Throwing up red herrings like Bush or Racism, or engaging in ad hominum attacks (accusing your opponents of sleeping), are earmarks of someone possessed of more passion than reason. If you truly want to defend Obama and his statement, which is the topic of this thread, trying listening, asking good questions, and addressing the concerns of the other side.
Maryland was Catholic, just as Virginia was Anglican, and Utah was Mormon. The fact that they are not today is indicative of the state determining for itself what was best; a concept supported by the founding fathers. There is no federal legislation requiring states be ecumenical yet. The only thing close are the anti-religion requirements placed on federal funds. If Illinois and Michigan decided to become Muslim, that is still their right under current legislation. In fact, when Sharia law is introduced into effect you will see exactly how much freedom our states really have.
You're the one who made the following statement "And I never said Obama was the first and only example. It started in the 19th century; he is to my mind far more flagrant in his abuse of power than some others have been, but he's not alone.". Obama has only been in office a few months and he has already abused his power so much more flagrantly than oneone else you can think of? I'm sorry but you either were not paying attention for the last 8 years, you were asleep for the last 8 years, or the flagrant abuse of power just did not bother you that much. You found that illegal wire tapping, putting people in prison indefinately without trial or even a charge for that matter, torture, and many other flagrant abuses of power acceptable. Are these Christian values that our forefathers were thinking of when they wrote the constitution? As for defending Obama, I don't see anything wrong with what he said.
And by the way, the law never came from Christian beliefs. There is no inclusion of other religions in Christianity. Inclusion of all religions is a Freemason belief. Just read what others on this site have written about godless cults. Read the original thread about being offended by the fact that someone had the nerve to say that the Muslim God was the same God as the Christian God. Ask someone who is Church of Christ what they think of Baptists. Ask a Baptist what they think about Catholics. Up until just recently, Catholics said you would not go to heaven unless you were baptized. Other Christian faiths say you can't go to heaven unless you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior. There is no inclusion of other religions in any of this. There is no true sense of freedom of religion. If the founding fathers were really only concerned in everyone's right to practice Christianity they way they wanted to, Thomas Jefferson would never have written the passage which was quoted earlier in this thread.
Yes, Maryland was a Catholic state before we were a country. Once we became a country, Maryland no longer was a Catholic state. If you want to go back to the puritans, why not go back farther. Columbus was a Catholic. A state can try to declare they are of a certain religion but the constitution as you stated would prevent them putting it into practice. I imagine it would not allow them to put it into any kind of legislation either.
