 Lexica says: If you want to know whether the Founding Fathers intended this to be a "Christian nation", all you have to do is look at their own words. These are from Thomas Jefferson's autobiography. Also, remember that in 1797 the Treaty of Tripoli stated that "the Government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion". Jefferson and these guys were amazingly progressive thinkers. Apparently many of them were agnostics. I'm glad there's room for infidel of every denomination. Amen. lol who are the infidels lol who are the infidelsOne presumes he meant non-Christians. Just because one is Hell-bound by one's choice doesn't mean the State of Virginia doesn't protect your right to choose everlasting damnation.  Many of the "Founding Fathers" were Deists or Unitarians. (The early presidents and patriots were generally Deists or Unitarians, believing in some form of impersonal Providence but rejecting the divinity of Jesus and the absurdities of the Old and New testaments.) Some were agnostics that believed that God could not be proved or disproved in this life. Remember, the Declaration of Independence came during the time of "The Enlightenment" and later in the 1700's "The Age of Reason." The Enlightenment was at its core a critical questioning of traditional institutions, customs, and morals. I live in the so-called Bible Belt, and many here just cannot believe that they were agnostics or Dei... Jefferson also wrote that within a generation all men would be Unitarians. When the constitution was being drafted, it was the members of the religious establishments, primarily Baptists, who supported separation; this was because most states required pastors to hold state licences to preach and made it difficult or impossible to Baptist ministers to get them. A number of prominent Baptists were imprisoned and gave sermons from their cell. One man who preached from his cell was regularly beaten and peed on. I just finished reading "Founding Faith" by Stephen Waldman (head of Beliefnet.com), a history of religion in the colonial and post-colonial period. I recommend it highly. Waving at maquser. |
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