The Christian Right’s Suicide Mission

The antidote to Islam and to the cultural disintegration spawned by the ideas of modern liberalism is NOT Christianity. If the Republicans and those who make up the dogmatic section of the Right want political power again, they had better get the message.

Right wing radio talk hosts as well as presidential candidates and scads of those on the right in Congress and their influencers push untruths in the guise of truths. Foremost is the notion that America was founded on Judeo-Christian principles and that this is a Christian nation. Even a new book by a famous author on the right over endows Christianity with founding reason, science, and all that is good in the West. Were their da'wa correct, they would have no need to push so hard.

No credit ever goes to Aristotle, the Renaissance and rebirth of Reason, and the Enlightenment, which finally put religion in its place at the back of the bus. Then come all the machinations of their revisionist history.

Today, the New York Times published a useful op-ed. I do not agree with all of it, but I found it refreshing overall.

October 7, 2007

Op-Ed Contributor

A Nation of Christians Is Not a Christian Nation

By JON MEACHAM

[…]

The only acknowledgment of religion in the original Constitution is a utilitarian one: the document is dated "in the year of our Lord 1787." Even the religion clause of the First Amendment is framed dryly and without reference to any particular faith. The Connecticut ratifying convention debated rewriting the preamble to take note of God's authority, but the effort failed.

A pseudonymous opponent of the Connecticut proposal had some fun with the notion of a deity who would, in a sense, be checking the index for his name: "A low mind may imagine that God, like a foolish old man, will think himself slighted and dishonored if he is not complimented with a seat or a prologue of recognition in the Constitution." Instead, the framers, the opponent wrote in The American Mercury, "come to us in the plain language of common sense and propose to our understanding a system of government as the invention of mere human wisdom; no deity comes down to dictate it, not a God appears in a dream to propose any part of it."

While many states maintained established churches and religious tests for office — Massachusetts was the last to disestablish, in 1833 — the federal framers, in their refusal to link civil rights to religious observance or adherence, helped create a culture of religious liberty that ultimately carried the day.

Thomas Jefferson said that his bill for religious liberty in Virginia was "meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and the Mahometan, the Hindu, and infidel of every denomination." When George Washington was inaugurated in New York in April 1789, Gershom Seixas, the hazan of Shearith Israel, was listed among the city's clergymen (there were 14 in New York at the time) — a sign of acceptance and respect. The next year, Washington wrote the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, R.I., saying, "happily the government of the United States ... gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance. ... Everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid."

Andrew Jackson resisted bids in the 1820s to form a "Christian party in politics." Abraham Lincoln buried a proposed "Christian amendment" to the Constitution to declare the nation's fealty to Jesus. Theodore Roosevelt defended William Howard Taft, a Unitarian, from religious attacks by supporters of William Jennings Bryan.

The founders were not anti-religion. Many of them were faithful in their personal lives, and in their public language they evoked God. They grounded the founding principle of the nation — that all men are created equal — in the divine. But they wanted faith to be one thread in the country's tapestry, not the whole tapestry.

[…]

Jon Meacham, the editor of Newsweek, is the author of "American Gospel" and "Franklin and Winston."

Message to the Christians and Jews trying to jam their religion down everyone's throat: Be a thread in the country's tapestry and stop trying to convert us à la Muslims. For God's sake, so to speak, leave us the hell alone, or you will stay on the outside looking in while the Democrats finish killing America. 

Comments

[charles]

The historical fact that this nation were founded upon Christian principles is evidenced in the following Patrick Henrys statment:“It cannot be emphasized too clearly and too often that this nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason, peoples of other faiths have been
afforded asylum,prosperity, and freedom of worship here". Then we have one of the Founding Fathers
John Adams wrote:
“ The general principles upon which the Fathers achieved independence were the general principals of Christianity… I will avow
that I believed and now believe that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.” ... Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." --
October 11, 1798

Now that we are moving away from those principles is really a wonder why we seem to be falling apart from within?

[John]

I just dicovered your blog. What a breath of fresh air. Get well, sir, and coninue opening the eyes of the sheeple. I'm printing off this entire post to share with my many freinds and relatives without computers. It may make a good tract- something like the lunacies that you find on park benches published by Jack Chick- only in the service of reason and sanity.

[Jim Baxter]

Consider:
The missing element in every human 'solution' is
an accurate definition of the creature.

The way we define 'human' determines our view of self,
others, relationships, institutions, life, and future. Many
problems in human experience are the result of false
and inaccurate definitions of humankind premised
in man-made religions and humanistic philosophies.

Human knowledge is a fraction of the whole universe.
The balance is a vast void of human ignorance. Human
reason cannot fully function in such a void; thus, the
intellect can rise no higher than the criteria by which it
perceives and measures values.

Humanism makes man his own standard of measure.
However, as with all measuring systems, a standard
must be greater than the value measured. Based on
preponderant ignorance and an egocentric carnal
nature, humanism demotes reason to the simpleton
task of excuse-making in behalf of the rule of appe-
tites, desires, feelings, emotions, and glands.

Because man, hobbled in an ego-centric predicament,
cannot invent criteria greater than himself, the humanist
lacks a predictive capability. Without instinct or trans-
cendent criteria, humanism cannot evaluate options with
foresight and vision for progression and survival. Lack-
ing foresight, man is blind to potential consequence and
is unwittingly committed to mediocrity, collectivism,
averages, and regression - and worse. Humanism is an
unworthy worship.

The void of human ignorance can easily be filled with
a functional faith while not-so-patiently awaiting the
foot-dragging growth of human knowledge and behav-
ior. Faith, initiated by the Creator and revealed and
validated in His Word, the Bible, brings a transcend-
ent standard to man the choice-maker. Other philo-
sophies and religions are man-made, humanism, and
thereby lack what only the Bible has:

1.Transcendent Criteria and
2.Fulfilled Prophetic Validation.

The vision of faith in God and His Word is survival
equipment for today and the future. Only the Creator,
who made us in His own image, is qualified to define
us accurately.

Human is earth's Choicemaker. Psalm 25:12 He is by
nature and nature's God a creature of Choice - and of
Criteria. Psalm 119:30,173 His unique and definitive
characteristic is, and of Right ought to be, the natural
foundation of his environments, institutions, and re-
spectful relations to his fellow-man. Thus, he is orien-
ted to a Freedom whose roots are in the Order of the
universe. selah

- from The Season of Generation-Choicemaker Joel 3:14 kjv

[Enlightenment]

Grt post! Keep up the good work.

[Jonathan B. Hobbs]

Hot New Book Release From CSN!!!

Are you interested in a comprehensive narrative of the genuine gospel story of “Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ?” You don't have to flip back and forth between the four gospels or use a concordance. Everything is right here at your fingertips. Imagine hearing the gospel accounts, for the first time in “surround sound,” as details from multiple writers provide a fuller, richer telling of this amazing story. While many stories in the synoptic gospels are similar, each man writes from his own perspective and to a different audience. (Matthew, a former tax collector, focused on the Gentiles, Luke works from Paul, a missionary's point of view, Mark worked from Peter's perspective, a view from Jesus' inner circle and Christian Gate-keeper and finally, John was the great revelator and closes friend of the Lord, wrote from Jesus' divinity.) Hearing all four voices in one reading brings a new, more complete understanding of the life and times of Christ. A must read for all spiritual leaders, this easy read 278-page paperback is perfectly suitable for Youth Ministries, teens, college students and adults. It encourages anyone to become a biblical scholars of the full gospel of Jesus Christ. Chapter illustrations and headings, such as “A Withered Right Hand,” keep the reader focused on Christ’s life and message. Whether one has recently come to faith or is preparing to embark on missionary service, this marvelous teaching guide is a valuable resource. Suitable for any teenager or college student, it combines the King James gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John into a single narrative. It is also especially suited for the needs of those newly converted to the Christian faith. Nearly 120 Old Testament references are embedded throughout the body of the text for scriptural validation of the gospel, proving without a doubt that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. A portion of this wonderful gift of “Bible Notes” can be previewed at no cost by going to www.jesuslittleflock.com/biblenotes.htm. If your church organization wishes to place an order, please contact www.CSNbooks.com and select “Book Store” or call 1 (866) 484-6184, 9-5pm (PST).