Founding Fathers wanted church, state separate

Founding Fathers wanted church, state separate

"The religious beliefs that people hold (even atheism) are meant for personal, not political life.

When the founding fathers created our nation, they did not have a “Christian” nation in mind, but rather a nation in which Christians and non-Christians could live in peace with each other.

Obviously, Christianity is the most prominent religion in our nation, but mixing a specific religion, such as Christianity, with legal code can be dangerous.

The tenets of every religion are interpreted and reinterpreted in many ways. These subjective interpretations are what make mixing religious dogma with social law and order troubling, particularly in a society that is as religiously diverse as ours.

In the past, induction of religious law into a legal system has resulted in things like fines, wars, bigotry, sexism, censorship, heresy trials, witch-burnings, torture and genocide.

The United States was not founded on Christian values. “In God We Trust” was not put on our currency until 1864. The founders didn’t even have a pledge of allegiance; the pledge itself didn’t emerge until 1892, and has been modified four times since. It wasn’t until 1954, during the constitution-shredding days of the McCarthy Era, that “under God” was added to the pledge of allegiance.

I’ve heard several televangelists say that nowhere in the Constitution or in the Declaration of Independence is there a clause about the separation of church and state. This claim is misguided and downright fallacious.

The First Amendment is more than enough to refute such unsupportable claims: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

The Declaration of Independence also very clearly states why no one has any reason to institutionalize their religious dogma: “When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

“Nature’s God,” “Supreme Judge,” “Divine Providence” and “Creator” are not referring to the Christian, Jewish or Islamic version of God at all.

“Nature’s God” refers specifically to the being that created nature; this is not the scriptural God so many mistake it to be.

This was actually in reference to the Deist form of God, which is what a majority of the founders believed in. Many of them were openly hostile towards organized religion.

George Washington was a Deist as well, but many Christian historians have concocted stories saying he was a Christian.

The biggest propagandist of Washington’s alleged Christianity was the Reverend Mason Locke Weems, who was also the man who preached the ridiculous cherry tree story.

Weems claims that Washington put his hand over his breast and said for God to take him away as he was dying.
Seems like a convincing story until one realizes that Weems was not even at Washington’s deathbed.

Tobias Lear, who was present at Washington’s death bed, states that he had no last minute repentance, but rather he died without a sigh.

The truth is that Washington was a Deist, just as Madison, Franklin, Paine, and Jefferson were. The words of the founders on organized religion clearly prove they were founding a secular state.

I believe these quotes clearly demonstrate the founders’ intentions for a secular society: Thomas Jefferson said, “History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes.”

Benjamin Franklin said,“How many observe Christ’s birthday! How few, his precepts! O! ‘Tis easier to keep holidays than commandments.”

James Madison once wrote, “Religion flourishes in greater purity without than with the aid of government.”

In our nation, people should be allowed to believe what they want, without having government impede upon them or their personal values.

Mixing religion with state in the hopes of achieving virtue is the equivalent of using alcohol to put out a fire — it results in chaos and unnecessary injury.
 

Email: impeachbush86@yahoo.com"