1. We demand that churches and other ecclesiastical property shall be no
longer exempt from taxation. 2. We demand that the employment of chaplains in Congress, and in the
legislatures, in the navy and militia, and in prisons, asylums, and all other
institutions supported by the public money, shall be discontinued. 3. We demand that all public appropriations for educational and charitable
institutions of a sectarian character shall cease. 4. We demand that all religious services now sustained by the government
shall be abolished; and especially that the use of the Bible in the public
schools, whether ostensibly as a textbook or avowedly as a book of religious
worship, shall be prohibited. 5. We demand that the appointment, by the president of the United States or
by the governors of the various states, of all the religious festivals and fasts
shall wholly cease, 6. We demand that the judicial oath in the courts and in all other
departments of the government shall be abolished, and that a simple affirmation
under the pains and penalties of perjury shall be established in its stead. 7. We demand that all laws directly or indirectly enforcing the observance of
Sunday as the Sabbath shall be repealed. 8. We demand that all laws looking to the enforcement of "Christian" morality
shall be abrogated and that all laws shall be conformed to the requirements of
natural morality, equal rights and impartial liberty. 9. We demand that not only in the Constitution of the United States and of
the several states, but also in the practical administration of the same, no
privileges or advantage shall be conceded to Christianity or any other special
religion; that our entire political system shall be founded and administered on a
purely secular basis; and whatever changes shall prove necessary to this end
shall be consistently, un- flinchingly, and promptly made. (Published in January
1873 by the F. R. A. [Free Religious Association, a group which would be a sister
group of todays Americans United For Separation of Church and State] The above
was published as part of a counter campaign against the Christian Religious
Amendment to the Constitution as advocated and pushed by the N. R. A. [National
Religious Association] a group much like todays Christian Coalition. The FRA won
the over all battle as the Christian Religious Amendment to the Constitution died
in Congress. All this just goes to show how little things really do change. Its
also interesting to note how many of those nine demands have been achieved in the
past 126 years.
&
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