[UmpJM]

Now Steve,

I was not trying to "show up the ump" in any way.

Rather, as in baseball, while your comments above might be considered perfectly correct under one "ruleset", they might be considered equally incorrect under another.

While I would not dispute your comments regarding the religious sensibilities of those who made this country a nation (in the modern sense), I believe they had the wisdom to both realize AND stipulate that government and religion are two separate matters. Since freedom of religion was a primary motivation for creating this nation, they made it a matter of law.

And I still think that it's a "hoot" that Ozzie was "sentenced" to sensitivity training, and I still think that Jay Mariotti is a spineless hack. Have any of you ever read what he writes. I have, and I wouldn't encourage anyone else to waste his time doing so. I also find it ironic that there was virtually no comment when Ozzie called him a "piece of $hit" and the media has their panties in a wad because he called him a "fag". What a hoot.

JM

Edited to add:

I see that Garth has posted while I was composing my post. I would just like to say that I find his "cites" both on point and illuminative.