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From: David E. Weldon, Ph.D. <David.E.Weldon@DaytonOH.ATTGIS.COM>
Subject: Re: Christian Nation?
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Date: Sun, 23 Apr 1995 03:48:03 GMT
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Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.ai.philosophy:27134 sci.skeptic:110768


}==========John Thompson, 4/20/95==========
}
}In article <3n2cc7$lo1@webe.hooked.net>, rjo@webe.hooked.net 
}says...
}>
}>In alt.religion.christian Ray Gruben 
}<76632.3062@CompuServe.COM> said: 
}> 
}> 
}>> 
}>>Your quotes are interesting but I fail to see how you can make 
}the absurd 
}>>generalization that the founding fathers thought this blasphemy 
}of  
}>>Christianity.  Jefferson ,Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine 
}are not  
}>>representative of the majority of thought of this time.  I think
}>gullibility is  
}>>a more of a modern disease when our only source of 
}information appears to
}>be  
}>>textbooks misrepresenting history and PBS "documentaries."  If 
}you really 
}>>believe that these men represented the founding fathers then 
}you are truly
}>>benighted.   
}>>However, I am not surprised.  The public schools and 
}universities having
}>been  
}>>working at misteaching this history for many years now.  
}>> 
}
}<quotes snipped>
}
}The views expressed in the quotes are consistent with the 'Age of 
}Reason' philosophy held by many of the prominent leaders in the 
}1750-1850 period.  Most of them were not Christian, though many 
}were not anti-Christian either.  Some were agnostic; others held
}the the concept of God as the 'Divine Watchmaker'.  He created 
}the world, a perfect machine, like a watch, and set it in motion. 
}Like a good watch, it functions properly without constant 
}intervention;
}in fact, miraculous intervention would be seen as proof of a 
}flawed
}Creation.  The very absence of God's interference was seen as 
}proof of 
}his perfection!  
}
A very cogent description of the "Diest" philosophy.  I know Franklin was a
"Diest" all his life and Jefferson apparently waffled over his carreer.  I
wasn't aware that Thomas Paine was a Diest, but my knowledge is not perfect.
}
}Jefferson, Paine and Franklin were not 'all' the Founding Fathers, 
}but 
}they were the primary archetects of the constitution, the foremost
}thinkers in early America.  They were the ones everyone else 
}respected
}and followed.  Look who represented America to the most 
}powerful nations
}on Earth.  Look who wrote the key documents.  Look who got their 
}picture on the money!
}
}Were these views shared by all Americans of the day?  Not at all. 
} But
}you must remember that in those days America was not ruled by 
}the 
}unwashed masses, but by a wealthy, educated elite, to a FAR 
}greater
}degree than today.  Poll taxes, tests to qualify to vote, and 
}property
}requirements made sure it stayed that way, at least for a while.  
}And 
}within that rarified circle, these views were not all that uncommon.
}
At that time the two primary views of God were the Diest and Theist views. 
The vast majority of the Continental Congress who signed the Declaration of
Independence and the Constitution were Theists (believers in a God who
continued to act in History).  The Declaration of Independence contains the
phrase, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men (sic) are
endowed by their Creator....."  The term creator was used by Jefferson as a
compromise between the two theological positions.  Incidently, being a Diest
did not necessarily mean the person didn't accept the divinity of Christ.  It
certainly permitted Jefferson to move easily back and forth between the two
positions and allowed him to say things like, "I swear on the alter of
Almighty God..." (which is carved around the top of his memorial in
Washington, D. C.

In addition, there were other critical figures in the American Revolution who
deserve mention.  These were George Washington, (who, with his grace and
humility, prevented his army from overthrowing congress and setting himself up
as King), Johnathon Edwards (who made the theological case for the rebellion
since a lot of the New Testament argues for submitting to authority,
regardless of its tyrrany), and John Witherspoon (who made the case for
Christian activism and served in the Continental Congress).  All three of
these were, of course, devout Christians and Theists.
}
}------------------------------------------------- 
}John Thompson ( sterling@scsn.net )
}-------------------------------------------------
}This tag line conTains exactly threee errors.
}-------------------------------------------------
}
}

