My wife and I homeschooled, and some of the curriculum we used taught things along this line. But what is critical importance, to tell the WHOLE story and not a slanted, distorted version of it. To try to make out the founders like they are some kind of Bible thumping right wingers is a total distortion. It is true that first Plymouth, and later Boston, were founded by religious refugees from King James I, who had vowed to harry the nonconformists out of England. (He became king when Elizabeth died). But the Constitution was 170 years later, and several of the foremost of the Founders at Philadelphia were Deist, or Unitarian, or very close to it. Jefferson was not at Philadelphia (he was in Paris, then). Neither was Thomas Paine. But Franklin was. Then - when Madisons Bill of Rights was offered for ratification, its intent was clear. (1) No law respecting the establishment (tax support) of religion (2) Nothing which would prohibit your free exercise of religion. (HOWEVER YOU CHOOSE) The Bible thumpers of those early days appeared on the frontier, in the hinterland. But the spontaneous evangelicalism of the backwoods could hardly be said to have followed any state prescription. In fact, it was a grassroots phenomenon, the religiosity. It broke all the rules. A benign assessment would say, the Awakenings and revivalism renewed the Christian religion FROM BELOW (it was not a top-down movement, but a bottom-up movement). Tocqueville commented acerbically that religious insanity was very common in America. Sure there were healings, transformations, but who could distinguish, since there was so much enthusiasm -- the more sedate and erudite theological elites were exasperated by the denominational anarchy of Americas religious heartland. As one satirist commented: There you will find what everyone needs Wild religion without any creeds. The problem with this sort of lopsided, biased version, is not so much that there is no truth to it, but rather that it leaves out so much that I am sure the presentation simply would not be accurate. lindy1950.tripod/biblical/evangelical.html
Posted on: Sun, 23 Nov 2014 04:37:15 +0000
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