T: currently adding evidence we are a Christian Nation to her blog :)A Patriot's Heart
Source: apatriotheart.blogspot.com
September 16 at 11:33pm · Comment · Like / Unlike · View Feedback (10)Hide Feedback (10) · Share
Karen B: I love your blog! I wish the whole world could see it and read it. Well, I guess theoretically they COULD, but I wish they WOULD!
September 16 at 11:58pm · Delete
T: Lol. well thanks!
September 17 at 12:17am · Delete
Don L: Just to be a trouble maker..... How can a christian nation be founded by a bunch of deists?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deists
September 17 at 7:30am · Delete
T: Well, I'm not sure anything I say willl satisfy you since you just like to make trouble.lol. But modern historians have a tendency to classify many people as deists that i don't agree with. I don't have time to research right now, so don't ask me to prove it. There were only 4 peoople on that list that I agree may have been deists, and only 3 of those actually signed either the Declaration or Constitution - Thomas Paine signed neither. I cannot agree with George Washington being a deist. Again, don't ask me to prove it. I'm too busy.
Also, Christianity is a very encompassing term. Some deists argued that they were practicing the PURE form of Christianity.
But whether you classify them as Christian or not in the modern sense, what is important is that they believed in God. If it makes you feel better, I could also say that this nation was founded on Judeo-Christian beliefs.
September 17 at 8:00am · Delete
T: One more thought... Deists believed that God did not intervene in the affairs of men. If Benjamin Franklin believed that, why did he say:
"In the beginning of the contest with G. Britain... we had daily prayer in this room for the Divine Protection. -- Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a Superintending providence in our favor...
I have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth -- that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? "
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/benfranklin.htm
If Thomas Jefferson believed this, why did he include in the Declaration the statement:
"...with a firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence..."
September 17 at 10:50am · Delete
T: and, yes, I realize I just tried to prove what I said I wasn't going to prove. Lol!
September 17 at 10:56am · Delete
Karen B: you go girl! Let him have it! :-)
September 17 at 11:15am · Delete
Don L: Very good. Founded on judeo-christian beliefs is more easily defensible, and judeo-christian priciples would probably be more accurate. The fact is that many of our founding fathers also cherished many Greek and Roman ideas and ideals. Democracy itself is essentially absent from the Bible. They also argued that there was "natural law," hence statements like "We hold these truths to be self evident."
September 17 at 2:27pm · Delete
T: I absolutely agree with the concept of natural law, a law higher than any human law. This "natural law" is what all of our political laws really should be based on. I also believe that the Founders believed this Natural Law came from God, which is why the Declaration says that we are "endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights." Note ... Read Morethat the Constitution does not grant rights - it lists them. This is why John Quincy Adams said:
"Our political way of life is by the laws of nature, of nature's God, and of course presupposes the existence of God, the moral ruler of the universe,and a rule of right and wrong, of just and unjust, binding upon man, preceding all institutions of human society and government."
They did model much of the government after Greek and Roman ideals, but it was always with the knowledge that this Natural Law came from their Creator.
September 17 at 3:17pm · Delete
T: Biblio: the quote and several ideas came from "Whatever Happened to Justice?" by Richard Maybury
September 17 at 3:20pm · Delete
