On Thu, Jun 10, 2010 at 4:58 AM, Jerry Barnes wrote: > > "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.
I'm just big on context, and "remembering" how stuff was, when it was, if that makes sense. Like, there wasn't this "*everyone* want's to be free of England" mentality, right? Wasn't it sorta a minority that even pushed the revolution through, so to speak? I'm thinking maybe Religion was a similar vein. > 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: You mean a big issue to try to remove some of the Church's power, vs limit, don't you? The Catholic church was already crazy powerful, all over the world. Had a real nice racket going for a bit, IMHO. So I'd say the issue was scaling church back, vs. "preventing" stuff. And heck, churches in general were more powerful back then. I'm pretty sure for a while you *had* to pay a certain amount of money to your local church, and *had* to go to church on Sunday. Strong word, "had", but my point is that it wasn't Free Will-ish. Not nearly so much as it is now, which I personally see as a good thing. Quite a bit of the hate that is preached in this world comes from Religion. I hate hate. ;) > Even so, it was probably still a good idea to hide his bible for other > reasons. My point exactly. Perhaps "the wall" isn't good (http://www.catholicleague.org/research/dreisbach.htm), but IMO, it is. Religions are just too different to do them all justice in a governmental fashion. Some of them are way more powerful than the others, and I don't see how we can be fair with prayer in school and whatnot. I'd rather Government just not be involved, period. My God is so powerful, it (He or She, It or Us) doesn't need explicitness. It's implicit to everything. Codifying It seems blasphemous. I like the idea that Jesus told folks the relationship with the Father should be a personal one. People telling me what God thinks sucks more often than not. But the Good Stuff-- it's the bomb! It doesn't *need* to be called Religion or come from God to be thus. It's probably better if it doesn't, IMHO (we in the Know will Know where the Goodness comes from). Eh. To each their own. However it works out will be wonderful and awesome, no matter what. In My Opinion. Even if it seems Bad. ('cause *my* god is beyond Good and Bad-- YMMV). :Den -- In oneself lies the whole world and if you know how to look and learn, the door is there and the key is in your hand. Nobody on earth can give you either the key or the door to open, except yourself. Jiddu Krishnamu ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| 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:320965 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
