. in fact, the Establishment clause of or constitution strictly prohibits it. i welcome a thoughtful debate, but please understand the facts before you formulate your position. it's the only way to truly have a position that anyone will respect. and, by the way, freedom of religion means the freedom not to believe in god. "advocating god in schools" as you suggest is a violation of my religious freedom.

Michelle Williams to Perry: I stand corrected, the Constitution declares, in words just above George Washington's signature, that the proceedings were "done ... in the Year of our Lord," which is an obvious reference to Jesus Christ. Also, Sunday is set aside as a day of rest for the president in Article 1, Section 7. This particular day of rest singles out Christianity because the seventh day is the day that God rested after creating the Earth. The last thing I will say is that back in the day when God and prayer practiced in our schools, the world was a better place. We could debate this issue all night but between feeding kids and bath time, I have other priorities.

Perry Smith to Michelle:
1) "the year of our lord" is a colloquialism that has as much religious meaning good-bye (god be with you)
2) sunday actually refers to the ancient sun god, tuesday is tiu, the god of war, thursday = thor, the thunder god, etc.
3) prayer in school/world was a better place - please educate yourself on the most common of all fallacies: correlation does not prove causality.

i get out of bed every day and then the sun comes up. those two things are correlated. but i certainly don't think my alarm clock causes the sun to rise.

i honestly don't mean to be harsh. i'm really just trying to explain that people have different views and that is exactly what our forefathers were trying to guarantee with religious freedom. if you do your research, and speak from a position of knowledge, people will listen to you. if you assume a position based on your religion and then try to manipulate historical facts to support your point, you are doing a great disservice to your cause.

Michelle Williams: Perry, There are many differences of opinion here and I am not trying to convince those who don't support keeping God in schools to change their way of thinking. The bottom line is that 85% of Americans are Christians. It is up to the majority to fight in what we believe in.

Perry Smith: Michelle, I honestly respect you for standing up for what you believe in. I only ask that, in the your struggle for your cause, you don't forget about the pain you might be inflicting on the minority. In November 2008, the majority in California voted away one of my basic civil rights in the name of religion. This has caused me tremendous pain. Our constitution was intended to protect the minority from the tyrany of the majority. Please think about me and the pain I am experiencing as you fight for what you say 85% of the country wants.

Equality Saves Lives

Conversation with Somone Who Wants to Introduce "God" into Our Public Schools

Michelle Williams: Perry, There are many differences of opinion here and I am not trying to convince those who don't support keeping God in schools to change their way of thinking. The bottom line is that 85% of Americans are Christians. It is up to the majority to fight in what we believe in.