toddv (06/22/82)
I happened across this and found it unnerving: "In a survey conducted recently, students at a nationally known liberal arts college were asked to identify the following two statements: 1. `The church shall be seperate from the State, and the school shall be seperate from the church.' 2. `[The government] shall make no law respecting an Establishment of religion, or [its] free exercise...' Of the students surveyed, 68% wrongly identified the first statement as an excerpt form the United States Constitution, and 86% agreed with it. It is actually from the 4th Article of the Soviet Constitution. Only 43% were able to identify correctly the second statement as an excerpt from the 1st Amendment of the United States Constitution. Just a reflection of common misconceptions regarding the `seperation of church and state.'" Make of it what you will, but if you feel like flaming just mail it to me. Todd Vierheller teklabs!tekmdp!azure!toddv
katic@sri-unix (07/02/82)
This is am excerpt from the book "The Rape of the A*P*E*" by Allan Sherman. In many ways, it is one of the best books I've ever read. Judge for yourself: On July 20 1970, <Miami Herald> reorter Collin Dangaard typed up a verbatim copy of the Declaration of Independence, leaving out only the signatures, and approached citizens on the streets of Miami, asking them to sign it. Two called the document "Commie junk." One said, "Be careful who you show that antigovernment stuff to." Dangaard then submitted the Declaration to 300 young adults at a Youth for Christ meeting, asking them to describe what kind of person would author such a statement. Among thier answers were: "A Communist, someone against our country." "Someone who does not have any sense of responsibility." "A redneck revolutionist." "Someone ought to tell the FBI about this kind of rubbish." Yes, I feel this is a representative example of the way in which the people of this country have lost sight of the ideals under which we were set up. katic (....!nsc!katic)