Hey, Evile, you REALLY need to read this. Really. It seems you got a few things wrong.
Message 17751415
I eagerly await your comments.
I particularly like
"[T]he government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion;"
( "Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the United States and the Bey and Subjects of Tripoli of Barbary," 1796-97; from Hunter Miller, Treaties and Other International Acts of the U.S. [1776-1818], Vol. II, Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1931, p. 365. )
This is good too:
"It was the Universal opinion of the Century preceding the last, that Civil Govt. could not stand without the prop of a Religious establishment; & that the Xn. [Christian] religion itself, would perish if not supported by the legal provision for its Clergy. The experience of Virginia conspiciously corroboates the disproof of both opinions. The Civil Govt. tho' bereft of everything like an associatd hierarchy possesses the requisite stability and performs its functions with complete success; Whilst the number, the industry, and the morality of the Priesthood, & the devotion of the people have been manifestly increased by the total separation of the Church from the State."
( James Madison, letter to Robert Walsh, March 2, 1819; from Jack N. Rakove, ed., James Madison: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1999, pp. 726-727. )
I'm sure you'll just love this. Thomas Jefferson was the second President of the United States, in case you don't know it. Oh, and secretary of the convention that wrote the Declaration of Independence. Among other things.
"I contemplate with soveriegn reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between church and State."
( Thomas Jefferson, letter to the Danbury Baptist Association, January 1, 1802; from Merrill D. Peterson, ed., Thomas Jefferson: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1984, p. 510. )
"Where the preamble declares, that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed by inserting ‘Jesus Christ,’ so that it would read ‘A departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion;’ the insertion was rejected by the great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mohammedan, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination."
( Thomas Jefferson in his Autobiography, 1821; from Thomas Jefferson: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1984, p. 40. ) |
