I have debated getting into this. I try and keep the political out of this blog. Those of you who know me in "real life" know that I can be...opinionated. (that's a kinder expression than some would use)
I am not going to get into my opinions about Van Orden vs Perry or McCreary County vs ACLU. While I believe emphatically in a separation of church and state, I think this can be a complicated issue. I think the key to these cases is probably intent. There are statues of roman gods in friezes on government buildings. I don't believe they exist as reminders of religious values. The question then becomes the intent of these displays. I also think that the two cases are different in many ways, including intent.
Anyway, before this gets long-winded, I found a few interesting quotes:
1 - “The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.”
2 - "One day the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in the United States will tear down the artificial scaffolding of Christianity. And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as His father, in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter."
3 - "Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise"
I have listed the sources for these quotes in the extended entry.
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1 - John Adams, Treaty of Tripoli, Article 11: Written during the Administration of George Washington and signed into law by John Adams.
2 - Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Adams, April 11, 1823
3 - James Madison, Letter to William Bradford, April 1, 1774
Well, look at that. The Founding Fathers. The quotes come from this site on deism that includes, as an introduction to the definition of deism, this quote:
"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use."
- Galileo Galilei
I am not looking to start trouble, just to point out that the Founding Fathers were not all Christians. If you want to argue the case based on the Constitution, fine. But do not argue that the Founding Fathers, as Christians, would have weighed in on this issue on the side of Christianity.
Do I agree that the Supreme Court could be spending its time on things that are more important? Certainly. But I don't think that waving the Christianity flag here is the right answer. I am not trying to ban Christianity (or any other religion), but to claim that that was the main pillar on which the country was founded is incorrect.
Ok, done ranting. Argue if you want to, but argue in the same spirit that this post was intended. I am not arguing that anyone's religious beliefs are incorrect. Religion is personal and as such, each person's views are correct for that person. Religion and morality are not the same thing. I am, for the most part, a moral person. I can be that with or without organized religion. Other people can be that with or without religion. If religion helps for some people, then it is worthwhile for those people. But it cannot and should not be enforced.
Play nice and I will post all comments. Be rude and I will not.
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