Christianity inhibits US advancement

Pro stated, “You've [Con] stated in your acceptance that you believe I imply other religions benefit US advancement; this is actually not what I mean to say at all. Quite the contrary, I believe that religion in general has a negative impact on US advancement.” Pro went against Pro's debate, which singles out “Christianity inhibits US advancement.” Pro must realize the debate title is the stake in the ground presenting terms and definitions in Round 1 to clarify, where the contender understands the debate parameters before accepting. Since Pro is “not experienced in debates,” Con will debate, what Pro “believes,” Religion inhibits US advancements. In history, the New World was refuge for immigrants seeking religious freedom. Eventually the Colonies formed the US. Most of our founding Fathers were men of faith. For example, Thomas Jefferson stated the following in the US Declaration of Independence: “... the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God ... We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”Jefferson was influenced by John Locke. Locke also was a believer where he stated for example: "The Law of Nature stands as an eternal rule to all men, legislators as well as others. The rules that they make for other men's actions must ... be conformable to the Law of Nature, i.e., to the will of God. Laws human must be made according to the general laws of Nature, and without contradiction to any positive law of Scripture, otherwise they are ill made."Locke, Two Treatises on Government, Bk II sec 135. (quoting Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity, 1.iii, § 9 )Locke was influenced by the Laws of England, for example:“Becaufe one is the law of nature, expreffly declared fo to be by God himfelf; the other is only what, by the affiftance of human reafon, we imagine to be that law.”http://avalon.law.yale.edu...In modern English: “Because one is the law of nature, expressly declared so to be by God himself; the other is only what, by the assistance of human reason, we imagine to be that law.”http://www.constitution.org...The scholar Frederic Bastiat stated:“Life, faculties, production--in other words, individuality, liberty, property--this is man. And in spite of the cunning of artful political leaders, these three gifts from God precede all human legislation, and are superior to it. Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place.”http://www.amazon.com...It would seem the belief in God played a large role in political renaissance during the Enlightenment era. Reading the works of those political scholars, and even those in the scientific field (Sir Isaac Newton) and many others of that era, you get the impression the Laws of Nature is the handwriting of God. There was little reference to man’s written scripture about God. In summary, they believed in God, and since God created everything, that includes the Laws of Nature. Therefore, the Laws of Nature is the handwriting of God and the scientific method was a way to study God's handwriting. On the other hand, for those of faith, including preachers and prophets, should be careful when studying man’s written scripture about God. We must remember man is fallible, and those who study such scriptures may misinterpret of what God wants; therefore, God gets--and, in some cases, God help us all. Relative to our Unalienable Rights. Unbeknownst to Thomas Jefferson, he discovered, not developed, a primeval working function or life’s bio-program found throughout all living-systems. He claimed a polished version of this primeval function, within the scope of humanity, giving it the label of Unalienable Rights in the celebrated form of, “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”http://www.amazon.com...Jefferson's concept of Unalienable Rights became the foundation to the US Constitution, which sparked a social experiment within a short period of 200-years, changed the world like no other society in recorded history, through the fruits of technology, food production, and medicine, the stables of human existence throughout the world today. A compelling example of what happens when our Unalienable Rights are free to flow within the awesome machinery of nature. John Adams, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, once said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other” (http://www.john-adams-heritage.com...).In the US, the traditional view of morality rest with religious organizations which blossoms through the home. Today's educational systems are becoming schizophrenic about the importance of morality in a secular changing society, and who is responsible for its teachings; while the popular trend is to remove God from government and belittle the influence of God in US history.If society does not have a good understanding of morality, more complicated laws emerge trying to keep the peace, institutional public surveillance becomes commonplace, militarization in law-enforcement is noticeable. Complicated laws morph into plundering dictates, while regulations kill economic freedom. In addition, the leaders of government are also part of this population having similar moral standing. If government controls education, then the moral decline will result in a soft tyranny. Today the US is in a post Constitutional era while the ruling-class embraces a slow cancer known as the progressive “living constitution,” and this cancer has metastasize. Today's Congress represents the lobbyist not the people, while the President, unconstitutionally, has a “pen and a phone” to make law, the administration branch (a fourth branch, not part of the Constitution's three branches) is made up of hundreds of departments (IRS, NSA, EPA, etc.). These departments employ hundreds of thousands of non-elected government employees, writing regulations having the same power as law, to control, monitor us, etc. Today, the people are essentially out of the loop, except on Election Day, and look what choices we have.The US is in a soft tyranny relative to our Constitutional founding that was to support and protect Unalienable Rights. For example, if my Friend Pro lives in the US, Pro probably did something “illegal” today. If the government wants to incarcerate Pro, or spoil Pro's day, or freeze Pro's bank accounts, etc., they could because there are so many laws on the books, on the average we commit 3 felonies a day. http://www.amazon.com...http://blogs.loc.gov...As Lavrenti Beria, chief of Josef Stalin's secret police, once stated, “You bring me the man, I'll find you the crime” (http://www.qotd.org...). Funny how many in the US, still feels they live in a free country. The price a nation pays for lack of moral education. Compliments to our government controlled educational system.