CitizenLink: Christian Conservatives Poke Fun at President Obama's View of the Nation
President Obama keeps claiming the United States is not a "Christian nation." In his Stoplight® commentary, Stuart Shepard examines the impact of holding such a worldview. Click onto link below to listen to these folk who we are suppose to be looking to for our moral clarity. http://www.citizenlink.org/Stoplight/A0000...
FYI CitizenLink & Focus on the Family: Most of the Founding Father's were Deists, not Christians.
..."One of the most common statements from the "Religious Right" is that they want this country to "return to the Christian principles on which it was founded". However, a little research into American history will show that this statement is a lie. The men responsible for building the foundation of the United States had little use for Christianity, and many were strongly opposed to it. They were men of The Enlightenment, not men of Christianity. They were Deists who did not believe the bible was true.
When the Founders wrote the nation's Constitution, they specified that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." (Article 6, section 3) This provision was radical in its day-- giving equal citizenship to believers and non-believers alike. They wanted to ensure that no single religion could make the claim of being the official, national religion, such as England had. Nowhere in the Constitution does it mention religion, except in exclusionary terms. The words "Jesus Christ, Christianity, Bible, and God" are never mentioned in the Constitution-- not once"...
Deism is a religious and philosophical belief that a supreme being created the universe, and that this (and religious truth in general) can be determined using reason and observation of the natural world alone, without a need for either faith or organized religion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism
http://freethought.mbdojo.com/foundingfath...
FYI CitizenLink & Focus on the Family: Most of the Founding Father's were Deists, not Christians.
..."One of the most common statements from the "Religious Right" is that they want this country to "return to the Christian principles on which it was founded". However, a little research into American history will show that this statement is a lie. The men responsible for building the foundation of the United States had little use for Christianity, and many were strongly opposed to it. They were men of The Enlightenment, not men of Christianity. They were Deists who did not believe the bible was true.
When the Founders wrote the nation's Constitution, they specified that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." (Article 6, section 3) This provision was radical in its day-- giving equal citizenship to believers and non-believers alike. They wanted to ensure that no single religion could make the claim of being the official, national religion, such as England had. Nowhere in the Constitution does it mention religion, except in exclusionary terms. The words "Jesus Christ, Christianity, Bible, and God" are never mentioned in the Constitution-- not once"...
Deism is a religious and philosophical belief that a supreme being created the universe, and that this (and religious truth in general) can be determined using reason and observation of the natural world alone, without a need for either faith or organized religion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism
http://freethought.mbdojo.com/foundingfath...
Jen, I believe you are basically right, though with a couple exceptions. I wouldn't go so far as to say the founding fathers had no use for Christianity. It was still a prevalent mindset, though carefully excluded from the role of government. And deism, though based on reason, I don't think excludes the element of faith, which follows from a belief in a Creator. I believe the Universalists. of whom Benjamin Franklin was one, are basically deists, and that is an organized religion. But as to your main point, no we cannot say we are a Christian nation or should return to one. That is quite a dangerous concept. However, I myself could be called a Christian, depending on how you define the word.