What They Meant
Very often you'll hear people, usually Fundamentalist Christians, tell you the US is a Christian nation. It's what the Founding Fathers really meant.
Really?
More information on this campaign from the Freedom From Religion Foundation can be found here. I don't care what religion people are, or are not for that matter, but I do expect them to keep it to themselves. That, I believe, is what the Founding Fathers meant.
5 Witty Remarks:
This is great!
I believe in Freedom of (and from) religion. If it makes you happy to have one - good on ya! And if it makes me happy not to - good on me!
Hand grenade, anyone?
The founders may not have been what we consider religious zealots, but to deny that they were men who believed in and worshiped God is false at best and slander at worst.
Courage, then, my countrymen, our contest is not only whether we ourselves shall be free, but whether there shall be left to mankind an asylum on earth for civil and religious liberty - Samuel Adams
To the corruptions of Christianity I am indeed opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian, in the only sense he wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others; ascribing to himself every human excellence; & believing he never claimed any other. - Thomas Jefferson
I believe in one God and no more, and I hope for happiness beyond this life. I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow creatures happy. - Thomas Paine
I never doubted, for instance, the existence of the Deity; that he made the world, and governed it by his Providence; that the most acceptable service of God was the doing good to man; that our souls are immortal; and that all crime will be punished, and virtue rewarded either here or hereafter. - Benjamin Franklin
I have often expressed my sentiments, that every man, conducting himself as a good citizen, and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshiping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience - George Washington
Hmmm, I have to agree with Anonymous on this one. The Founding Fathers certainly didn't advocate a Christian nation, but I'm pretty sure they didn't advocate a "don't ask, don't tell" attitude either.
I also consider the source: "Freedom From Religion Foundation" is an atheist organisation with a clear agenda to push. I don't have a dog in this fight, so to speak, but both sides strike me as rather similar: closed-minded and intolerant of anyone who doesn't believe exactly as they do. I'm not buying any of it, sorry.
Each to their own....but don't bug me and don't come knocking on my door with your magazine :)
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