The United States of America is a secular nation not founded upon the Christian religion

Pro is attempting to shift the goalposts here. I have read and re-read the Round 1 rules. Nowhere is it specified that I must demonstrate Christianity as the exclusive or even dominant founding principle. I simply must show that it was one. It is overly simplistic to say there's only one thing the nation was founded on. There are certainly many things and Christianity was undoubtedly one of them. Pro asks me to show laws reflecting Christianity. Very well, let's take a look at the individual states. The 1780 Massachusetts Constitution says in Article II: "It is the right as well as the duty of all men in society, publicly and at stated seasons, to worship the Supreme Being, the great Creator and Preserver of the universe." In Article III, it gives the Massachusetts legislature power to allocate state funds "for the support and maintenance of public Protestant teachers of piety, religion, and morality [1]." Article 33 of the Maryland Constitution says: "the Legislature may, in their discretion, lay a general and equal tax for the support of the Christian religion." The state government could actually tax its citizens to directly support the Christian church (no other religions or philosophies are mentioned, only Christianity) [2]. Section 10 of the Pennsylvania Constitution mandated that state representatives take the following oath: "I do believe in one God, the creator and governor of the universe, the rewarder of the good and the punisher of the wicked. And I do acknowledge the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by Divine inspiration [3]." I don't think I need to keep going. This is pretty obvious evidence that America, even at the state government level, was heavily influenced by Christianity. These are facts - the state governments actually wrote these things on paper and signed them. I fail to see how Pro's position can possibly counter such evidence. I still submit that Pro's differentiation between "influence" and "based on" is merely semantic. The similarities between the two concepts are much stronger than the differences. Even so, it's pretty clear early American state laws heavily favored and were based on Christianity (see above). Treaty of Tripoli - If Pro thinks this is their strongest piece of evidence, then they are mistaken. People love to use this one out of context. In Round 2 Pro only gives part of the quote. Let's look at the whole thing: "As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility [sic], of [Muslims]; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any [Muslim] nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries." First off, the treaty was originally written and signed in Arabic. The above mentioned clause IS NOT FOUND ANYWHERE in the original Arabic treaty - it was added in a later (and very inaccurate) English translation [4]. In fact, the original Arabic treaty sounds MUCH different - check it out here: http://avalon.law.yale.edu.... But let's pretend the religion clause was in the original treaty. Look at the language after the first semicolon - all it means is that America is not a theocracy and harbors no Christian based animosity toward Islam. They had to say this in order to get the Muslim authorities in Tripoli to sign it. Settlers - of course they came for a variety of reasons, no argument there. But it is undeniable Christianity was an extremely powerful motivation for many of them. Entire colonies began solely in the name of Christianity: Massachusetts, Maryland, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, etc... Christianity may not have been the main motive for everyone, and I don't have to prove that it was. But it certainly had enough influence to earn a spot on the founding principles list. Authors of the Constitution - Pro tries to deflect this one, but I'm calling them on it - they used a bad source. This is not a simple matter of conflicting sources. Read the signature block of the Constitution. You will not find the names of Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, or John Adams. Pro's source was not just conflicting, it was inaccurate (as was their argument). Pro continues to try and point to the "finished product" (the Constitution), as evidence. It's undeniable the Constitution is "secular" in the sense that the First Amendment prohibits establishing an official religion. But using that fact is irrelevant to this debate. Let me explain. By citing the Constitution, my opponent is showing that Christianity was not officially established in the U.S. But, Pro said I do not need to show that Christianity was established in any official way (see Round 1). So that means my burden is to identify Christianity's UNOFFICIAL influence in early America. Therefore, it's irrelevant to continue reminding us that the Constitution prohibits official religion because I don't have to argue otherwise. Secular State - Pro keeps claiming America was founded as a secular state. This is not true. A secular state prohibits organized religion altogether (think China or USSR). Secularism exists on a spectrum. A completely secular state does not allow its president to swear in on a Bible, pray at official ceremonies, attend mandatory Christian church services, and tax state citizens to support the Protestant church. While certainly not a theocracy, America was also not a strictly secular state. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson rarely mentioning Jesus - this is true, some of the founders preferred more ambiguous language when describing their beliefs. But they did not avoid Jesus altogether. Washington once told a group of Indian chiefs they would do well to follow "the religion of Jesus Christ [5]." Jefferson, although probably a Deist, still said that the teachings of Jesus were "the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man [6]." However, no one can say for sure what these men believed. At the end of the day they've been dead for over 200 years and cannot speak for themselves. Given the evidence however (swearing on Christian scripture, going to Christian churches, giving Christian prayers, etc...), it seems most likely that Washington and other key founders tended toward Christianity. My opponent has failed to make a convincing case that Christianity does not belong on the list of America's founding principles. Pro has also discredited a large portion of their argument by using bad sources. This is seen in citing the incorrect authors of the Constitution, and their "strongest" evidence from the Treaty of Tripoli that actually doesn't appear in the original document. Once again, I do not need to show that Christianity was the "main thing." If we present the list of all ideas that influenced the nation's founding, and Christianity is somewhere on that list, then I have successfully made my case. Looking forward to the closing arguments. [1] http://www.nhinet.org... [2] http://avalon.law.yale.edu... [3] http://avalon.law.yale.edu... [4] http://avalon.law.yale.edu... [5] Steven Waldman, "Founding Faith," Random House, New York, 2008. [6] http://www.let.rug.nl...