Browsing: Religion

A Brief History This article serves as a sort of table of contents to other articles on this site by presenting a chronological listing of bizarre events in the history of civil rights.  For the purpose of this timeline, we are expanding “civil rights” to include “natural rights,” “gay rights,” and “women’s rights” rather than just limiting the timeline to “African-American rights”. Digging Deeper On March 23, 1775, Patrick Henry delivered a speech that may well have led to the successful formation of the United States.  Known as the “Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death” speech, Henry was addressing…

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A Brief History On June 20, 2001, a Texas mother of 5, former high school valedictorian and swim team captain, decided she had to save her children from Satan.  Her solution to the “problem” was to drown all 5 of the unfortunate youngsters in the family bathtub. Digging Deeper Almost 37 years old at the time of the tragedy, Andrea Yates suffered from bulimia and depression as a teen despite her academic and athletic success.  Going to nursing school and getting a job as an RN, Yates seemed on course to have a decent life when she married in 1993. …

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A Brief History On June 19, 1269, the King of France, Louis IX, ordered that any Jew found in any public place not wearing the obligatory yellow badge would be fined 10 livres of silver.  People of Jewish faith or lineage all over the world have suffered discrimination and worse for many centuries.  Meanwhile, many Jewish scientists, composers, educators, and artists of all types among others have enriched mankind.  For example, 3 of the 7 justices on the US Supreme Court were Jewish when this article was first written in 2016.  Just a few of the many inventions by Jewish…

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A Brief History On June 14, 1954, Flag Day that year, President Eisenhower signed a joint resolution of Congress amending the 1942 Flag Code, adding the words “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance.  The president had only recently been baptized a Presbyterian and was apparently in a religious feeling when he declared “the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty.” Digging Deeper Not surprisingly, not everyone agreed.  The backdrop to this issue was the Cold War, the struggle of atheistic communism against “Christian” democracy and capitalism.  Eisenhower and Congress clearly wanted to differentiate us from them. Many people already were against the Pledge of Allegiance on…

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A Brief History On June 12, 2016, in the worst domestic terrorist incident inside the United States since 9/11, Omar Mateen, a 29 year old Afghan man (born in the US), shot and killed at least 49 people and wounded over 50 more in a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.  No question about his motives, the gunman called police from the scene and pledged allegiance to the Islamic terrorist group, ISIS,  while ISIS itself took credit for the attack via their news agency. Digging Deeper President Obama and others predictably called for “common sense” gun control measures to prevent such…

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