Thanks Keith Hornaday The Founding Fathers were painfully aware of Christian sectarian violence in Europe which puts ISIS to shame. Some of the early colonies in America were founded by one Christian sect or another---Baptists in Rhode Island, Anglicans in Virginia, Catholics in Maryland, for example---and the First Amendment was written to stop these various Christian sects from killing one another. States were no longer allowed to sanction one religious faith over the others, nor discriminate against non-Christian faiths or freethinkers. Most of the Founders were deists or theists who tended to attend church as a social function. Deists and theists believe there is a god, but not one who does much, which differentiates them from agnostics, who arent sure theres a god or not, and atheists, who dont believe in any gods. The Founding Fathers believed that it was best for government to be secular, that is, operating without bringing any religious doctrine to the table. They were not particularly successful, as evidenced by the many Blue Laws put in place over the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries. There is no war on religion today---the United States was meant to be a secular nation with people free to attend services at the church of their choice, or not. Churches were not taxed because they provided several useful social functions to the community, but with the rise of mega-churches and monstrously rich televangelists, and local pastors endorsing candidates for elected office, not to mention the number of people now admitting that they are atheist/agnostic/pagan/heathen, it is time to re-evaluate the status of churches. If you are a good Christian then look overseas to the chaos in the Middle East, with Sunni and Shite Muslims killing one another over, basically, who was the correct successor to the Prophet Mohammed, and imagine what it was like in 16th century Europe with Catholics slaughtering Protestants, and Protestants murdering Catholics. Weve all seen those beautiful ruins dotting the landscape of England: that was Henry VIII (Anglican), his daughter Mary (Catholic), his other daughter Elizabeth I (Anglican) burning churches, cathedrals, and abbeys...and so on until Cromwells Puritans beheaded the Anglican King Charles I. The Founding Fathers wanted to end that before it started in the new United States of America.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 13:10:21 +0000
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