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#1028599
Orion
Allah = God in another language
Jeese at least us atheists take the time to learn about a religion before we bash it.
9/28/2009 1:20:20 AM
#1028603
ELBSeattle
This is from the 'I completely don't get it' school of thought.
9/28/2009 1:25:04 AM
#1028606
aaa
Last time i checked, freedom of religion really means that you can believe in any religion you want. And US Government is still quite secular.
9/28/2009 1:28:00 AM
#1028624
Giveitaday
I suspect that our founding fathers would be just as outraged at this event as we are
Somehow I doubt that. You seem to be under the impression that all founding fathers were christian ideologues, they were not.
As for your outrage and moral indignation, Why is it that you think that it's perfectly ok for you to condemn muslims for staging an event like this, but when christians are condemned for the very same action you cry persecution and demand that your detractors be silenced?
Yes, I mean the ones who amended the constitution to include freedom of religion
Freedom of Religion, not freedom of christianity or christian denomination, and not supremacy of christianity.
I bet they never imagined that world travel would skyrocket the way it has in the centuries since they lived.
What does that have to do with anything?
I don't think it occurred to them that there would be such an enormous (and fast growing!) population of people in the USA,
I think that's exactly what they intended, and both the wording of the 1st ammendment and the subsequent writings and letter of the founding fathers backs me up. And to clear up one point, the fast growing segment of the country in terms of religious affilation is non-believers, atheists and agnostics.
most of whom also call themselves American
Are you implying that the founders intended for only christians to be citizens or have the right to call thmselves american?
who worship what the Bible clearly identifies to be a false god.
Once again, so what? there is no word, phrase, clause, or ammendment that so much as mentions christianity or the christian god much less commands or compels americans to acknowledge the christian god as real and all others false.
I think our founding fathers had in mind that freedom of religion pertained to your choice of whether to be a Mennonite or a Quaker or even a Catholic.
So why is it that the writings and letters of many of the founders refute you interpretation? Why is it you think that you know what they "really" intended, regardless of what they had to say on the subject. Further more, if the only choice for religion is limited to various christian denominations then you don't have freedom of religion. Freedom of religion must, bt necessity, be absolute.
I think they took completely for granted that this is and will always be a Christian nation, as it was when they founded it.
Do you honestly think that in the late 1700's that america was populated exclusively by christians? There were jews, muslims, hindus, animists, shintoist, and buddhists already living in america at that time, and I find it highly unlike that information was unknown by the founders.
Then there's the Treaty of Tripoli, which was negotiated, signed, and ratified by George Washington, John Adams, and a US Senate containing several of the founders, respectively. The treaty spells out in clear and unambigous terms that specify that the US is not, was not, and was never intented to be a "christian nation". If it were then there would be no clause the prohibits any religious test for and public office or trust.
If the founders intended to create a christian nation then why didn't they spell that out clearly in the text of the constitution? Given the depth of the document it's self it's unlikely that the took the idea for granted or just forgot to include it. The original intent of the founders can only be judged based on their writings and addenda, and it's the height of ignorance to assume or to claim that you have insight or knowledge into "What the founders 'really' intended.", especially when your claims contradict the the expressed opinion of of many of the founders?
9/28/2009 4:05:30 AM
#1028628
Mister Spak
"I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of...Each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and for my own part, I disbelieve them all." The bill for establishing religious freedom, the principles of which had, to a certain degree, been enacted before, I had drawn in all the latitude of reason and right. It still met with opposition; but, with some mutilations in the preamble, it was finally passed; and a singular proposition proved that its protection of opinion was meant to be universal. Where the preamble declares, that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed, by inserting the word "Jesus Christ," so that it should read, "a departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion;" the insertion was rejected by a great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan, the Hindoo, and Infidel of every denomination.
Thomas Jefferson's Autobiography
9/28/2009 4:17:20 AM
#1028635
PWEOTWEB
If you really wanna know what the Founding Fathers would've said, do what Cartman did in South Park.
I'm waiting.
9/28/2009 4:51:07 AM
#1028644
Table Rock
Mennonite or a Quaker or even a Catholic
I'm sure you would outlaw those too if you could.
It's freedom of religion, not freedom of religions you agree with.
9/28/2009 6:15:03 AM
#1028737
Elphada
Wrong! They didn't take anything for granted and they didn't say American will always be Christian. It's not a Christian nation! You guys are a majority in this nation but yet you can't get a damn thing done.
9/28/2009 7:57:46 AM
#1028789
Headache
It's all the same shitty god, JPE.
You are worshiping GAY (God/Allah/Yaweh)
9/28/2009 8:55:48 AM
#1028837
Clown
Or, you could actually read what the founding fathers said and wrote while they were alive. Whatever rocks your boat.
9/28/2009 10:40:39 AM
#1028849
Yama the Space Fish
For fuck's sake, Valerian Trifa led the opening prayer before the US Senate.
9/28/2009 10:52:35 AM
#1028855
Brent
"Where the preamble declares, that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed by inserting "Jesus Christ," so that it would read "A departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion;" the insertion was rejected by the great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mohammedan, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination."
-Thomas Jefferson, Autobiography, in reference to the Virginia Act for Religious Freedom
Yup, that's right...the act that was the baseline used to develop the 1st Amendment freedom of religion...so would you like to talk about your little idea that the founding fathers weren't aware of anyone coming here and worshipping other gods?
9/28/2009 11:15:16 AM
#1028883
Papabear
You suspect, you bet, you don't think, you think, and you think (again,) but you don't actually have any hard evidence. Perfect RR facts.
9/28/2009 12:12:02 PM
#1028943
sooze
The Founding Fathers also owned slaves and had to leave the house to take a dump.
When are we going to stop hyperventilating over what the founding fathers supposedly wanted and get on with life in the 21st century??
9/28/2009 3:23:00 PM
#1028966
yes cause freedom of religion clearly means "freedom to worship MY religion and no other'
9/28/2009 4:45:36 PM
#1028972
AXavierB
Except Muslims and Christians both worship the same deity, dipshit.
9/28/2009 4:58:57 PM
#1029033
Kat
Wow, and all this time I thought that the reason that our founding fathers wanted to keep church and state seperate was because they didn't want a government telling the people how to worship God correctly and ruin the people's spirituality nor did they want a church to start running the goverment theocraticly with disregard to the best interests of the people.
9/28/2009 6:54:53 PM
#1029179
Dr. Novakaine
Fundies trying to desperately turn to the Founders for validation are only going to be disappointed. The foundation of this country was on no religion at all, and nothing you say is going to change that fact.
9/29/2009 7:59:40 AM
#1029271
Canadiest
If you ever made Christianity the only religion, then you'd only push until you had one or a few agreeable sects.
Who would you eliminate? The Catholics for sure, then over half your Christian base disappears and are against you.
Rapture Ready Repeaters never think it through. Guess the rest of us care about tomorrow
9/29/2009 4:03:30 PM
#1029722
Antichrist
Wasn't it Jefferson who brought the first Koran into the white house?
9/30/2009 3:19:20 PM
#1029901
Shadoboy
Freedom of religion doesn't mean "Choose the religion you want as long as it worships the same God as I do"
And, coincidentally, Muslims adore your same God. "Allah" is just their word for it.
10/1/2009 1:21:20 AM
#1029971
Darkwulf
You DO realize that many of the founding fathers were Deists/Agnostics/Atheists right? And even the ones that were Christians identified themselves as secularists above all else. Hell Thomas Jefferson was even known for completely rewriting whole parts of the bible!
10/1/2009 6:27:24 AM
#1029994
Moondog
D'ya think JPE gasped before he forced himself to write, "even a Catholic"? The First Amendment protects all, or even no religion. Not just your White, Protestant, Evangelical religion. It's a freedom of conciousness clause.
10/1/2009 7:06:16 AM
#1091110
RussianCircles
“The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion”
George Washington quote
1/9/2010 2:22:14 PM
#1289990
Quantum Mechanic
I don't think you've read the founder's opinions on the matter.
5/17/2011 2:17:42 PM
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