The drumbeat from non-believers in the U.S. is deafening...we are not a Christian nation, we were not founded on Christian principles, the Constitution is for separation of church and state...and so on.
I beg to differ.
This from PresidentialPrayerTeam.org:
PRESIDENTIAL QUOTE FOR THE WEEK
"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
— John Adams, October 11, 1798
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Consider picking up a copy of Lee Strobel's The Case for Easter Book & DVD Set. Doing so just may change someone's life!
Friday, March 14, 2008
Adams: Constitution Made For Moral and Religious
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8 comments:
Well, it's because since the Cold War began, Christian fundamentalists have sought to rewrite history.
"I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature."
Thomas Jefferson
“Lighthouses are more helpful than churches”
Benjamin Franklin
"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit."
Thomas Paine
"My earlier views of the unsoundness of the Christian scheme of salvation and the human origin of the scriptures, have become clearer and stronger with advancing years and I see no reason for thinking I shall ever change them."
Abraham Lincoln
"The question before the human race is, whether the God of nature shall govern the world by his own laws, or whether priests and kings shall rule it by fictitious miracles?"
John Adams
"The civil government ... functions with complete success ... by the total separation of the Church from the State."
James Madison
"I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in life I absented myself from Christian assemblies."
Samuel Taylor
Article 11 of the Treaty of Tripoli of 1796 reads:
As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.
Oh, there's not question that "religion" can mess things up...it's the right to express your "faith" that is at issue. And a personal faith and a religion are two entirely separate things!
It is true that man has given man the right to personal expression of faith. It will vary in different countries. The United States has given its citizens the absolute guarantee of personal expression so long as it does not tread on the state for place or policy.
This right comes at a cost for the expressers of personal faith because they are no longer guaranteed the inherent respect they have historically enjoyed, rather are up for the same rigorous skepticism employed by all other areas of our science and reason based society.
I suggest that if you think that Christian fundamentalists are seeking to rewrite history, then you need to read "The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States" written by Benjamin F. Morris in 1863 during the Civil War. Make no mistake the Founding Fathers believed in a Supreme Being even though many of them did not believe in the "organized" religions of the day.
All men have a natural and unalienable right to worship Almighty God, according to the dictates of their own consciences and understanding; and that no man ought or of right can be compelled, to attend any religious worship, or erect or support any place of worship, or maintain any ministry, contrary to, or against, his own free will and consent; nor can any man, who acknowledges the being of a God, be justly deprived or abridged of any civil right as a citizen, on account of his religious sentiments, or peculiar mode of religious worship; and that no authority can, or ought to be, vested in, or assumed, by any power whatever, that shall, in any case, interfere with, or in any manner controul, the right of conscience in the free exercise of religious worship.' (Dec. of Rights, Art. 2.).
I agree with Adams Declaration of Rights as stated. That declaration does not negate the fact that those who put the government together were religious and depended on those religious principles for the foundation of this government. With a little research, the conclusion will be reached that without a foundation in religion of some sort, mankind will not or even maybe cannot come to the point where they are a moral or religious people and the Constitution of this country is wholey inadequate to govern any other.
It sounds like many of these men had a distaste for organized religion.
It does not mean they weren't Christian in belief and culture.
I would love to find precise copies of some of the original manuscripts or records from which the quotes of our founding fathers were taken! I'm so sick of misquotes by the liberals who twist their words to serve their own agenda. Without reliable information, how can we hope to debunk such claims? Anyone know where to get some original reliable resources? I don't want any third, fifth, or 20th party quotes. I want the original material. Is it posted anywhere online by a reliable resource, or do I have to make a trip to D.C.?
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