My first criticism...

I received the following, unsigned, comment earlier today and figured I'd share it with you all...

"If you want to debate something, debate the purpose of using God BlessAmerica after every post. What's the purpose of it really? Will god bless America ifyou don't say it? Why not god bless the earth? What's the purpose of omitting therest of the world? What exactly would gods blessing do to America if he had actuallyblessed it? It's a hollow statement that's overused by the corrupt politicians youtalk so admirably about, and it's being used no differently here.

You don't seem to be thinking outside the box, and your rants are mostly side-steppable. Someone told me I'd be interested in this blog but it looks likethey were wrong. You take the form of being "outraged" but you still only have avery narrow perspective.. or a least, not a incredibly informed one that wouldwarrant a blog."

To the author, thank you for your comment. I have been waiting for someone to write me on this exact issue. I only wish you would have included an e-mail address for me to respond to you in private with some clarifying questions. Since I was not afforded this opportunity, I hope you will allow me to make some assumptions on your comments.

I assume you take issue with the term "God Bless America" because you believe it's use infringes on your Constitutional right of Freedom of Religion or because you believe the statement is US-centric and implies that the rest of the world is to not be blessed.

Let's deal with the first possibility. The First Amendment of the US Constitution contains both the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause with regards to Freedom of Religion.

The Establishment Clause stops government from passing laws to establish an official religion or endorsing one religion over another. This clause keeps the government from telling you WHAT to worship. Courts have ruled this clause accomplishes a separation of church and state.

The Free Exercise Clause stops the government from interfering with a person’s practice of their religion. This clause keeps the government from telling you HOW to worship.

In my opinion, the phrase "God Bless America," if uttered by me or if printed on our currency, does not come close to establishing or endorsing any specific religion. How could it? The phrase is deliberately vague. Our founding fathers were very smart. Now if I said, "Please Catholic/Jewish/Muslim/Hindu God Bless America" or any other similar phrase, things would be different.

America is populated by people of many religions who believe in God or a higher universal power. In fact the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life recently conducted a poll of more than 36,000 adults focusing on Americans' religious beliefs. You know what the results were? 92% believe in God or a higher power, 5% don't believe and 3% don't know. Interesting?

To the second possibility, you would need to view these words in a very narrow way to believe this phrase is asking God to bless America and no one else. When you say "have a nice evening" to a co-worker before leaving the office, does that mean they are the only one who is able to have a nice evening? Of course not. So why then is it an issue if I say, as an American, "God Bless America?" I am not saying bless us and curse everyone else am I?

Finally, to his or her second paragraph...Geesh, I have only had this blog up and running for a week and a half. The only thing I have ever written before is a screenplay that is still unfinished ten years after I started writing. I have my ideas and my views and I want to get them out in cyber-space to generate some discussion and thought. If you don't like the content and you are truly passionate about government reform and making America OF, FOR and BY the people again, write a guest blog, I'll publish it with your approval and get people talking. More important, get people thinking, this is why I started this blog to begin with, to get ME thinking.

God Bless America,
EG
erik@exchangeyourgovernment.com