Regular readers will know that I am a big fan of Thomas Jefferson, not only because he founded my alma mater, but because his thinking was so far ahead of his time. He writings and statements continually underline the untruthfulness of the Christianists who claim that the founding faters wanted the USA to be a "Christian nation." This Jefferson quote takes them head on:
"Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. Ideas must be distinct before reason can act upon them; and no man ever had a distinct idea of the trinity. It is the mere Abracadabra of the mountebanks calling themselves the priests of Jesus."
Another good quote on religion comes from James Madison, Jefferson's neighboring planter:
"What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments had on society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the civil authority; on many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny; in no instance have they been the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wish to subvert the public liberty may have found an established clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just government, instituted to secure and perpetuate it, needs them not."
2 comments:
Jefferson states he is an Epicurean in a letter to his close friend (see my site), and Epicureans are ATHEISTS and deny any AFTERLIFE.
Moreover, Brooke Allen's excellent "Moral Minority" (2006) quotes six of the founders' writings which demonstrate they did not have any intention of creating a Christian or any other religious state. THEY opposed all tyrannies, religious and secular.
Jonathan Rowe at Positive Liberty has beating this dead horse for several years and it still ain't in rigor mortis?
I'm all for freedom of religion, as long as they don't push their beliefs on others by making new laws or enforcing draconian older ones. Its bizaare that these right-wing so-called "christian" folks think that by making america more Gawd like, bad things will stop to happen!! Butt what do you expect from the same people that believe that the New Orleans disaster was because of our so-called permissive lifestyle?
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