LETTER: Founding Fathers didn’t separate church and state
September 7, 2012 at 5:08 am in The Daily Republic
Numerous Founding Fathers and early statesmen asserted that religious faith was the most important source of civil virtues. Continue Reading
LETTER: Founding Fathers didn’t separate church and state
5 Comments
The words “separation of church and state” may not be in the constitution or any of the amendments but neither is the word “god”. And most assuredly not the word “christian”. If the founder’s intended for this to be a christian nation as many would have us believe, why the omission when they could easily have included it?
It may be true that at the time the First Amendment was written it was primarily to address any one denomination becoming dominant or
“established”. However, it is very clear that the founder’s answer to this was to create a secular form of government. One that neither aids religion in any way nor hinders the spread of any religion. Essentially a neutral position. Teaching our kids religious dogma in schools which is specifically christian (ex: creationism and anti-climate change pseudoscience) or forcing your fundamentalist beliefs into our government (ex: anti-gay or women’s rights issues) is not refraining from establishing an official religion.
I don’t know what your source is that says that teen pregnancies increased in the years immediately after 1962-63 but this graph from the CDC shows exactly the opposite.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db89_fig1.png
You say, “America will be morally and culturally strong only to the degree that Biblical, religious and moral principles are incorporated throughout society and its institutions.”
NO. America will be morally and culturally strong only to the degree that Humanist and scientific principles are incorporated throughout society and its institutions.
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Freethinker:
You say ” America will be morally and culturally strong only to the degree that Humanist and scientific principles are incorporated throughout society and its institutions.”
Please prove that to be a true statement based on objective, measurable, empirical evidence and not just your own personal opinion based on your own personal ideology. Thank you.
Red
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Washington and Jefferson were Deist. Adams and Jay were very much Christian(and if Jay had his way we would have a national religion). Like everything else that was set up by these brilliant men it’s all checks and balances. Was the country founded on Christian principles..Yes. But remember, that’s all they knew. That was the age of getting away from religious persecution thus the country was established to have freedom of religion and also freedom from religion.
No one objected to for a couple of hundred years because while it is true we are a “melting pot” the ingredients were pretty selective. You do know that there were quotas on immigration and from what countries they came from. We were all pretty much northern european. When the diversity became greater, so did the way people started looking at how to get along and what to keep private vs public.
If there IS a proportional relationship…prove it. Freethinker gave a chart on teenage bithrates and you call it ridiculous because it doesn’t show pregnancies. Do you have that info? If you can submit it fine, if not than you sir are ridiculous. One goes with the other so what is the thrust of your argument? Are you going the abortion route? The writer of the letter said there was an immediate rise in the rate so are you saying there were a tremendous jump in the amount of abortions? Prove it. Roe v Wade wasn’t for another 10 years so if you have info on all these illegal abortions please share.
Or is this just your opinion.
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I hope Ms. Bettmeng has read Robert Duffett’s article on the Founding Fathers. It was very good and very interesting/informative.
Is that the America she wants? One where the church controls everything? I think not.
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