Found a gem in Tammy Lynn Michael's blog today.....

[mickeysaver]

i'm not sure if this is legal or not, copyrights, etc, i don't know what falls into that category... anyway, i want to post some thoughts from a fellow in indiana. it's a letter to the editor, in the lafayette journal and courier, published in the may 13, 2007 edition. if this is illegal... well, im sure i'll hear about it, and then this blog entry will disappear into the netherworld of electronic nothings, along with the rest of those white house emails about that facade king bush and his dicky jesters. (of course, maybe randall himself will say, "i don't wanna be part of your blog, you lady ******", or something hideous like that... but then, maybe, at the end of the day, this will be okay.)

"To the extent that our Founding Fathers had any religious affiliation at all, it was a tepid embracing of the philosophy of deism, a popular system of thought at the time. Jefferson, Franklin, Paine, among many others, held deist, rather than Christian, religious beliefs.

The two documents upon which our country was actually founded -- i.e., the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States -- contain not a word about Christianity, Christian principles, the Bible or Jesus Christ. Neither is there any mention of the Ten Commandments, heaven, prayer or being saved.

In 1797, the Treaty of Tripoli, negotiated by none other than George Washington, declared that "the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion." Congress unanimously approved the text of this treaty, and John Adams signed it.

Mandatory church affiliation, among other factors, led to the establishment of the term a "wall of separation between church and state," allowing, at each citizen's discretion, freedom of religion or freedom from religion.

The phrase "under God" was added to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954, and our national motto became "In God We Trust" in 1956 in response to USSRs' so-called "godless Communists." It is historically incorrect to claim that America was founded upon Christianity.

Indeed, it was quite the opposite.

Randall S. Smith

Rossville, Indiana"

What do you think about that? Maggie

PS. If you would like to read Melissa Etheridge's wife's blog for yourself, it is found at http://hollywoodfarmgirl.blogspot.com/

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

What do I think about that? I like the fact that she had the courage to write it. I really like the fact that you had the courage to post it here.

The so called founding fathers made it quite clear in any number of documents that this country was not founded on christianity. Actually, if history is to be recounted with any accuracy, the early invaders of this land were escaping religious persecution in their own countries. Why would the people responsible for establishing a new government do anything other than protect themselves from further religious persecution?

 

[Viki]

Yup, there were a lot of deists and masons and such. A motley crew!

And, even more importantly, there can't be anything like a "Christian" nation because the Jesus event was about radical inclusion and radical reversal (the last first and all that good stuff). Nation states, whose very business is to define borders and boundaries, cannot practice that way of life without dissolving into chaos.

 

[OKW Lover]

I've always wondered why so many people have "God Bless America" stickers on their cars, etc. Don't they think that "God" should bless all? If this is some kind of anti-somebody statement, don't they think that the other side believes that "God" should be on their side? Ever wonder how many people have been killed in the name of religion?