Being Civil

Recently, one of my co-workers sent me a viral e-mail showing a group of Marines in prayer. The email was titled "What's Wrong With This Picture?" It states that the ACLU is trying to prohibit prayer in the Armed Forces. It’s a misleading message based on people’s passions and not reality...................! Every word on this message is fabricated, even the named ACLU lawyer and Marine General do not exist.

The ACLU does as much work to protect Americans right to practice the religion of their choice, as it does keeping religions from making laws that are based on religious beliefs. Would you like it you were a Christian and made to follow Jewish laws?

Why are "Americans" so opposed to being Americans?

Our Civil Liberties are what makes America unique and great and worth fighting for, it is what the Marines are fighting for. Without these rights, our country would be no better than China, Iran, North Korea, or the old Iraq. When a Soldier, Airmen or Marine starts their service, they take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. So, if they are fighting to protect out civil rights, why does everyone put-down the ACLU for protecting these same rights. It does not make sense to me. The ACLU has never taken action to keep people from praying, it has only had law suits where prayer was mandatory or a part of the daily routine everyone was expected to follow.

In a popular case in 2002, a public school told a young girl she couldn’t bring a bible to school, because religion was not allowed in public school. The ACLU sued and won against the school district to allow that girl to carry and read her bible. The ruling stated that the right to practice religion cannot be denied, it’s the same as forcing your beliefs on others. Public schools also cannot lead prayer, but they also cannot stop a student from praying. No one has taken prayer away from anyone, that is impossible. Just because I bow my head, it doesn’t mean I have to pray, it is a sign of respect for the beliefs of others, even if their faith is different from ours, another ideal that makes this country great.

Religious Liberty:
The right to practice religion, or no religion at all, is among the most fundamental of the freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. The ACLU works to ensure that religious liberty is protected by keeping the government out of religion.

The U.S. Constitution's framers understood that religious liberty can flourish only if the government leaves religion alone. Americans enjoy a degree of religious freedom unknown in most of the rest of the world, and they take full advantage it: the United States is home to more than 1,500 different religious bodies and 360,000 churches, synagogues and mosques.

The free exercise clause of the First Amendment guarantees the right to practice one's religion free of government interference. The establishment clause requires the separation of church and state. Combined, they ensure religious liberty. Yet assaults on the freedom to believe continue, both in Washington and in state legislatures around the country.

Why does the ACLU object to federal employees bowing their heads? http://www.aclu.org/about/faqs/index.html#3_8
The ACLU has no knowledge about the photograph of Marines praying that has circulated on the Internet. The ACLU has also never had a spokesperson -- quoted by news organizations as "Lucius Traveler" -- by this name.

But, This is only my two cents. It’s just my opinion and doesn’t matter in the big picture, life goes on no matter who is wrong or right.

Of course if you're religious, you have no place being patriotic...
Badtux the Snarky Penguin: My country, 'tis of thee