There was a great British political comedy back in the '80s called Yes, Prime Minister, which I have heard was not too far from reality. In one episode, the PM had to appoint a new CoE bishop. After some amusing machinations, he learns that the CoE is "primarily a social organization, not a religious one." It's a club for the wealthy to hobnob and look respectable.

Well they had to get rid of that "thy rod and thy staff they comfort me". Part of their agreement over the child molesting problem.

As much as it pains me to say, you're confusing the CoE with the Catholics there Jim.

Another outcome of church/state fusion: A year or so ago I read an article explaining that the national church in Denmark could not fire a clergyman who said he was an atheist.

I can't believe that's not a joke. How can anyone take it seriously?

Your comments on the separation of church and state reminded me of what's going on in L.A. now. I don't know how many of you are following this, but the ACLU recently filed a lawsuit to get Los Angeles county to change its seal, which was adopted in the early 1950s. On one side of the seal is a very small cross.

Now you might think this is a nit-picky kind of complaint, especially considering that most people never look at a county seal (seriously, do you know what yours looks like?), let alone scrutinize it, let alone declare it an unconstitutional encroachment on the separation of church and state. But I'm writing to say I'm with the ACLU on this one. Frankly, I fear an America where the government can ram religion down our throats in the name of "heritage" or "culture." Indeed, if I have any issue with the ACLU, it is that they aren't going far enough. Here are some items I'd like to see added to that lawsuit.

1. There should be no mention, in any government document, of the words Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Tuesday and Friday are named after pagan Teutonic German religious figure, Wednesday from "Woden's day (i.e. Odin)" and Thursday is named for the Norse god Thor. The other three are named for celestial bodies and the Greco-Roman deities associated with them: the Sun, the Moon, and Saturn. I don't want the government using my tax dollars to propogate religious notions about which deities/celestial bodies we worship. For basically the same reason, government should not be allowed to acknowledge the months of July or August, which were inserted by Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar in connection with their deification in Roman mythology. And we should probably not mention the planets at all.

2. Government should ban the use of certain religiously loaded terms in schools. These terms include "erotic" (after Eros), "panpipes" (after the demi-god Pan), "Venice" or "venereal disease" (from Venus, Roman goddess of love), "Athens" (from Athena, patron of the city of that name), any word ending in "-ology" (from the Greek word "logos," which is theologically loaded in Christianity), "praise" (the name Muhammad means "praised one," or "he who is praised"), or any reference to oil or grease (the name Christ means "annointed," as with oil). We don't need government telling our kids what to think about these clearly religious topics.

3. All government employees who go bald on top of their head should be required to wear a government-issued toupee. The bald spot is far too reminiscent of the Catholic tonsure, and the bald area may be suspiciously close to the area covered by a yarmulka. We don't need government slyly endorsing Catholicism or Judaism that way.

I'm working on a petition for like-minded citizens to sign. I hope you'll help me out with my campaign. And if you have more ideas about government oppression, let me know.

Hey Aaron! Los Angeles translates to City of Angles. Angels?! WTF?! This right wing religeous stuff is everywhere! Please add changing the city and county's name too. Maybe just change it to Elay 'cause that's what everyone calls it anyway. Or, Los Athiest maybe if you're really stuck on having the L.A. thing.

One point I forgot to mention: there is absolutely no justification for letting government employees have Sundays off. Seriously, this is tantamount to state-sponsored religion. Saturdays, as well, because that's the Jewish day of worship (as well as Seventh Day Adventists and, I think, Jehovah's Witnesses). And of course we can't make Friday a day off, because of Islam. I therefore propose that all government institutions, including public schools, be closed from Monday to Thursday, and make the government employees work Friday through Sunday. Everyone knows they deserve is, given the sheer volume of ultra-efficient work they accomplish as it is.

Damn, Aaron, you really know how to run with a topic. If you haven't got your own blog, get one. Now.

Ace, thanks for the link and glad your archives are fixed. It's like a cornucopia of dementia in there that I'm glad to have access to again.

Ilyka,

How does one go about getting a blog?

Join the Linux community. Linuxwaves.net

You can also check some information in the field of... Thanks!!!