"It's The Law"

[joreth]

Most of my family hasn't figured out that I'm atheist. Never mind that I freely give out my various websites and profile URLs. Never mind that I link directly to my LJ from my website and that I even mention it in my holiday letter every year. My family is not overtly religious, so it's not noticeable that I refrain from mentioning God and that I don't go to church. Mostly, the subject is ignored in my family ... except in emails.

My family is notorious for sending out Glurge, particularly religious Glurge. Even my bio-family, who I just met a little less than 2 years ago - everyone wants to send me these sickeningly-sweet pro-Christian values to my inbox. Usually I delete it as soon as I see the multi-colored text and the several heading tags that preceed the message. This one, however, I actually read:

THE LAW IS THE LAW!
This is one of the better e-mails I have received in a long time! I hope this makes its way around the US A= several times over!!!!!
So Be It!

THE LAW IS THE LAW
So if the US government determines that it is against the law for the words 'under God' to be on our money, then, so be it.

And if that same government decides that the 'Ten Commandments' are not to be used in or on a government installation, then, so be it.

I say, 'so be it,' because I would like to be a law abiding US citizen.

I say, 'so be it,' because I would like to think that smarter people than I are in positions to make good decisions.

I would like to think that those people have the American public's best interests at heart.

Since we can't pray to God, can't Trust in God and cannot post His Commandments in Government buildings , I don't believe the Govern ment and its employees should participate in the Easter and Christmas celebrations which honor the God that our government is eliminating from many facets of American life.

I'd like my mail delivered on Christmas, Good Friday, Thanksgiving & Easter. After all, it's just another day.

I'd like the ' US Supreme Court to be in session on Christmas, Good Friday, Thanksgiving & Easter as well as Sundays.' After all, it's just another day.

I'd like the Senate and the House of Representatives to not have to worry about getting home for the 'Christmas Break.' After all it's just another day.

I'm thinking that a lot of my taxpayer dollars could be saved, if all government offices & services would work on Christmas, Good Friday & Easter. It shouldn't cost any overtime since those would be just like any other day of the week to a government that is trying to be 'politically correct'

In fact....

I think that our government should work on Sundays (initially set aside for worshipping God...) because, after all, our government says that it should be just another day....

What do you all think????

If this idea gets to enough people, maybe our elected officials will stop giving in to the 'minority opinions' and begin, once again, to represent the 'majority' of ALL of the American people.

SO BE IT..........

Please Dear Lord,
Give us the help needed to keep you in our country!

'Amen' and 'Amen'

These are definitely things I never thought about but from now on, I will be sure to question those in government who support these changes.

At the top, it says 'I hope this makes its way around the USA several times over!!!!!'

The point  of this particularly obnoxious email is to try to send a message to the government that the People are not in favor of removing the Judeo-Christian God from the American government.  Let's ignore, for the moment, the fact that forwarded emails don't do SHIT.  If you want to sign a petition and forward it to your senator, you're more than welcome to do that.  But forwarding an email to 50 of your closest friends and family doesn't actually make it to anyone who can do anything about it, nor does it tell anyone important how many people viewed and agreed with the message.  Let's just forget about this for a moment.

The point they are trying to make here is that the government is taking personal privilege from Christianity, and to remove it from the government means they would have to remove it all, including those parts the government officials would feel personally.  That, if they realized how hypocritical they were being, that they would personally lose something by removing religion from the government, than they would opt not to remove god from the government.

To this I say "yay!".  I hope they do lose all these other privileges.  I find it obnoxious that I, who does not share this particular religious belief, am forced to acknowledge their belief system in a way that they do not have to acknowledge mine.  In many areas, I am still prohibited from holding a government office, even in testifying in court, simply because I do not believe in their God.  It's not just as petty as me wanting to get my mail on Christmas Day (although I would like that).  It's an overall culture steeped in bigotry and hatred and self-centeredness that believes that their belief system is the only belief system that matters.  And I think it sucks.  Christianity may have one of the highest populations, if we're talking raw numbers, but if we're talking how many cultures around the globe have this adopted this system, well, it's like monogamy ... more cultures believe in something else other than this view. 

So, I'm all FOR the government abolishing mandated holidays based on religious preference.  I'm not opposed to a nation celebrating national holidays.  National celebrations are good for morale.  They can make people feel good and promote unity, solidarity, even just plain old friendly neighborism (yes, I just made that up).  I am opposed to those holidays being religious-based and to those holidays being mandatory even when an individual does not want to celebrate it.  I'm all for government offices being opened on Sunday.  Not all of us have the ability to get our business done during traditional working hours (in fact, many of our "traditional" citizens are not available to do this during business hours because they are working during those hours!).  Don't get me wrong, I love the overtime when I work on a holiday, but I'd happily give it up if it meant trading the overtime for a more accepting society.  I'm more interested in fairness than in personal gain, although I won't hesitate to take advantage of personal gain when it works in my favor.

Unfortunately, this concept would fall on deaf ears if I chose to share it with my family.  So I take petty amusement in the idea that the message of this email has backfired.  I whole heartedly agree letter of the message.  Unfortunately, spirit of the message was sarcasm.  I think it sounds much better without the sarcasm.