[MR] movement to change the anthem

[EoganOg at aol.com]

When I first saw this question pop up, my first thought was, 'Interesting, 
but what is this doing on the Merry Rose?'  I still wonder that, but I guess 
since we are talking about it, I can respond to a few thigns.

Istvan wrote:

> I think there would be a strong opposition to changing the National Anthem
> to that particular song, especially from those who do not share the same
> religious beliefs to support the notion of God blessing America (I know
> people, for instance, who, when saying the Pledge of Allegiance, skip the
> line 'under God' because it conflicts with their religious beliefs (or
> lack of)).
> 

And Baroness Morgan wrote:
>There is also the fact to consider that there are a great many americans,
>both native born and naturalized that are not christian. To force this
>significant portion to give praise to a god they do not worship is somewhat
>in violation of our own constitution. A non-religious based song would be
>more in line with our much vaunted religious freedom amendment. Just my 2
>cents worth... now I'll go back to lurking.

People, people, people.  America was not founded as a non-religious nation, 
nor was it intended to be a religion free zone.  It *was* intended as a place 
where people could practice their faith without persecution (remember why 
many immigrants came here in the first place?).  And if you want to choose to 
have no faith at all, that's your right.

But just as no one may force their religion on others, you also cannot force 
your lack of faith on others.  Making mention of "God" does not force or 
imply allegiance to any one faith.  All religious faiths believe in a God (at 
*least* one).  And, like it or not, our nation was founded as a religious 
nation.  Don't believe it?   Read the documents from some of our founding 
fathers.

Our nation was also founded as a democracy.  And I beleive, from last polls 
available, the vast majority, upwards of 90% of Americans, claim to have some 
flavour of religion.  I don't think we should let the agnostic minority 
dictate to the rest of us in the name of religious freedom.

And I will end this post by asking, again, why are we discussing this on the 
Merry Rose?  There has to be a USAnthem at yahoogroups.com or something similar.

Aye,
Eogan
Tighearn Eoghan Og mac Labhrainn, OPE, CP
Sacred Stone Pursuivant
Web Master et A&S Minister, Hawkwood
sennechie na hAlba agus Atlantia
-------------------------------------------------------------
WWW.ALBANACH.ORG
-------------------------------------------------------------
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://seahorse.atlantia.sca.org/pipermail/atlantia-atlantia.sca.org/attachments/20010918/eb17d628/attachment-0021.htm>