Where I discover I'm proud to be an American after all

I got this on a Weight Loss Surgery message board that has an undeniable Christian bias. While normally, this does not bother me and I can skim over posts asking for prayers and quietly roll my eyes at people who are content to sit back and let Jesus take the wheel, this offended me on a level I didn't even know existed. It brought out my patriotism - something I haven't really displayed in, like, ever. I think a big part of my shame over patriotism is that so many of the Hard-Core Patriots in my country are also big Jesus Freaks, and I really don't want to be lumped in with them. However, a bit of graffiti I saw scrawled on a wall the other day and this post combined to dig deep and exhume the love I have of the United States Constitution. The graffiti? "Patriots love their country, not their government." The post? Read on:

Mary's Lamb

Think carefully aboutwhat you will be reading.
This is a new one for me...

Mary! had a little Lamb,
His fleece was white as snow.
And everywhere that Mary went,
The Lamb was sure to go.

He followed her to school each day,
T'wasn't even in the rule.
It made the children laugh and play,
To have a Lamb at school.

And then the rules all changed one day,
Illegal it became;
To bring the Lamb of God to school,
Or even speak His Name!

Every day got worse and worse,
And days turned into years.
Instead of hearing children laugh,
We heard gun shots and tears.

What must we do to stop the crime,
That's in our schools today?
Let's let the Lamb come back to school,
And teach our kids to pray!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you agree, please pass this on. It is said that 86% of Canadian,American & British people believe in God. Why don't we just tell the other 14%to be quiet and sit down???? If you agree, pass this on, if not delete. God Bless you.

This was my response:

I don't have a religion, I don't want a religion, and I don't want a school where my daughter is required to attend to force a religion on her - whether it be Christianity, Judaism, Islam, or Zoroastrianism.

I think it's wonderful that you have faith and that you believe so wholeheartedly in your God. May it always be so. I, however, found the last bit of your post to be really offensive (Why don't we tell the other 14% to be quiet and sit down). Frankly, being quiet and sitting down is just about as Anti-American as it gets. We are guaranteed the right of free speech from a bunch of men who refused to be quiet and sit down when ordered to do so by King George. Women have been given the right to vote by other women who refused to be quiet and sit down. Anything we've ever been given has been due to the persistence and tenacity of people who refused to be quiet and sit down.

We have also been guaranteed freedom to practice the religions of our choice. This is wonderful, as it means that you can be a Christian, my neighbor can be a Jew, and I can be completely anticlerical and we can all coexist in the same country. This same right also means that the government cannot meddle in your religion - it can't tell you you can't practice it, you can't meet whenever you want in your own facilities, or you can't worship whoever you like. The government has to stay out of your religion.

Now it gets sticky when we come to education, as the government is educating your children. Unless you'd like the government to choose the religion offered in schools, then perhaps you'd like to agree with me that they should just stay the course and not have any at all. After all, they could mandate a religion that you find offensive. This is one of the fundamental reasons that the Separation of Church and State exists.

That said, I reiterate - don't want one, don't have one, and as long as I'm a proud American, NO ONE IS GOING TO FORCE ONE ON ME. I will not ever sit down, shut up, and passively have anyone elses dogma shoved down my throat.