...from the discovery channel?
I mean come on. The founding fathers almost universely came from or decended from immigrants from Great Britain. Great Britain at the time was ruled by the Church of England (a Christian denomination). Despite what your kindergarden teacher told you, the vast majority of immigrants to the Americas for economic oppurtunity not religious persecution (believe it or not the puritans weren't the only immigrants.)
My point is every group immigrating to the American Colonies from the establishment of the Virginia Colony to the "shot heard 'round the world" were heavily if not universally Christian. Does it not stand to reason to call this countries origins fundementally Christian?
Personally, I consider the dissenting view to be on par with the nut that think 9/11 was orchastrated by the U.S. government so they could get more oil.
2006-10-23 07:47:59 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Trouthunter: You mean the same Jefferson that wrote "they are endowed by their CREATOR with certain with certain unalienable rights"
2006-10-23 07:55:09 · update #1
Ok you got me. It totally stands to reason that despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of the nation started as Christian, the fact that a handful of men might have been involved with the free-masons and or believed in an abridged version of the bible totally makes this country have secular origins.
2006-10-23 08:00:17 · update #2
Is the Treaty of Tripoli a conspiracy theory?
The Treaty is notable for Article 11, from Joel Barlow's English translation, which reads:
"As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion;....."
2006-10-23 07:51:29 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 2⤋
Depends on what you understand as Christian doctrine. Some of the first colonists were persecuted puritans, others were baptists, others were catholics - they came in different groups. Many others were simply looking for a living.
However when the United states of America was founded as an independent country, the founding fathers had a variety of religious views. Possibly they all believed in God. Pershaps some were real believing Christians. Benjamin Franklin did not claim to be one, although he had a lot of respect for the evangelist George Whitefield. Thomas Jefferson wrote his own version of the New testament, removing all of the supernatural from it!
So we can make pretty much what we want of history. I think there is often a lot of wishful thinking, when we say our country was founded on Christian principles. Yes, a lot of Christian principles filtered through. But it was not founded as a religious state. In fact the variety of religious belief among the founders is one of the reasons why freedom of religion is imbedded in the constitution, as one of the first ten amendments, I believe? (Sorry, I'm Canadian and haven't read the US constitution since about 1965!). I have heard people in Canada say our country was founded as a Christian nation. Sure the majority at the time claimed to belong to one of the Christian movements, but I don't think the nation was founded as a Christian nation. Much as I appreciate the Christian influences that filtered through in both countries.
2006-10-23 08:01:01 · answer #2 · answered by Mr Ed 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You are right in that this nation was definitely founded as a Christian nation, though also one that allowed for free religious expression and practice. What has been lost in recent years is that our officially recognized and "endorsed" religion was traditionally established to be Christianity.
The U.S. Supreme Court declared in the case of Runkel v. Winemiller (1799), “By our form of government, the Christian religion is the established religion; and all sects and denominations of Christians are placed on the same equal footing.”
And of all the thousands of pieces of evidence to support this, fromofficial court documents and opinions of justices, etc...the only piece of evidence that the opposition ever points to is the "Treaty of Tripoli (see below)....for which there are many theories to debunk its significance as undermining our Christian heritage!
I think the best way to understand out founders true intentions, is to just look what they did....and note how ingrained Christianity was within government and our schools in our early years....
2006-10-23 07:53:22 · answer #3 · answered by whitehorse456 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Isn't their motto, as seen on the Presidential (?) seal "One nation under God", or "In God we trust" or something like that? Might be a bit of a clue.
The Treaty of Tripoli (Pagan rebirth - you are a prat) says (Article 11) that the GOVERNMENT is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion. The country obviously is. This is the separation of church and state seen in most countries now - except some muslim ones funnily enough.
2006-10-23 07:54:48 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Please think about this a bit more. Firstly, if they were happy being "ruled by the Church of England" why would they be emmigrating? And it was not just English who came either. We had Germans, Russians, Poles, Spanish. Remember that Ferdinand and Isobella kicked all the Moors and Jews out of their country in 1492. So at least grant we had Jews as founders here, too.
Now to the business about Christianity:
John Adams (2nd President, if you do not go back to Hansen, et al) was a Unitarian.
Ben Franklin: In his autobiography, Franklin describes himself as "a thorough Deist." "I began to be regarded, by pious souls, with horror, either as an apostate or an Atheist."
According to a Deist publication, a Deist is "One who believes in the existence of a God or supreme being but denies revealed religion, basing his belief on the light of nature and reason." Deists reject the Judeo-Christian accounts of God as well as the Bible. They do believe that God is eternal and good, but flatly reject having a relationship with Him through Christ.
Jefferson was a Deist who respected Christ's teachings, but rejected His divinity, His miracles.
Alexander Hamilton and Patrick Henry were both Christian.
George Washington was extremely private in his beliefs. He left services BEFORE communion. I find that interesting. In his later life, Washington is not recorded referring to Jesus Christ and rarely to God. He preferred titles such as "the Divine Author of our blessed Religion," "Almighty Being," "Providence" and "Grand Designer" (all terms from Deist beliefs)
I think the essential greatness of this country is that it allows no establishment of a state religion, despite what some folks currently wish for. When one realizes the horror that can come when YOUR religion is NOT the state religion, then one gets the point of this greatness. May this realization always be so.
A Master Mason
American Co-Masonry
2006-10-24 03:45:24 · answer #5 · answered by NeoArt 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Though most of the Founding Fathers believed very much in Jesus, they were not altogether thrilled with Christianity.
Thomas Jefferson:
"I have examined all the known superstitions of the word, and I do not find in our particular superstition of Christianity one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology. Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned. What has been the effect of this coercion? To make one half the world fools and the other half hypocrites; to support roguery and error all over the earth."
2006-10-23 07:56:11 · answer #6 · answered by gjm37 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
You have not really studied history have you. America was founded by second sons of British lords. The first sons inherited everything, and the others got nothing. Religion played no part in this. Go to the library and look. It is true.
2006-10-23 07:55:19 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Oh, I get it! This is a Christian nation and others who are not Christians (Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Pagans, Wiccans, Atheists) are allowed to live here but only at your pleasure. You magnanimously allow us to practice our religion but if we were to do anything you believed to be "anti-Christian nation", then you could oppress us and make us toe the line...Do I have this right?
2006-10-23 08:08:38 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
FIrst off...the nation didnt start christian ..thats the conspiracy started by christians.
also, most references by jefferson about god is a bout a god of nature....and not the god of the bible..in fact his comments about god in our nations documents are not about the biblical god.
He & others did not subscribe to a biblical view of god, but specifically the deist view.
Thats according to his own letters & personal communications.
2006-10-23 09:07:53 · answer #9 · answered by pcreamer2000 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I would suggest that you read some of the letters the framers of the constitution wrote. I best they mostly believed in a "natural" god, not a personal one. Several where most likely atheist, including Jefferson.
2006-10-23 07:52:32 · answer #10 · answered by trouthunter 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋