Friday, April 10, 2009

THE CONSTITUTION SAYS NO

There has been a lot of talk lately of whether we are a "christian" nation or not. This talk is being pushed by those I refer to as the Tali-born again, people who have been "born again" and are trying to tell everyone how to live and think and what to believe, and that only they speak the truth.

They believe that this is a "christian" country founded on "christian" principles, which it is not. In fact, the Constitution expressly prohibits the advancement of one religion over another by the government, Federal or State. I would have to say we are a nation of Free Choice.

From Salon and MSNBC:

Is the U.S. a Christian nation?

There's been quite a bit of discussion about Newsweek's latest cover story, "The Decline and Fall of Christian America," plenty of it coming from Christians who are, as you might imagine, unhappy that Newsweek would publish an article saying this.

So far, the most interesting thing to come out of all this is a debate on MSNBC's "Hardball" between writer and noted atheist Christopher Hitchens and former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, who's now with a Christian right group, the Family Research Center. It's definitely a lopsided debate -- even if Blackwell's case was airtight, he'd stand little chance against Hitchens, who's well-versed on the subject and is very, very good at discussing it. But it's worth watching anyway.


6 comments:

Gordon said...

The Pilgrims were such religious whackjobs that the Brits were glad to see them go. Religious whackjobbery is still with us, but it's just an American tradition, not the law of the land.

The Constitution says there is no state religion. We are free to worship or not as we choose. We are not free to impose our beliefs on each other or sanction those who do not believe as we do.

Hitchens is right, and so is Jon Meacham, who says we do sort of recognize a non-denominational higher power as a matter of state. The definition of 'Higher power' is left to individual interpretation and not enshrined in law.

Grandpa Eddie said...

Easy on the Pilgrims, pal. Both sides of my family came over on the Mayflower.
The Pilgrims left England because the Church of England told them they had to worship the way that was mandated by the Church and the Pilgrims refused. They were looking for religious freedom.
Just as the Pilgrims left England and came here for religious freedom, we all also have the right to be free from religion, both in our private and public lives, including our govt.

Gordon said...

I'll stand by what I said. They were what we would call Puritans, a very repressive sect and the basis of a lot of the problems with christianity we have today, much more so than the C of E that was glad to see them go.

I'm sure your forebears were very nice people.

Grandpa Eddie said...

That's ok Gordon, I'm cool with that.
I don't follow their teachings anyway. I think somewhere along the line we all have some strange family members....I know I've got more then my share.


No, not you Nancy.

SheaNC said...

Copying myself from another blog comment :)

George Washington:
"The United States is in no sense founded upon the Christian doctrine."

Adolph Hitler:
"The national government... will offer strong protection to Christianity as the very basis of our collective morality.”


Resist the American Taliban! [symbolic fist in air]

Grandpa Eddie said...

Shea - Thanks for the link. I'm sure that will come in handy in the future.....probably the very near future.

Resist we must! For our freedom and the future of our country!