Constantine the Great: Politics and Religion

[PoliticalChic]

I don't care *what* religion you are! You made things worse when you made them better! I mean, I liked having a lot of free time, but I hated not having anything to do. Don't you see, things were good when they were bad, and they got bad when they were good. People aren't happy unless they're unhappy.

"I don't care *what* religion you are!"

Maybe you should.

"Christians and Jews....the more devout, the less violent. Not so with Islam."
Bill Donohue

I'm sorry, I wasn't listening..I was staring at your breast...

Yeah....I get a lot of that....

 

[PoliticalChic]

The reference is there, and if there has been any attempt at 'a secular nation,' it wouldn't have been.


“52 of the 56 signers of the declaration and 50 to 52 of the 55 signers of the Constitution were orthodox Trinitarian Christians.” David Limbaugh

Believers in the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, or, as they would be known today, “an extremist Fundementalist hate group.”
Coulter

Goddamit, will you read the actual words? I said, three times now that Christianity influence the culture a great deal but the founders were wise enough to create a secular rule book. The Constitution does not promote or inhibitm religion.

The Constitution provides for an observance of the Sabbath in its Presentment Clause, mandating that the President has ten days, excluding Sundays, to veto a bill lest it become binding.

And the instrument was framed with a view to the Declaration, which unequivocally bestows gratitude on the God of the Bible for America's independence.

You're partly right; the Constitution does not inhibit the proliferation of the national religion.

Partly right and Sundays off in the Presentment Claus is all you have to hang your hat on? No sale.

Did you miss the part about the Declaration?

The DoI isn't in the Constitution. Don't hurt yourself.

"The DoI isn't in the Constitution."

Now it's time for the 'Hillsdale Quiz:"
Abraham Lincoln called the Constitution “a silver frame” around “an apple of gold.” What was he referring to as the “apple of gold?”

The Articles of Confederation

The Declaration of Independence

The Federalist Papers






The “apple of gold” is the Declaration of Independence. Lincoln used biblical language to convey that the “frame” (Constitution) does not conceal the “apple” (Declaration), but rather adorns and preserves it.
Hillsdale

 

[PoliticalChic]

The reference is there, and if there has been any attempt at 'a secular nation,' it wouldn't have been.


“52 of the 56 signers of the declaration and 50 to 52 of the 55 signers of the Constitution were orthodox Trinitarian Christians.” David Limbaugh

Believers in the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, or, as they would be known today, “an extremist Fundementalist hate group.”
Coulter

Goddamit, will you read the actual words? I said, three times now that Christianity influence the culture a great deal but the founders were wise enough to create a secular rule book. The Constitution does not promote or inhibitm religion.

The Constitution provides for an observance of the Sabbath in its Presentment Clause, mandating that the President has ten days, excluding Sundays, to veto a bill lest it become binding.

And the instrument was framed with a view to the Declaration, which unequivocally bestows gratitude on the God of the Bible for America's independence.

You're partly right; the Constitution does not inhibit the proliferation of the national religion.

Partly right and Sundays off in the Presentment Claus is all you have to hang your hat on? No sale.

What are you denying, Icey???

That the nation was founded on Judeo-Christian principles???

That the Founders were believers???

What the dillio???

I said what I was talking about quite clearly and even repeated it for you. This will be the third or fourth time. Yes, a Christian culture but the Constitution is secular.

Not all the founders were believers though. Jefferson and a few others were Deists, maybe ole Georgie too in his later years.

"Not all the founders were believers though. Jefferson and a few others were Deists, maybe ole Georgie too in his later years."



Nonsense.


1. As there is far, far too much evidence for the Judeo-Christian basis of our nation, those on the Left, and those who have bought the 'secular' thing.......attempt to call the Founders 'deists' to attempt to pry them from being called 'religious.'

de•ism
noun
belief in the existence of a supreme being, specifically of a creator who does not intervene in the universe. The term is used chiefly of an intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries that accepted the existence of a creator on the basis of reason but rejected belief in a supernatural deity who interacts with humankind. Google




2. "The notion that any of the Founders believed in an impersonal deity who merely created the universe and then left it to itself is false. All of them believed in a God who, as Franklin said at the Constitutional Convention, “governs in the affairs of men.”


3. Let’s start with George Washington.

Washington’s writings, both public and private, are full of references to the Bible. This is certainly true during his eight years as the first President of the United States.

Here is Washington at his first Inaugural:
“The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained.”
In all likelihood, Washington was an orthodox Christian.


Like Washington, Benjamin Franklin also referenced Bible verses, stories, and metaphors throughout his life. His calls for prayer at the Constitutional Convention were typical of his attitude. Franklin, who had his own unorthodox views, summed up his faith this way: “That the soul of man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this.”

Clearly not a view of God ignoring his creations.


4. When it comes to John Adams, the Leftwing sophists have a field day!

"Adams referred to himself as a Christian throughout his life, but did not believe in traditional Christian doctrines such as the trinity or the divinity of Jesus.... [but] before, during and after his tenure as President, Adams repeatedly asserted his admiration for the Christian faith... Adams spoke of his great respect for the Bible. “[T]he Bible is the best book in the world. It contains more of my… philosophy than all the libraries I have seen…”


a. Those who suggest that Adams was in any way against religion like to quote from a letter he wrote to Thomas Jefferson in which he said, “This would be the best of all possible worlds if there was no religion in it.”

Seems to be a perfect spokesman for Marx or Lenin, no?

Definitely, no.

Unfortunately, those who cite this line never quote the lines that immediately follow “But in this exclamation, I should have been as fanatical as [the skeptics of religion]. Without religion, this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in polite company—I mean hell.”

So, those who quote the first line without quoting the subsequent lines are either unaware of the full comment or are deliberately misleading people as to Adams’s beliefs."
Ibid.



5. "Like Adams, Thomas Jefferson did not adhere to orthodox doctrine. Yet he often declared himself to be a Christian. “I am a Christian, he said, “in the only sense he [Jesus] wished anyone to be: sincerely attached to his doctrines...”

As one of the leaders of the American Revolution, his views are well known. After all, this is the man who wrote in the Declaration of Independence that “all men… are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” You can’t get a much more explicit statement of belief than that.



These four founders – Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Franklin – were practical men with a sober view of human nature. They understood that man is morally weak and that religion provides the best encouragement and incentive to be good.
In other words....God was looking over their shoulder.

It does so, first and foremost, by teaching that choices have consequences. Not necessarily in the here and now, but most certainly in the hereafter – meted out by a just God.


It should come as no surprise, then, that Jefferson, in his second inaugural, asked for, “The favor of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our forefathers, as Israel of old, from their native land.”



6. Here’s what we can say for certain about their religious beliefs.

a) All of the Founders believed in a transcendent God, that is, a Creator who exists outside of nature.
b) All the Founders believed in a God who imposes moral obligations on human beings
c) All the Founders believed in a God who punishes bad behavior and rewards good behavior in an afterlife."









And all of them were rooted in the Judeo-Christian values found in the Bible.
“52 of the 56 signers of the declaration and 50 to 52 of the 55 signers of the Constitution were orthodox Trinitarian Christians.” David Limbaugh