Alright, one at a time, then...
@bo_sox:
I was referring to SC's statement.
@Tolstoy:
Given Jefferson's being a deist--and actually possibly an atheist much like Franklin, there's speculation over a couple of letters, but in any case, certainly Deist--and advocating quite strongly throughout his writings and career for a "wall of separation" between Church and State, I very much doubt he'd approve.
Of the satire? Maybe, though again, I think it's pretty poor satire...
If taken seriously? Not at all.
@SC:
Well, the altar boys bit as more of a joke than anything else...a bad one, perhaps, but hey, their's was a poor joke too, so I suppose one failed funny deserves another.
(Though if we WERE to take that claim of "Church is good for you" as a claim seriously, I would certainly raise the possibility of that sort of abuse as an all-too-real, all-too-pertinent counterexample.)
To be honest, I think it was meant as one of those "I'm joking...of course I am..."of course" I am..." jokes, you know?
Where you say it in jest, but maybe, just maybe, if you could get away with saying all or part of it as a serious statement and not either be laughed or scorned out of town, you might just do so?
@Levelhead:
Point taken, though that's just where the link came from, ie, from a group on Facebook, so I didn't track down the source myself, just shared it, and there's probably a better, more balanced account out there.
@Crazy Anglican:
I don't know the original piece, as I said, I just got this link from my Facebook feed.
As for just citing the commentary--well, feeling that it's a travesty that 40% of the US believes that *is* a position of mine, not just a cited bit from the source.
As for the numbers:
40% is relatively consistent with other polls I've heard and seen, so I'm inclined to believe that...
And if I recall, one poll named Mississippi the most conservative nation in the Union, and that's Bible Belt central, so 66% wouldn't surprise me.
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