QUOTE(rackman)
I've never studied Puritan history, so I didn't know that the Puritans were still an influential group by the time the Republican party was founded (around 1860's?). I also, of course, didn't know that the Puritans were "directy responsible" for founding the Republican party. I'll have to do some reading on this out of curiosity.
Sometimes you have to keep in mind that the phrase "separation of church and state" appears nowhere in the Constitution. Also, know that the majority of the the framers of the Constitution were deeply religious people. Even the Declaration attributes our "inalienable rights" to a "Creator" (note that Jefferson was a Deist).
Although I am in no way an advocate of combining church and government, I think it's important to know the true history of the founding of the United States. Despite the fact that so many of the Founding Fathers were devout Christians, they crafted a Constitution that granted individual freedoms that were nearly unheard of at the time. The most glaring evidence of their religious tolerance was that the First Amendment states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibing the free exercise thereof..."
If the Founding Fathers were all a bunch of oppressive Puritans, why did they design the government to allow citizens absolute religious freedom?
To go back to one of my earlier posts, it's the "majority rule" and "public good" concepts that have steadily eroded our individual freedoms, NOT the religious roots of the founding of the United States.
Are we still talking about topless sunbathing?
Sometimes you have to keep in mind that the phrase "separation of church and state" appears nowhere in the Constitution. Also, know that the majority of the the framers of the Constitution were deeply religious people. Even the Declaration attributes our "inalienable rights" to a "Creator" (note that Jefferson was a Deist).
Although I am in no way an advocate of combining church and government, I think it's important to know the true history of the founding of the United States. Despite the fact that so many of the Founding Fathers were devout Christians, they crafted a Constitution that granted individual freedoms that were nearly unheard of at the time. The most glaring evidence of their religious tolerance was that the First Amendment states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibing the free exercise thereof..."
If the Founding Fathers were all a bunch of oppressive Puritans, why did they design the government to allow citizens absolute religious freedom?
To go back to one of my earlier posts, it's the "majority rule" and "public good" concepts that have steadily eroded our individual freedoms, NOT the religious roots of the founding of the United States.
Are we still talking about topless sunbathing?
Actually, I believe that th whole reason for the separation of chusrch and state was tp protect the politicians from ever being challanged by organized religion such as we now see in the middle east. There it's common place to see religious parties in power. It's just a way the good-ol-boys had on securing their power base against what could be their only threat to power.
She could stop me in my tracks with that body anytime.
