"I could totally be wrong, but wasn't The Church like, insanely powerful 'back in the day'? Even here, in America?"
Maybe in a regional sense. Unlike England, there was no universal church. Different denominations were based in different geographical regions so influence was not a nationwide deal. It was a big issue to keep church's from becoming very powerful. In an earlier thread, I posted information on the states that required representatives to be Christian. I lot of the same states had laws banning clergymen from holding office. For example: *New York*; Section VIII (1777) "...no minister of the gospel, or priest of any denomination whatsoever, shall, at any time hereafter, under any pretense or description whatever, be eligible to, or capable of holding any civil or military office or place within this State." Even so, it was probably still a good idea to hide his bible for other reasons. J === The welfare of humanity is always the alibi of tyrants. - Albert Camus ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology-Michael-Dinowitz/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:320754 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
