Les: I’m now registered to participate in this year’s Blogathon

Good.
AU feels like a good cause; Barry Lynn sounds like an honourable man.

Good news to hear, Les.

Hooray!  I’m looking forward to it, Les.

Thanks for the support! I’m enthused about participating again and I’m already trying to think of clever ways to stay awake and have something worth blogging about. I’ll probably resurrect the Burning Questions audience participation thing again.

And if we remove all traces of Christianity from the US Constitution and all of the law books? What is the ultimate goal of religion outside of christianity? Isn’t it a bit like conquer, convert, or die? We can’t undo the past but we can at least try to prevent history from repeating itself. Have you drafted your own version of the US Constitution? What exactly would it look like or say? Just throw the first sentence together and get back to me. -Cactus

Cactus: And if we remove all traces of Christianity from the US Constitution and all of the law books?

You can’t remove something that doesn’t exist to begin with.

What is the ultimate goal of religion outside of christianity? Isn’t it a bit like conquer, convert, or die?

It’s telling that you attempt to omit the extremely bloody history of Christianity from your “analysis” of non-Christian religions.

Folks, we’ve got us a world-class nutcase on our hands here. That, or a world-class troll (or possibly both).

S-Sadie: ... we’ve got us a world-class nutcase on our hands here.

When I first saw the handle ‘cactus’ I thought of the Oz colloquialism which means dead or not functioning ... I didn’t know it had so many other meanings. Confusing, yes? Maybe not.

Re: staying awake—I’ve read that sucking on a teabag delivers the best, longest-lasting hit of caffeine.  Enjoy.

Re: staying awake—I’ve read that sucking on a teabag delivers the best, longest-lasting hit of caffeine.

Oh man, Les has got to get a cam going if he’s going to do that. That way if he falls asleep and swallows the teabag we can see it and save him.

Oh, wait - what kind of teabag were you talking about?

Best of luck, Les. I’m looking forward to your selfless effort.

Still awaiting that first sentence. Apparently sexy sadie thinks the US Constitution was drafted by a handful of godless, mindless, nabobs. And in the who’s who of christian historians? Lucky John. A member of the Flat Earth Society. Keep ‘em coming guys. We might get a draft yet and we’ll all sign the damned thing. Kind of a blanket statement to say you want to change the world and not have an outline for show and tell.

We’re still waiting for you to enter a coherent comment.

I haven’t had too much of a problem staying awake for the 24 hours.  Sure, the brain starts to get a little fuzzy around 2 a.m., but various bits of caffeine, a brisk walk, or just the Muse poking me in the ear with her pitchfork manages to keep me going.

***Dave: I haven’t had too much of a problem staying awake for ... 24 hours. 

Yeah well, when you’re a young lad of course there’s no problem.
Last nite I went to bed and sleep by 1.30 am.
Soccer final was on at 3.30 so I got up.
I’ve been cactus all day.

if we remove all traces of Christianity from the US Constitution

Pardon my ignorance, but does your constitution actually mention Jesus somewhere??? I’m not about to do a search on this stuff (since most of you can probably clarify it for me easily enough), but I always thought the constitution expressly prohibits governmental preference of one religion over others.

On the topic at hand: glad you’ve registered, Les, and though I’m not an American, I can certainly support what seems a very good cause.

There is no mention of Jesus in any major U.S. document or lawbook.  The only mention of God in the Constitution is the phrase “year of our Lord”.  In fact, the Treaty of Tripoli explicitly declares that the U.S. is NOT a Christian nation.

Shelley:...but I always thought the constitution expressly prohibits governmental preference of one religion over others.

It does.

Trouble is, we’ve got a sizable segment of the population that has either been misinformed about this fact (i.e. by right-wing demagogues) or that actively ignores it.