The World According To Alan

If I Were President: Religion in Government

This country was created in order to get away from government controlled religion, and it's appalling that many seem to want to put it back. Everywhere you look around the world, countries are being torn apart by exactly this issue. What are people thinking?

Organized Prayer in Public Schools Strongly Oppose

The state has absolutely no business organizing anything of the sort. If they want, they are free to provide a moment out of respect for those who choose to pray, but in no way should anyone select or recite a prayer, nor be required to pray. By the same token, however, neither should disrespect towards religious students by the non-religious students (or staff!) be tolerated.

Commandments Displayed in Federal Buildings Strongly Oppose

While this could be considered an historical display, in fact it is clearly promoting the Christian religion, and has no business in a governmental environment. At most, if you had a public area where different groups could put up displays celebrating their culture, religious artifacts could be part of that display, as long as any and all religions are allowed to participate.

Federal Funding of Religious Charities Somewhat Oppose

I believe that President Bush's "Faith Based Initiative", from its very name, is wrong in that it's actively trying to promote a religious direction. In principle however, if the government is giving out money to organizations for whatever purpose, as long as the money is being used for that purpose, the government has no business discriminating for or against the organization based on religious reasons. The only basis that should be used is whether the money is being effectively used for the intended purpose. This means that religious organizations should have the same rights to participate as secular organizations.