America is not a "Christian Nation"
UPDATED: And neither is Britain. Talk about losing hearts and minds!
That so-called "politically correct rewriting" of FDR's speech on the World War II memorial is an urban legend. If you want to get outraged about anti-Americanism, get outraged about this, which is about as unpatriotic as it gets! So happy Fourth of July, and may we take our nation back soon from these lunatics. (As originally posted on Pharyngula)
This country has now raised more shitty crosses than the fucking Roman Empire! Is that something of which even the most fanatical Christian should be proud?
For the true patriot's reading pleasure:
"The Bible is not my book nor Christianity my profession. I could never give assent to the long, complicated statements of Christian dogma."
-Abraham Lincoln, American president (1809-1865)
"I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in life, I absenteed myself from Christian assemblies."
and, more famously,
"Lighthouses are more helpful then churches."
-Benjamin Franklin, American Founding Father, author, and inventor
"During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, bigotry, and persecution."
"In no instance have . . . the churches been guardians of the liberties of the people."
"Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise."
-James Madison, American president and political theorist (1751-1836)
"The divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity."
-John Adams, U.S. President, Founding Father of the United States
"Religions are all alike - founded upon fables and mythologies."
"I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature."
"Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man."
-Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President, author, scientist, architect, educator, and diplomat
Nothing is better than the writings of the Founding Fathers. Ann Coulter should read them. Maybe she'd astound us all and actually learn something.
That so-called "politically correct rewriting" of FDR's speech on the World War II memorial is an urban legend. If you want to get outraged about anti-Americanism, get outraged about this, which is about as unpatriotic as it gets! So happy Fourth of July, and may we take our nation back soon from these lunatics. (As originally posted on Pharyngula)
This country has now raised more shitty crosses than the fucking Roman Empire! Is that something of which even the most fanatical Christian should be proud?
For the true patriot's reading pleasure:
"The Bible is not my book nor Christianity my profession. I could never give assent to the long, complicated statements of Christian dogma."
-Abraham Lincoln, American president (1809-1865)
"I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in life, I absenteed myself from Christian assemblies."
and, more famously,
"Lighthouses are more helpful then churches."
-Benjamin Franklin, American Founding Father, author, and inventor
"During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, bigotry, and persecution."
"In no instance have . . . the churches been guardians of the liberties of the people."
"Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise."
-James Madison, American president and political theorist (1751-1836)
"The divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity."
-John Adams, U.S. President, Founding Father of the United States
"Religions are all alike - founded upon fables and mythologies."
"I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature."
"Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man."
-Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President, author, scientist, architect, educator, and diplomat
Nothing is better than the writings of the Founding Fathers. Ann Coulter should read them. Maybe she'd astound us all and actually learn something.
posted by Kristine | Tuesday, July 04, 2006
8 Comments:
Hey, Amused Muse, great Blog! Having read the article you link to, I have a theory on the experience of black men. Much of the degrading treatment they experience is not just the result of being black, but is the result of being men. White men experience a lot of the same reaction of fear, distrust, shaming -- it doesn't matter how you live your life, you are always assumed to be a rapist (if black) or a predatory child molester (if white). The experience that black men describe is pretty much the same as what white men describe, only exacerbated (greatly) by the additional element of racial fear and hatred. Big, intimidating looking white guys (ok .. not me!) in particular experience a lot of what black men describe. But the article seems to attribute the obstacles black men face entirely to race; which is illogical since if it were merely a problem of race, then black women would have the same experience and there would be no need to focus on the experience of black men. I would say to the contrary that a lot of what black men attribute to racial oppression is in fact gender oppression. Maybe some day, black and white men will find each other and I'll have a chance to figure out if I am right!
Phil, I think you're absolutely right.
You and I have talked before about the isolation that men feel, including (perhaps especially) white men. They mostly have relationships through their wives, unless they play sports...
Sexism cuts both ways. "Violent" can be used against men the way that "promiscuous" can be used against women. I definitely agree.
May I say that many women scare the living shit out of me? I'm one of those "male-identified" females--I hate shopping, love politics, stay away from the gossip, read a lot (and not chick-lit, but nonfiction and novels by Nabokov), don't commiserate, and hate drama. So I can totally relate to what you're saying (and so do the women friends that I do have). However, race compounds the problem (including for white men by making their struggles less visible).
It's hard to untangle what is due to race, gender, class, whatever. What it all boils down to is injustice. Not fair, no, not to men, either. Myself, I love men. Men, men, men!
Dan, you don't hate America, but what's been done to America. People like you are the only salvation [wish we could find some non-religious sayings] for this country.
Excessive dynamism--isn't that cancer?
You may be interested in reading Spinning the Revolution - New York Times.
It helps to explain how certain clergy made up myths concerning the "founders" based on a lot of legends.
Yes, I did enjoy that article--thanks! (I think I've heard of Bingham before).
It seems that we Americans love the lies that save our...well, they don't really save our lives, do they?...we love the lies that save our, well, our lies, I guess.
Check out the interview with Susan Jacoby from Freethough Radio:
http://ffrf.org/radio/podcast/
She made the distinction between America being a Christian people vs. a Christian nation.
Recently a Catholic Bishop equated the President with Hitler and Stalin. To be sure, it was a nonsensical remark but it DID get me to look at the Church's past relationship with fascism. I was shocked by what I learned. You might find it interesting.
http://shar.es/qCiRK
I was especially shocked to learn that Hitler was not an atheist (as has been claimed) but a Christian crusader doing God's work.
Even before these events, our founding fathers had a healthy skepticism to mixing church and state, based on the bloody history. It makes me very sad that we must repeat the same mistakes. America was once the great hope of the world because it was supposed to have learned the lessons of the past and created a new society based on reason and enlightenment.
Your first quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin is false. As near as I can tell, this quote was first attributed to Franklin in the 1983 book Toward the Mystery by William Edelen. It does not appear anywhere in Franklin's writings, nor is there any similar statement that Edelen might have been paraphrasing. Franklin actually claimed to be a Christian in 1735 when he wrote:
"I am conscious I believe in Christ, and exert my best Endeavours to understand his Will aright, and strictly to follow it."
And:
"Christ by his Death and Sufferings has purchas’d for us those easy Terms and Conditions of our Acceptance with God, propos’d in the Gospel, to wit, Faith and Repentance."
I have discovered several additional claims in Franklin's writings, and you can see more of them on my website at: http://www.increasinglearning.com/franklin.html
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