" What other Lodi citizens, that disagree with you, would you like to "get lost", Mr. Sayles? "

" Sayles wrote "Why should an infinitesimally small percentage of the population dictate matters of faith and morals for the rest of the population?"

It is not immoral to keep church and state separate. "

" alf wrote "Your next move is to run for CC..."

I have a feeling that there will be a few new faces on the city council next time around. "

" What's a Protestant? "

" Sales, from what i read in this fine establishment, the majority of Lodians voiced their opinions here in the LNS and also at the CC meetings. just cause it did not end up the you belive, does not make it wrong. if you don't want the prayers done, don't go to the meeting for 5 minutes. after the prayer, you can come in and start complaining again, as usual. Your next move is to run for CC so you can try and reverse this decision. Good luck on the campaign trail. "

" And thus the rights of the majority are considered second to the minorities to show what an open and caring society we have.

I wonder if anyone has ever done a computer model on the largest our system of government can go before it self-implodes? I mean is there a threshhold where one side or another starts feeling their rights are not being listened to and a revolution results.

On a sort of related line, would two seperate United states work together. Independant conservative and liberal unions with some mutual interest pacts (defense, trade and immigration type things) but where conservative/liberal governing concepts are dominant respectively.

Anyway, just a thought. "

" 'In republics, the great danger is, that the majority may not sufficiently respect the rights of the minority.' -James Madison "

" 'A 2006 survey by The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life asked, "What is your religious preference?" and 11% responded, "No religion, not a believer, atheist, agnostic." In this survey 56% responded as Protestant and 23% as Roman Catholics. The other categories -- Jewish, Mormon, Orthodox Church (Greek or Russian), Islam/Muslim, and Other Religions -- totaled just 8%. These results are similar to those of a BBC survey that determined there are more atheists and agnostics than there are Jews, Presbyterians, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and Roman and Greek Orthodox combined in the United States.'

http://www.secular.org/constituency.html "

" Mr. Sayles: You are under the false impression that only agnostics, atheists and anti-theists are in support of not having an invocation before the cc meetings. "

" As far as J. Norman is concerned, it`s his way or the highway. The CC brought this upon themselves and opened Pandora`s box, it`s like they have a tiger by the tail and don`t know what to do with it. They made a decession and now the citizens of Lodi will have to live with it, though it was not intended to be in the first place. Remember this is America and everyone that wants to speak his or her peace can and will be heard. I feel the same way Norman, but until the CC see`s it another way, learn to live with it. "

" squeaky wheels always get the grease "

" Well I'm not sure you should lump all the agnostics in there. I guess I'm agnostic, and I sure didn't have a problem with the prayers! I figure if they are responsible for making decisions for a community, they should have something guiding them to do so in a moral and responsible manner. "