"This country was founded by Christians!"

[Aristus]

The age-old right-wing meme used to justify dickbag behavior in the name of God.

I would love to point out to them that it was Plymouth Colony that was founded by Christians, not the whole damn country. And the Puritans thought so little good about Christmas that they actually banned the celebration in 1644! So, there's that.

I would also love to tell the "We-are-a-Christian-nation" types that the Jamestown colony, which predates Plymouth by a decade and a half, was founded by greedy fortune-hunters who were unable to do a lick of work for themselves, so they hired, and later enslaved, people to do the work for them. These are the true ancestors of our money-crazed, incompetent corporate masters.

[hrmjustin]

1. Also say nowhere in the constitution does it say we are a Christian nation.

[CatWoman]

2. did you see the Smithsonian article about evidence of cannibalism in Jamestown?

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Starving-Settlers-in-Jamestown-Colony-Resorted-to-Eating-A-Child-205472161.html

[progressoid]

16. That would make a heck of a bumper sticker!

THIS COUNTRY WAS FOUNDED BY CANNIBALS!

[YankeyMCC]

3. To me it's more important how

the country is Formed rather than founded.

And it has been and continues to be formed by a myriad of people with a myriad of different religions and traditions and ideas.

[tsuki]

4. I thought Georgia was founded by criminals. I'm

ducking.

[bench scientist]

5. well it's being run by them .. still

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/17/ethics-investigation-against-georgia-governor-reportedly-turns-into-criminal-probe/

[CatWoman]

28. lol

truer words were never spoken

[onehandle]

6. This continent was settled by non-Christians, long before Leif Ericson spotted it.

And he may or may not have been a Pagan at the time.

[L0oniX]

7. Right! Like the Puritans were any better than the religous system they left.

Also ...they seem to forget about that nasty asshole slaver ...Columbus.

[Sanity Claws]

8. Isn't this another way of saying that Christians are responsibe for genocide?

People were already living here before the so-called Christians came. They simply pushed the natives out and committed genocide.
If one wants to extol the merits of Christianity, one shouldn't associate it with the founding of the US.

[hrmjustin]

11. Well put!

[chungking34]

9. Let's not forget that many of the Founding Fathers were deists

But why let facts get in the way of their ignorance?

[Vashta Nerada]

10. This country was founded by people living in bands and tribes who walked over from the Bering Strait

around 12,000 years ago.

It amazes me how the Right conveniently forgets that Native Americans were here thousand of years before Europeans.

[hrmjustin]

12. +1

[Drahthaardogs]

13. The reasons the Puritans banned Christmas has absolutely nothing to do with secularism

Christmas was not "religious enough" and the old customs of wassailing for booze and food, parties, etc. were the reasons they abandoned it.

[Scootaloo]

14. They were like the Taliban, but with belt buckles on their hats.

[Drahthaardogs]

15. I often wonder why they put belt buckles on their heads.

It reminds me of

So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em. Give me five bees for a quarter, you'd say.

Now where were we? Oh yeah: the important thing was I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn't have white onions because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones...

[dawg]

21. They didn't.

Buckles were considered "old-fashioned" in the 1800's when people first started commemorating the pilgrims. So artists stuck them everywhere when depicting them - even on their hats.

Neither the Puritans nor the Jamestown settlers wore buckles on their hats. In fact, no one is known to have done that. Only my distant ancestors ...

[mikehiggins]

17. You guys (and gals) don't get it, do you?

The points about the immigrants from ancient Asia are well taken. The points about the Vikings (which historical research suggests had a much larger footprint on aboriginal North America than earlier suspected) and, yeah, even the collection of ne'er do well's from Europe who founded those colonies, they are true as well.
However, as I have posted every year since I came on this board, the people who founded this NATION, or at least those who manipulated things into falling into place the way they did, were those damned Freemasons with their ideas about individuals rights and universal education and so forth and so on.
And you wonder sometimes if the British generals threw some of those battles...

[Coyotl]

18. The USA was founded by fu@#ing genocidalist slavers!

Ask any Native American or African American.

[indie9197]

19. I wouldn't say our corporate masters are incompetent

They are doing a damn good job of doing what they do!

[Sheepshank]

20. Errr...the reality "This country was FUNDED by Christians"

..follow the money

[freshwest]

22. It was 'found' by natives. The 'founded by' Europeans is just a fictional construct. n/t

[KG]

23. even if it was. so fucking what?

[nyquil_man]

24. Let's ask these founders what they think we should do.

Oh, what? They're dead?

Damn it. Maybe we should decide for ourselves, then.

[Douglas Carpenter]

25. The 'Religious Right" genuninely do believe that the American Revolution was the creation of "Bible

believing," born again, fundamentalist Christians. They genuinely do believe that the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were based on fundamentalist born again Christians principles. They genuinely do believe all the founders of the American republic from John Adams to Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson to George Washington were fundamentalist born again Christians led by the Holy Spirit and were the forerunners of the Moral Majority, The Christian Coalition and the Family Research Council. They genuinely do believe that born again fundamentalist Christians are the only legitimate participants in the American tradition that was established by THEIR forefathers when the nation was founded in 1776. Yes that is completely outrageous - But this is exactly what the religious right does believe - pretty much every one of them. Liberals and secularist are a foreign enemy entity trying to hijack something they have no right to and this is the root cause of all of America's problems. This is their worldview and their universally assumed understanding of history and anyone who tries to tell them otherwise is lying or crazy and certainly evil and a traitor against the United States of America.

[RKP5637]

26. Well said !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! n/t

[Brigid]

27. "Founded by Christians?"

The Native Americans might beg to differ.

[unblock]

29. founded by people who FLED christian nations is more like it.

[Marblehead]

30. no, but turned christian...