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LyricalReckoner
New Member
USA
21 Posts |
 Posted - 03/27/2004 : 11:49:19
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The mayor of San Francisco started it. He decided that since California's constitution said no one could be denied "equal protection of the laws," that meant he could not deny marriage licenses to men who want to marry men. What a notion!
After that, fundamentalist Mormons from Utah and Arizona headed west. They set their sites on Temecula, California, and made it their new home. Several years after the mayor of San Francisco made his decision, the city council of Temecula made theirs. They began issuing marriage licenses to men with several brides. If a man can marry a man, then surely a man can marry several women.
A few years later, a group of immigrants took action. The school board in Union City, California – a town that had become a haven for Hindus – altered the Pledge of Allegiance. They voted to require public school teachers to lead willing students in a pledge to "one nation under the gods." And they had reason on their side. If monogamists and monotheists can do their thing, then – by golly – polygamists and polytheists can do theirs.
A century ago, immigrants from Europe transformed New York City into a confederation of ethnic neighborhoods: Italian, German, Irish, etc. Today, immigrants from Asia are transforming the San Francisco Bay area into a confederation of ethnic communities: Japanese, Chinese, Fillipino, etc.
According to Census 2000, less than half the people living in California are what you might call European-Americans. One-third of those living in San Francisco are Asian, and one-third of those living in Daly City, right next door to San Francisco, are Fillipino.
The fastest growing group of immigrants in California between 1990 and 2000 were Asian Indians – Hindus – adherents to this world's third-largest religion. Hindus now make up 10% of the population of a number of cities in the Bay area. Like other immigrant groups, they tend to hang together, to form their own communities, to preserve their culture and pass it on to their children.
Imagine a few years from now. Silicon Valley is booming, just as it was during the1990s, when so many well-educated Hindus moved to the Bay area. Computer companies and bio-tech companies are hiring at a brisk pace, and another wave of immigrants are drawn from India to the Bay Area.
After a few years, most of those living in Union City are Hindu, and 80% of the students at Delaine Eastin Elementary School are the children of Hindu parents. One evening, there's a school board meeting and there's so much talk about the controversial Pledge of Allegiance. Back in 2004 (in the case of Elk Grove Unified School District v. Michael Newdow), the Supreme Court ruled that it was OK to lead students in a pledge to "one nation under God." But that version of the pledge doesn't sit well with most folks in Union City. They're teaching their children about many gods, and they don't want them to recite a pledge that says there's only one god.
The school board alters the pledge. Now students pledge their allegiance to "one nation under the gods." There's nothing unlawful about this and there's nothing unconstitutional about it either: if it's OK to have public school students recite a pledge to a nation under one god, what could be wrong with a pledge to a nation under many gods?
Of course, this doesn't sit well with Mr. Jones, a long-time resident of Union City, a devout Catholic whose daughter attends Delaine Eastin Elementary. He doesn't want his daughter reciting a pledge to many gods; he doesn't even want her to hear such a pledge, but what can he do? The matter was settled back in 2004.
Back then, the U.S. Solicitor General argued that the Pledge of Allegiance doesn't endorse a religious belief. The Elk Grove school district argued that the pledge doesn't take a stand on the existence of the gods. And they both argued that since the girl isn't required to say the pledge, there's nothing unconstitutional about it. The court agree
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Paladin
Skeptic Friend
USA
100 Posts |
Posted - 03/30/2004 : 18:37:48 [Permalink]
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While I completely agree with any challenge to those two completely unnecessary words being in the pledge, I'm a bit confused here.
I admit my knowledge of the Hindu religion is very limited, but I was under the impression that it was monotheistic, with a twist. Isn't Brahman the one true God of the Hindus, whether he appears in the form of Brahma, Vishnu or Shiva, or one of the many variants of those three? It's still the same entity, isn't it?
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 03/30/2004 : 19:49:20 [Permalink]
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Huh:First and foremost, the central truth that you must now grasp at the very outset is that all these seemingly different deities are actually varied manifestations of that One Supreme Godhead. The glory, the grandeur and the power of the One Supreme Being are limitless and indescribable. The different divine forms whose names have been mentioned above are all varied expressions of this glory, power, grandeur and a mysterious divine nature of the Supreme Being.
- Hinduism - Monotheism and Polytheism Reconciled Now, I don't know how "othrodox" that view may be, but I will say, "good catch, Paladin." |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Paladin
Skeptic Friend
USA
100 Posts |
Posted - 04/01/2004 : 17:56:59 [Permalink]
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Hehe. Thanks, Dave. 
Purely by coincidence, my current late-night reading is from J. F. Bierlein's Parallel Myths, and that just stuck out for me. |
Paladin |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 04/01/2004 : 22:34:51 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Paladin
I admit my knowledge of the Hindu religion is very limited, but I was under the impression that it was monotheistic, with a twist. Isn't Brahman the one true God of the Hindus, whether he appears in the form of Brahma, Vishnu or Shiva, or one of the many variants of those three? It's still the same entity, isn't it?
Sounds a bit like Christianity "borrowed" this idea too.
God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. All three are different manifestations of the One True God. |
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"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
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Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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Paladin
Skeptic Friend
USA
100 Posts |
Posted - 04/02/2004 : 18:25:37 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Dave W.
Are you, Paladin, going to give us a book review when you're done?
Hehe. Probably not. I've never been very good at book reports. 
But I'll give it serious consideration. |
Paladin |
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