Citizens of the United States...

[G5orbust]

God Bless America.


Yeah, I seriously just felt like saying it.

[bousozoku]

Gesundheit!

[homerjward]

wait, do you mean god bless us cause we're awesome or god bless us cause we need help? just want to know...:o

[Koodauw]

God Bless America.


Yeah, I seriously just felt like saying it.

Ill second that. Sure its not perfect, but who is.

Time to go listen to some Lee Greenwood.

[skunk]

God Bless America.


Yeah, I seriously just felt like saying it.Which god?

[.Andy]

Which god?
Frankly I don't think it matters Skunk. I think it's at the point where any god that's willing to chip in is welcome with open arms.

[Sayhey]

Frankly I don't think it matters Skunk. I think it's at the point where any god that's willing to chip in is welcome with open arms.

Is Gozer coming back? I thought the boys did away with her in the original film (http://imdb.com/title/tt0087332/)? She always was a sexy minx. So welcome back, Gozer, and thanks for the blessings! Line for loyal minions forms on the right. ;)

[skunk]

Line for loyal minions forms on the right. ;)Shouldn't that be the left?

[Sayhey]

Shouldn't that be the left? No, all Babylonian deities associated with death and destruction draw their followers from the right. I give the present events surrounding the old city as proof.

[skunk]

No, all Babylonian deities associated with death and destruction draw their followers from the right. I give the present events surrounding the old city as proof.Point taken.

[IJ Reilly]

God Bless America.

Saw those words on a bumper sticker the other day, and thought to myself, "Is that a request or a demand?"

[eva01]

Frankly I don't think it matters Skunk. I think it's at the point where any god that's willing to chip in is welcome with open arms.

but.....there is no god so who can bless america then :eek:

[solvs]

Yeah, um... I don't think it worked. Maybe we're praying to the wrong God. Or maybe he just hates us. Not that I'd blame him, considering.

[candan9019]

What about the rest of us? Don't we matter too? Oh, no that's right we don't.

[solvs]

What about the rest of us? Don't we matter too? Oh, no that's right we don't.
I would like to quote Jon Stewart. When asked by a Canadian what Americans really think of them, his reply - "we don't". I believe the word is myopic.

[.Andy]

Yeah, um... I don't think it worked. Maybe we're praying to the wrong God. Or maybe he just hates us. Not that I'd blame him, considering.
On current evidence god has saved the queen though.....Maybe you're just asking too much? Perhaps it could be toned down for a monarch or celebrity of sorts?

baby steps.

[solvs]

How 'bout we just ask him to stop trying to smite us?

[candan9019]

I would like to quote Jon Stewart. When asked by a Canadian what Americans really think of them, his reply - "we don't". I believe the word is myopic.

I met a lot of myopic people during my 12 years in the States than.;)

[solvs]

I met a lot of myopic people during my 12 years in the States than.;)
I would think it would be hard not to. ;)

[IJ Reilly]

I met a lot of myopic people during my 12 years in the States than.;)

I keep bumping into them too. Maybe I need new glasses.

[jefhatfield]

god bless america...and god bless the world...i am quite ok with that

but these days, some people think god bless america means "god bless the right wing of the republican party" ;)

[IJ Reilly]

"God bless America" really came into the lexicon with Irving Berlin's song of the same name, especially after it was hugely popularized by Kate Smith during the late 1930s. I wonder how many people pay attention to the lyrics anymore.

God bless America
Land that I love
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above

It always seemed to me that these words are a plea for divine guidance, not a presumption that America is a specially blessed place. But I have an idea that the meaning has changed for many people to something less like the former and more like the latter. So when I see these words plastered on the back of a car, I do ask myself whether the person who placed it there meant it as a boast or an aspiration.

[Sdashiki]

Funny how the Supreme Court announces:

"Oi yea oi yea...God Save the United States and the Supreme Court"

from the people who ruled church and state must be seperate, makes no sense to me how we can have "Under god" come under fire but not the Supreme Courts own minutes?

[yellow]

Why does god have to be brought into this.. isn't god busy making butterflies land on a retarded boy's head?

[zimv20]

isn't god busy making butterflies land on a retarded boy's head?
what is this in reference to? it has confused and delighted me.

[skunk]

"Oi yea oi yea...God Save the United States and the Supreme Court"I believe that should be "oyez": Old French meaning "Listen up". FYI.
:cool:

[3rdpath]

This whole "God Bless Amercia" thing is thrown around like some sort of divine endorsement and it really pisses me off.

In light of our actions, I really think the appropriate phrase should be:

God Forgive America.

[jelloshotsrule]

be gone, heathen!

don't be mad just cause "god bless america" doesn't include sinners like you

[G5orbust]

Funny how the Supreme Court announces:

"Oi yea oi yea...God Save the United States and the Supreme Court"

from the people who ruled church and state must be seperate, makes no sense to me how we can have "Under god" come under fire but not the Supreme Courts own minutes?

To answer your question you have to understand the Enlightenment and its principles, which profounding influenced our founding fathers. The philosophes (enlightenment thinkers) came up with a variety of ideas concerning the state and religion's role in it. However the most well known and influential philosophes never left God in their search for their own respective truths. One of the advocated ideas was the separation of church and state, not God and state. The founding fathers were very much for God blessing every single thing in their new government, they just were against things like having bishops be cabinet post members, the pope having influence in their politics, etc. Essentially they wanted freedom of religion and to them that meant secular government, but by no means did they want to eliminate the spiritual nature.

The basic thing you should get from this is that God, to the founding fathers and subsequent people who followed their example, exists outside the realm of any particular demonination, church, etc. Thus the God they speak of is no particular God (though Im sure they had the the Judeo-Christian God in mind), just as long as that God grants the blessing.

[jelloshotsrule]

...(though Im sure they had the the Judeo-Christian God in mind),.

how are you so sure?

[IJ Reilly]

Thomas Jefferson, for one, is generally regarded as a Deist, which is the belief in a supernatural god, but decidedly not one many contemporary Christians would recognize. The Deist god is one revealed by reason, not by scripture, and who does not intervene in or direct the affairs of man. This is precisely the kind of thinking you'd expect from late 18th century avant guarde intellectuals. I suspect that if the likes of Jefferson and Paine were alive today, saying what they said 200 years ago, that Pat Roberston would be fouling their name on the 700 Club on a regular basis.

[takao]

Thomas Jefferson,[snip]

_the_ Thomas Jefferson who had slaves working on his platange while in his house he had a bust(sp?) of Voltaire ?

[skunk]

_the_ Thomas Jefferson who had slaves working on his platange while in his house he had a bust(sp?) of Voltaire ?Yup, that's the one. Humanist to his core.

[IJ Reilly]

I'm sorry, was there a point to these last to comments?

[xsedrinam]

This whole "God Bless Amercia" thing is thrown around like some sort of divine endorsement and it really pisses me off.

In light of our actions, I really think the appropriate phrase should be:

God Forgive America.
Well, the "bless" word is an interesting one. Even my computer HD needs it, apparently.

Side note to skunk. What a great looking couple of kids you have (posted in the family thread). Most assuredly, they take after their mother. :) Anyway, I'm away from my photo CD's, but when I return from this trip, I'll put my two up in the same thread.

[skunk]

I'm sorry, was there a point to these last to comments?Not much of one, admittedly.
:o

[skunk]

Side note to skunk. What a great looking couple of kids you have (posted in the family thread). Most assuredly, they take after their mother. :) Anyway, I'm away from my photo CD's, but when I return from this trip, I'll put my two up in the same thread.Thanks for that double-edged compliment.
:)

[G5orbust]

how are you so sure?


I'm pretty sure the philosophes weren't hanging out at the local mosque or Hari Krishna center during that time, but I could be wrong.

[pseudobrit]

I'm pretty sure the philosophes weren't hanging out at the local mosque or Hari Krishna center during that time, but I could be wrong.

Nor any church for that matter.

[solvs]

I'm pretty sure the philosophes weren't hanging out at the local mosque or Hari Krishna center during that time, but I could be wrong.
See now, I don't know. I doubt they were too, but just because they believed in certain things, doesn't mean they wanted everyone else to. Deists are pretty accepting of others beliefs I've heard.

I want to add another point too. Some philosophers have been religious. Einstein, Confucius, Gandhi, Mohammad... and a bunch of other people who's names I can't spell. A belief in Jehovah or any other God doesn't preclude free thought and not every philosopher is an atheist or agnostic. But notice that most of the ones who do believe in God (or god) don't want to force their beliefs on others. Jefferson is a good example of this, and the current Christian Right might want to pay more attention to the way things were phrased by him, and the FF like him, when they quote them out of context. I'd consider Jesus a pretty religious philosopher too who followed the same sort of principles (hm, maybe that's where Tommy boy learned them). It's funny because at the time he was actually accused of being an atheist. :eek: Wrap your head around that one.

[mischief]

And on the eith day God in His omnisceince looked outward along the lines of probability and thought "Oh Crap." And lo, He handed the reigns of his creation unto the Archangel Murphy who hath kept mankind ever since saying unto all their prayers these sacred responses in all their manifest forms:

"If anything can go wrong, it will."

"Never **** where you eat."

"Don't shoot the messenger."

"Never trust someone else to do something you can screw up just fine on your own."

"Commitment before Ego stupid."

"Be careful what you ask for, You might get it."

"If it was a bad idea for your father's generation, it's probably a bad idea now."

"Keep it simple."

"The more complex the system, the more **** can go wrong with it."

"You never have it when you need it and once you find it you've bought two more and broken the thing you needed it for anyway."

"Hindsight is 20/20 but bull **** is 24/7."

"Never send a sociopath to do an idiot's job."

And lo God checked back in from his vacation to the Pliedes saying: "Right on, don't give em an inch." And so the Archangel of Irony inhereted dominion over the Earth forever and ever Ah Crap!