From: sandvik@newton.apple.com (Kent Sandvik)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.misc
Subject: Re: The Founding of a Great Nation ...
Date: 26 Jan 93 05:13:35 GMT
Followup-To: talk.religion.misc
Organization: The Language Game Inc.

In article <C1F0s3.Fov@boi.hp.com>, jburrill@boi.hp.com (Jim Burrill)
wrote:
> Kent responds:
> |Sigh, there's a *difference* between something founded by Christians,
> |and founding a Christian nation. I hope the writer would understand this
> |difference, and it does not hurt to read the constitution, bill of rights
> |and similar papers to figure out how many times the word "Christian"
> |and "Christianity" is mentioned in these papers. 
> Myth # 3:  The silence of the Constitution regarding Christianity.
> 
>       It is assumed that the United States was never Christian in its basic
> ideals and values because the Constitution does not specifically mention
> Christianity. The myth is shattered when one realizes that it was never the
> purpose of the Constitution to give religious content to the nation. Rather,
> the Constitution was an instrument whereby already existing religious values
> of the nation could be protected and perpetuated. The Constitution is not
> devoid of Christian references, however. It is interesting to note that the
> Constitution acknowledges Sunday as a day of rest: "If any bill shall not be
> returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall
> have been presented to him, the same shall be a law. . ." (Article I, section
> 7). Moreover, there is a direct reference to the Lord Jesus Christ in the
> Constitution: "DONE in convention by the unanimous consent of the States
> present, the seventeenth of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand
> seven hundred and eighty seven and of the independence of the United States of
> America the twelfth. In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our
> Names."

Well, my point is still clear, lack of the word Christian and Christianity
either implied that people took for granted that this country is Christian,
or then that this country was founded upon the sole idea of separation of
the state and church.

I'm no expert on the US constitution -- but the little I read and seen
concerning the preservation of the great heritage of the constitution has
been in favour of *not* granting any religious groups any priviledges.

Note, I'm borned and raised in a *real Christian nation*. That implies:
a) obligatory Christian religious teaching in school and high school
b) the Christian church is acknowledged by the constitution as the main
church
c) the military has the church operating inside
d) taxes are spent on the operation of Christian churches.

Do we see anything similar in USA? If the intent was that people should
take for granted that USA was/is indeed a Christian country, why didn't
the constitution provide laws that would guarantee that this would be the
case even if people would change their minds. In other words either the
writers of the constitution did a really lousy job, something that I don't
think the case. Or then they actually wanted to highlight the separation
between church and state. USA learned from the lessons of power sharing
between states and churches in Europe, and the constitution was and is
one of the greatest examples of how you will avoid any civil wars based 
on religious doctrines.

In other words the myth that USA is a Christian nation is indeed a myth.
I find it personally very hilarious, and at the same time scary, that
certain groups don't think that this is the case. It is rewriting of 
history a la Orwell in action.

Kent
---
sandvik@newton.apple.com. ALink: KSAND
Private activities on the Net, opinions are not Apple's, they are mine.
Newsgroups: talk.religion.misc