Sunday, July 23, 2006
Hooray for Freedom Of Religion!
Hooray for the Constitutional concept of "Freedom of" and "Freedom from" state-sponsored religion! Americans, both devout and secular, often fail to appreciate what a tremendous gift they have been given in being legally entitled to this freedom. While the notion of "separation of church & State" comes specifically from the Danbury letter, and not from the text of the Constitution itself, it is still a fundemental part of the framework upon which this great nation was built. Hooray!
So few people stop to realize that their religious views are based almost entirely upon chance; the chance of where, geographically, they happened to be born, along with the chance of what "faith" their parents happened to be!
Had you been born in Africa or in Jamaica (or maybe even Brixton!), you might be celebrating your Messiah's birthday today! Ras Tafari! His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassi!
BORN ON THIS DATE: Tafari Makonnen, 1892, the son of a noted general and the grandnephew of Emperor Menelik II. Hailed as the Messiah by a large group of people who particularly enjoyed their freedom of religion by enhancing it with one of God's "more interesting" green-leafed plants. In the 1960s and 70s he worked for pan-African aims, particularly through the Organization of African Unity
DIED ON THIS DATE: Montgomery Clift, actor, druggie, and subject of the Clash song "The Right Profile", who was once described by Marilyn Monroe as "the only person I know who is in worse shape than I am."
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Hooray for the Constitutional concept of "Freedom of" and "Freedom from" state-sponsored religion! Americans, both devout and secular, often fail to appreciate what a tremendous gift they have been given in being legally entitled to this freedom. While the notion of "separation of church & State" comes specifically from the Danbury letter, and not from the text of the Constitution itself, it is still a fundemental part of the framework upon which this great nation was built. Hooray!
So few people stop to realize that their religious views are based almost entirely upon chance; the chance of where, geographically, they happened to be born, along with the chance of what "faith" their parents happened to be!
Had you been born in Africa or in Jamaica (or maybe even Brixton!), you might be celebrating your Messiah's birthday today! Ras Tafari! His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassi!
BORN ON THIS DATE: Tafari Makonnen, 1892, the son of a noted general and the grandnephew of Emperor Menelik II. Hailed as the Messiah by a large group of people who particularly enjoyed their freedom of religion by enhancing it with one of God's "more interesting" green-leafed plants. In the 1960s and 70s he worked for pan-African aims, particularly through the Organization of African Unity
DIED ON THIS DATE: Montgomery Clift, actor, druggie, and subject of the Clash song "The Right Profile", who was once described by Marilyn Monroe as "the only person I know who is in worse shape than I am."
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# posted by netflixrox @ 8:11 AM 
