[Labyrinthos]

Um,Chuck knows his history.He just confused the names of the Father and son. He was talking about John Adams not his son John Quincy.

John Adams didn't fight in the American Revolution either. He spend nearly the entire time in Europe as a diplomat. Also, John Adams obviously did not serve "under four presidents before becoming one," given the undisputed fact that he served as our second president. I like Chick Norris, but a historian he is not. I would also perfer if he left religion, including the teaching of the Ten Commandments, to family, friends, and Sunday school teachers, and not to the government at any level.

[twonie]

You don't always get what you prefer - ever notice that?

[mjolnir]

Chuck was talking about John Quincy Adams-- he messed up by saying President Adams had fought in the Revolution.... Still, your criticism of Chuck was valid, whether you're a historian or Sunday school teacher, both or neither--- just as his criticisms of the naked public square are legitimate, regardless of the fact that he is one of the greatest karate fighters of the last century and not an historian.

But it seems you're extrapolating from that rather minor mistake that Chuck's argument must therefore also be mistaken. As far as I can tell, Chuck's point is well put, well supported and correct--- that the public institutions of America acknowledging their debt to the Ten Commandments is important? Doing so does not violate the freedom of religion, only freedom from religion. Said debt owed by the United States to its Judeo-Christian heritage can and always has been acknowledged by such institutions... Doing so does not empower government, but rather reminds us of the source of government's power and by doing so limits it. The immediate, more tangible source of that power lies in the consent of the governed, but the rights of the governed to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness lie in the natural law, of which the Ten Commandments is the most sublime and important expression.