Radiophile Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "One nation under God" was added in the 1940s. "In
> God we trust" was added to all the money around
> the same time.
>
> "God" is not mentioned in the constitution.
> "Creator" is, and there is a difference.
>
> The one thing in the constitution in quotes is the
> oath the President takes. And God or creator is
> not in the oath.
>
> So all you "our country was founded on Christian
> or Judeo/Christian beliefs" people are sadly
> un-informed.
The "Creator" though was an appeasement to all the Deists in the group. Not all of them believed in the Trinity of Christ, but all of them believed in some way, shape or form of a "creator". But in reality, all the folks that took part in creation of the Constitution had, as their basis, background, and upbringing - Christian values and morals - that was the basis of most governments in the European area at the time due to the Catholics and the Church of England. As far as the Age of Enlightenment goes, we had this discussion before - France choose a totally secular government, England was already religious-biased with the Church of England. The US went a slightly different route - they didn't want to reject God and the religious beliefs that got them to the New World, but at the same time they knew they had to embrace ALL religions, much like the Romans tried to do. Based on their experiences in Europe, they knew they didn't want an oppressive State religion as England had adopted, thus the separation of church and state. Forcing people to adopt a religion is along the same lines of making government replace religion.
Look at the Treaty of Tripoli. They state that the government of the US is NOT founded on the Christian Religion. That is absolutely true.
Quote
...
Article 11
Art. 11. 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, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan 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.
...
But that is a totally different thing then saying the government of the US was founded on Judeo/Christian VALUES. As such, there is no enmity to Muslim religions, as there is no religion driving the US government to take action against other religions. I am sure any agreement the Barbary pirates made with England would have been totally different.
"In God We Trust" was added to our money during the Civil War btw - not 1940.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_God_We_Trust
If you can’t model the past, where you know the answer pretty well, how can you model the future? - William Happer Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics Princeton University
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/2009 10:05AM by Registered Voter.