On The Web: Thomas Jefferson, on Christianity
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For those of you who live under the stubborn delusion that the Founding Fathers of the United States were devout Christians, here's a little quote from Thomas Jefferson's Notes on Virginia:
I do not find in our particular superstition of Christianity one redeeming feature….. Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burned, tortured, fined and imprisoned. What has been the effect of this coercion? To make half the world fools and half hypocrites; to support roguery and error all over the world.
Yeah. I'm sure he'd be ALL in favor of Huckabee's proposition to amend the Constitution to agree with the Bible.
(… and another thanks to politicalcompass.org for that little gem)
Also on that page, from Ben Franklin, regarding the Constitution:
This is likely to be administered for a course of years and then end in despotism … when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government, being incapable of any other
Um, yea we know about him. We also accept that Benjamin Franklin had strong agnostic leanings. Several of the founding fathers disliked organized religion (maybe ESPECIALLY T.J.), and all of them remembered the atrocities politicized Christianity (and other religions) have committed throughout history.
26th February 2008 at 4:34 am | permalink |On the other hand, the vast majority of the founding fathers were devout members of one church or another. Some even lead churches at various times in their lives. By far, most of them were Christians. Even if:
"The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion," — 1797 Treaty of Tripoli.
@t.phillips: "On the other hand, the vast majority of the founding fathers were devout members of one church or another. Some even lead churches at various times in their lives."
Of course, that probably had more to do with the fact that for many of the colonies, atheism was considered a crime that was punishable by death or imprisonment. Thus, in enacting the Constitution, the Founding Fathers decisively removed religion from the affairs of civil government. And if we want to co-opt the language of the Radical Religious Right, the Founding Fathers were the ultimate "Constitutional activists," creating a founding structure of government to condone and absolve their lack of faith in the Christian God.
26th February 2008 at 7:24 am | permalink |The way I see it is this: Some of the founders were religious (Christian, Deist, what have you), some were not … and they all seemed to be wise enough to realize that the only way for such disparate beliefs to coexist peacefully under one government was to remove religion from government all together, while guaranteeing everyone the right to practice their beliefs privately.
Personally, I agree.
26th February 2008 at 1:06 pm | permalink |