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Comment by Retric | Hacker News Reader

The freaky bit is it’s a biblical quote though he left off the god bit at the end of it.

Ah yes. Better watch out. Anyone who uses a Biblical phrase like that might be dastardly "wolf in sheep's clothing" with ulterior motives and not simply "the salt of the earth."

Besides, are you sure you've never used such a phrase without thinking about it? "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." I'm sure you'd much rather "do unto others as you would have them do unto you". So maybe just be a charitable "Good Samaritan" and "turn the other cheek", even if you don't really like it, then. After all, "an eye for an eye" policy is fairly unpleasant.

Oh, who am I kidding? I'm just "casting pearls before swine" with this audience. (And being as foolish as "the prodigal son", at that.) I can see that "the writing is on the wall," and I won't get anywhere with anyone on this topic. I'll probably even get downvoted for this, but oh well. "Sow the wind" and "reap the whirlwind" as they say. (Hacker News really can be "the blind leading the blind" sometimes.)

Amusing, but are you aware how many of those are referencing works before the Bible?

Why would that be “freaky”? The Bible is one of the most important and highly recognized works in Western culture.

Both article 6 and the first amendment make it in very poor taste.

You may personally appreciate it, but suppose he had been quoting different religions texts. Say the need to nourish Mayan gods using sacrificial blood.

Such a reference might easily have been lost on his audience, in which case he would sound nonsensical at best and foolish at worst?

I suspect most Americans hearing the quote he used didn’t understand it.

You should read Kennedy v. Bremerton School District.

Yea, that was a seriously disturbing opinion by the current court.

Compare and contrast it with Lemon v. Kurtzman

I agree, but I think using this saying is within reasonable bounds compared to a coach leading school-affiliated prayer. The decision even left out the religious that followed.

I worry that people are now so illiterate that they do not recognize that the "render unto Caesar…" quote is a historical basis for the division between church and state in the Christian world. Astonishingly, they view the Government citing the quote – the origin of separation – as a threat to separation!

"Render unto Caesar" has grown well beyond the bible and is firmly embedded into cultural consciousness.

Do a Google search and count how far down the list you need to get before it isn’t used as a biblical reference.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/render_unto_Caesar_the_things...

While sourced from the Bible, it has a secular-enough meaning that I wouldn't stress it.

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