Iowa city council debates proper time in meeting agenda to "undo the curse that was just put on our city."

An Iowa man has kicked off controversy over religious freedom in the small town of Ottumwa, Iowa by opening a city council meeting with a prayer to Satan, which then kicked off a debate about the proper time in the meeting agenda to undo the “curse.”

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[–] 134 points 2 weeks ago (14 children)

At the Tuesday night council meeting, the audience stood up to recite the Pledge of Allegiance the moment Dalbey finished.

The dubiousness of unquestioning nationalism aside, the pledge of allegiance containing 'under god' also makes it a religious phrase.

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  • [–] 60 points 2 weeks ago* (2 children)

    It's honestly so weird. The whole ritual needs to be done away with

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  • [–] 18 points 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    They should do as Alcoholics Anonymous did. Change god for "higher power". Because, you know, people need a higher power nanny.

    BTW: Alcoholics Anonymous has a direct surrender to God in 4 of it's 12 steps, and indirect mention in 2 more. And god is obviously a "Him"

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  • [–] 22 points 2 weeks ago

    AA was started by a pair of Christian revivalist Oxford Group (now known as Initiatives of Change) members. They believe that fear and selfishness are the root of all problems, and that the solution to living without fear and selfishness is to "surrender one's life over to God's plan".

    Basically, they don't think people, in general, can govern themselves and require a sky daddy to keep them on track.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)
  • [–] 5 points 2 weeks ago* (1 child)

    Even if they removed 'under god' from the pledge of allegiance today (Republicans would probably filibuster any such attempt in the Senate), indoctrinating students at public schools with its daily recital has contributed to an unhealthy level of nationalism that leads to not only a view of American exceptionalism, but also the belief that any overt or covert attempt to replace the governance of foreign countries with institutions closer to that of the United States must inherently be good.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

    they added the Under God part during the Red Scare to show the world that the US wasn't a secular godless nation like the USSR at the time.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    That's also when they started putting "In God we trust" on our money. Assholes.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 weeks ago

    Even as a kid growing up in the 90s, knowing separation and state and finding it odd as fuck we had "In God this and that" in various aspects of our lives. Even my developing,, super small brain could tell something didn't add up right. 🤨️

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