Religion and the First Amendment

Freedom of Religion

1.       I’m really surprised that so many people consider America a Christian Nation. That’s really single minded.

2.       Athiest’s Stellar Performance may not Translate into Win
So I learned about how the Courts will not take away the statement "under God" in the pledge even if some Athiest makes a great case about him not wanting religion forced down his daughter's throat in school. I believe the terms he used were something along the lines of having her "coerced" into religious beliefs by sneaking that phrase into the pledge. Thankfully, no one's going to force a student to say the pledge, although it seems like many a student have been wrongly punished for his or her refusal. Legally, no one HAS to say the pledge in school, but if one chooses to say it the phrase about God is personally optional, but will remain in the official lyrics of the pledge. 
Personally, I hate the pledge. I never say it and I don't think I have said it since I was in the fifth grade and it was basically part of the curriculum. I don't really care if other people say it, but I think it's ridiculous to take time out of my day to have a moment of silence to pay my respects to a God of our country that I don't even believe in. Maybe if it said, "under George Washington" or something stupid like that I wouldn't dislike the pledge so much, but I really think the pledge has one foot over the line of forcing religion in school.

9-11: Seven Days in September

        I normally don't get emotional over these sorts of 9-11 patriotic type movies probably because I was so young when it happened and no one explained it to me until I was probably in the fifth grade. That's a two year gap between when it happened and when I actually understood what happened and I attribute that to bad parenting or something that I'm not going to really get into right now because it's not relative.
             But I did get kind of torn up inside during this documentary: Seven Days in September. That's what a good documentary does, it gets you to care about what's going on in the film and evokes emotion. That's how I know it was actually a good documentary.
                 It was really brave of the people with cameras to continue filming throughout. Especially when the dust was falling right after the towers fell. Honestly it looked like the greatest post-apocalyptic movie scene that ever existed. Except it was real and that made it extremely depressing and horrific. I had goosebumps while watching this part, and actually now that I think about it I had goosebumps a lot during this movie. And it wasn't cold in the room or anything. It was the impact.
                      Right before the scene of the mass argument I wrote this:
"The nature of man is surely evil. Our instinct is survival of the fittest, to kill or be killed, to hate those different and make them our enemies and conquer our enemies. Our duty as humans living in our modern world that does not call for instinct-based behavior is to suppress these evils, control these evils and live as rational human beings. To think and accept everyone, to think less selfishly, It's a human duty to ignore these tendencies for violence, to get rid of the need for war, to deny ourselves hate for other sections of humanity that differ from our own. That is the duty and burden of the Modern Human Being."
                      Then I saw the scene in the park where a massive argument breaks out and goes on and on with everyone shouting. Multiple arguments going on about the same issues in one area with everyone fighting everyone for a long period of time. Everyone was just releasing all their pent up anger, and I first thought that it was going to turn ugly and a riot was going to break out, but then the magic happened. Someone admitted his confusion and his misplaced anger and started crying and then it turned into a beautiful group cry/hug. This is the way people should behave at all times. It's sad that it took a terrible tragedy to bring out, "New York's true colors," which actually ended up being surprisingly kind and genuine and connected to the other people around them and not just themselves. It was really refreshing to see and made me rethink my previous comment. It was great how the group expressed different viewpoints, vented, debated, argued and shouted (without violence) and had nice controversy. Controversy is good. Controversy makes the world go round. But at the end of the day when we're exhausted and we start to cry, why not just have a group hug? (And I hate hugs with all my heart, too). There actually doesn't need to be that literal embrace, but the symbol of acceptance is perfect.
                     I recommend this movie to anyone old enough to understand the concepts. And it's surprising how young one can be and still understand.

Speech Codes

College speech codes are the end of the free world.
Restricted speech in lower level schools are just as bad, but college is the 'real world' in comparison. If the Real World teaches a person to deal with speech codes and just accept them for what they are, that's grounds for real constitutional changes, government conspiracy, the loss of human rights, and the eventual fall of the Democratic Republic.
Maybe that's jumping to quick conclusions, but all it takes is the public's acceptance of the loss of rights and the ball starts to roll on the other restrictions the government will be allowed to institute. Even so called 'Fighting Words' being unprotected is a step in the wrong direction. Yeah, it's a danger to the individuals who will chosse to lash out in violence because of a few mean-spirited words, but maybe that's more of an issue with self control or the way that person was raised. There's no reason to react violently anyways, that's the path of emotionally charged, ignorant people who can't stand to accept the idea that other people have different ways of thinking (as offensive as those ways may be) and would rather violently attack another rather than listen to something distasteful.
Sticks and stones can break your bones, but names will never hurt you.
See?
Thankfully, the Supreme Court is pretty good about making sure these speech codes aren't allowed to be instated, but schools are still allowed certain policies that just don't sit right. Anti-harassment policies are well meaning, but the way they are presented restricts even the mention of sex topics and racial issues on the college campuses because it's too offensive.
Personal opinion?
Unless you're actually attacked physically for something, then just stop being so sensitive and get over it.