Hey huckabee... the USA was not founded as a christian nation

ORDagnabbit

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Thu Jan-17-08 08:39 AM
Original message

Hey huckabee... the USA was not founded as a christian nation

Edited on Thu Jan-17-08 08:46 AM by ORDagnabbit

I love history. So much there, hard to re-write and all you have to do is want to dig for the truth.

This Treaty of Tripoli stated categorically that the United States of America is not founded upon the Christian religion, and that this treaty, with that statement intact, was read before and passed unanimously by the United States Senate, and was signed by the President of the United States without a hint of controversey or discord, and remains a definitive statement from the "Founding Fathers" on the secular nature of American government

Preliminary treaty began with a signing on 4 November, 1796 and ratified by the Senate with John Adams signature on 10 June, 1797

Treaty of Tripoli. In Article 11, it states:

As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.

4 good sites on it.
The first one is the actual minutes taken from The Journal of the Senate including the Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate, John Adams Administration 1791-1801

http://members.tripod.com/~candst/tripoli1.htm
http://earlyamerica.com/review/summer97/secular.html
http://www.nobeliefs.com/Tripoli.htm
http://www.sunnetworks.net/~ggarman/tripoli.html

Below is a link to a great article specifically on the senators who signed the treaty

It was only the third time that a vote was recorded when the vote was unanimous! (The next time was to honor George Washington.)There is no record of any debate or dissension on the treaty.

the vote they cast was ordinary, routine, normal. It was, in other words, quite well accepted, only a few years after first the Constitution and then the First Amendment were ratified, that "the Government of the United States of America was not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion." After a bloody and costly civil war and the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment determined that citizens of the United States cannot have their rights abridged by state or local governments either, religious liberty for all was established. Governmental neutrality in matters of religion remains the enduring basis for that liberty.

http://www.stephenjaygould.org/ctrl/buckner_tripoli.html

Then you might wanna read Jefferson

http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/0205/tolerance.html

Campaigning for religious freedom in Virginia, Jefferson followed Locke, his idol, in demanding recognition of the religious rights of the �Mahamdan,� the Jew and the �pagan.� Supporting Jefferson was his old ally, Richard Henry Lee, who had made a motion in Congress on June 7, 1776, that the American colonies declare independence. �True freedom,� Lee asserted, �embraces the Mahomitan and the Gentoo (Hindu) as well as the Christian religion.�

In his autobiography, Jefferson recounted with satisfaction that in the struggle to pass his landmark Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom (1786), the Virginia legislature �rejected by a great majority� an effort to limit the bill�s scope �in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan.�

And then do some more reading with actual fact based research on who founded the country, who wrote the constitution and where they came from. (stupid history and its stupid facts always messing up the repukes)

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050221/allen

I wont bore you with quotes except for this one from the article.....

James Madison believed that "religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprize." He spoke of the "almost fifteen centuries" during which Christianity had been on trial: "What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity, in both, superstition, bigotry, and persecution."

Then read about the actual religion of the founders..

http://www.deism.com/washington.htm

Heres some great history on Washington

After George Washington's death, Christians made an intense effort to claim him as one of their own. This effort was based largely on the grounds that Washington had regularly attended services with his wife at an Episcopal Church and had served as a vestryman in the church. On August 13, 1835, a Colonel Mercer, involved in the effort, wrote to Bishop William White, who had been one of the rectors at the church Washington had attended. In the letter, Mercer asked if "Washington was a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church, or whether he occasionally went to the communion only, or if ever he did so at all..." (John Remsberg, Six Historic Americans, p. 103). On August 15, 1835, White sent Mercer this reply

In regard to the subject of your inquiry, truth requires me to say that Gen. Washington never received the communion in the churches of which I am the parochial minister. Mrs. Washington was an habitual communicant.... I have been written to by many on that point, and have been obliged to answer them as I now do you (Remsberg, p. 104).

Then one final stop with a nice essay on the The Christian Nation Myth

http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/farrell_till/myth.html