Re: Rother Shrine
Originally Posted by
Mr. Blue Sky
This country was founded by people who had all seen the damage of church and state mingled together. They very much didn’t want a “religious test” for public office, Christianity isn’t mentioned once in the Constitution. In fact, “God” to (almost) all of the founders was a creator who did not believe in any of the Abrahamic religions, or any religion that believed in the supernatural. Their “God” was one of the Deists. Separation of any church or religion from the state was an important position for most of our founders, as found in letters, essays, etc.
We have to be very careful with revisionist history that casts our founding fathers as deists. They were not. This debate is increasingly becoming popular in the secular argument against America's historical Christian heritage. The closest to a deist was Benjamin Franklin, who was raised as a Puritan and whose early commitment to deism didn't last long. John Adams was a devout Unitarian who did not identify with the doctrines with his Congregationalist upbringing. Years after Benjamin Franklin's claim to embrace deism, Franklin believed God required worship, answers prayer and intervenes in history. Franklin even requested a pause for prayer during the Constitutional Convention to seek guidance and reconciliation during one of the most heated debates. Thomas Jefferson also believed in an active God that sustained the world by His providence.
While it is true that separation of church and state was very near to the hearts of our Founding Fathers, especially Thomas Jefferson, it is very important to remember what it really means. It gives people the legal right to freely live their faith, even in public, without fear of government coercion. The motive was never to build a thick wall between church and state, nor to keep faith out of public institutions, but rather to keep the state from exercising its authority over the church.
Continue the Renaissance!!!
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