-Caveat Lector-
http://www.npl.com/~tkrell/writings/bible/american-heritage.html
The Roots of American Government
A survey of the religious foundations of our democracy
Tim A. Krell
Krell
Americans, as a whole, know embarrassingly little
about their own heritage.
MJ:
Especially with the vast numbers of 'revisionists' within
the field. :)
Krell
These fathers of democracy would probably be shocked
to see the apathy of Americans toward their heritage
and culture. And they would likely have much to say
about the direction our country is proceeding.
MJ:
Especially since DEMOCRACY was never their intention.
Elbridge Gerry, on the closing day of the Constitutional
Convention of 1787, referred to democracy as the 'worst
of all political evils'. James Madison stated,
"Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and
contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal
security, or the rights of property; and have in general
been as short in their lives, as they have been violent
in their deaths."
And as is witnessed in the ways our current government
has digressed, Alexander Fraser Tyler's obervation. "A
democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government.
It can only exist until the voters discover that they
can vote themselves money from the Public Treasury.
>From that moment on, the majority always votes for the
candidate promising the most benefits from the Public
Treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses
over loose fiscal policy always followed by dictatorship,"
was one of many studied by those Founders.
Krell
In God We Trust
"The only assurance of our nation's safety is to lay our
foundation in morality and religion." --Abraham Lincoln
MJ:
Interesting that you would pick a quote from BOTH a
non-founder AND a Deist with an affinity to Paine.
<snip> money verbiage
As somewhat alluded ... the currency motto first appeared
during the Civil War, in 1864, when Secretary of the
Treasury Salmon Chase put the words on some bronze
two-cent pieces. In 1866 the words appeared on all
American coins, but disappeared from some coins between
1883 and 1938. The choice for using the words was the
responsibility of the Secretary of the Treasury. The
so-called motto had no other official standing.
In 1956 Congress passed legislation, signed without
comment by President Eisenhower, which required the
motto on all American currency, both metal and paper.
It was not the Founding Fathers of 1787 who demanded
the words 'In God We Trust' on American money; it was
the politicians of 1956.
I thought this was a discussion of the Founders.
Krell
One Nation Under God
"God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the
liberties of a nation be thought secure when
we have removed their only firm basis, a
conviction in the minds of the people, that
these liberties are the gift of God?"
-- Thomas Jefferson
Our nation, from the beginning, was steeped in
its belief in the God of the Bible.
MJ:
Whoa ... apparently you fail to recognize the difference
between Nature's God, their (each person's own belief)
Creator and the God of the Bible ... as you AGAIN quote
a Deist. What do you imagine 'conviction in the minds
of the people' relates?
[BTW ... a mention of God does NOT necessarily equate to
'God of the Bible'.]
Note De Toqueville, G.K. Chesterton are NOT Founders.
General Washington, in a letter written to Brigadier
General Nelson said, "He must be worse than an infidel
who lacks faith to express his obligations, but time
will suffice later for me to become preacher when my
present appointment ceases, therefore I shall add no
more on the doctrine of providence."
MJ:
Unlike Thomas Jefferson -- and Thomas Paine, for that
matter -- Washington never even got around to recording
his belief that Christ was a great ethical teacher. His
reticence on the subject was truly remarkable. Washington
frequently alluded to Providence in his private
correspondence. But the name of Christ, in any
correspondence whatsoever, does not appear anywhere in his
many letters to friends and associates throughout his life.
(pssst ... Washinton, too, was a Deist).
Krell
But there was indeed something special about America
in the eyes of the founding fathers--this was one of
the only countries that had been founded on the God
of the Bible. This was a nation that was seeking to
establish itself under the democratic principles of
the Bible. Many of the time felt America to be a
"divine experiment" in democracy. By following God's
precepts for the democratic rule of a country, as
explained in the Bible, they felt guaranteed of
eventual success, regardless of what obstacles
confronted them.
MJ:
Could *ANYONE* point to these principles and demonstrate HOW they relate
to the Constitution? Can anyone further provide primary sourcing that
bolsters this 'democratic principles of the Bible' claim?
Krell
A Higher Law
"We have staked the whole of our political institutions on
the capacity of mankind to govern themselves according to
the ten commandments of God." --James Madison
MJ:
This quote is unfounded and otherwise fabricated.
No such quote has ever been found among any of James
Madison's writings. [Robert Alley, an distinguished
historian at the University of Richmond, has recently
made an attempt to track down the origin of this quote.
You can read about his effort in "Public Education
and the Public Good," William and Mary Bill of Rights
Journal, Summer 1995, pp. 316-318.]
Krell
Ultimately, the origins of Higher Law can be traced back
to Moses and the Ten Commandments. According to the Bible,
these Ten Commandments were given by God through Moses,
to the Israelites.
MJ:
from Thomas Paine ['buddy' of Franklin, Jefferson ...]
When Moses told the children of Israel that he received
the two tablets of the commandments from the hands of
God, they were not obliged to believe him, because they
had no other authority for it than his telling them so;
and I have no other authority for it than some historian
telling me so. The commandments carry no internal
evidence of divinity with them; they contain some good
moral precepts, such as any man qualified to be a
lawgiver, or a legislator, could produce himself,
without having recourse to supernatural intervention.*
[*It is, however, necessary to except the declaration
which says that God visits the sins of the fathers
upon the children; it is contrary to every principle
of moral justice.]
When I am told that the Koran was written in Heaven and
brought to Mahomet by an angel, the account comes too near
the same kind of hearsay evidence and second-hand authority
as the former. I did not see the angel myself, and,
therefore, I have a right not to believe it.
When also I am told that a woman called the Virgin Mary,
said, or gave out, that she was with child without any
cohabitation with a man, and that her betrothed husband,
Joseph, said that an angel told him so, I have a right to
believe them or not; such a circumstance required a much
stronger evidence than their bare word for it; but we have
not even this -- for neither Joseph nor Mary wrote any
such matter themselves; it is only reported by others
that they said so -- it is hearsay upon hearsay, and I
do not choose to rest my belief upon such evidence.
It is, however, not difficult to account for the credit
that was given to the story of Jesus Christ being the son
of God. He was born when the heathen mythology had still
some fashion and repute in the world, and that mythology
had prepared the people for the belief of such a story.
Almost all the extraordinary men that lived under the
heathen mythology were reputed to be the sons of some
of their gods. It was not a new thing, at that time,
to believe a man to have been celestially begotten; the
intercourse of gods with women was then a matter of
familiar opinion. Their Jupiter, according to their
accounts, had cohabited with hundreds: the story,
therefore, had nothing in it either new, wonderful, or
obscene; it was conformable to the opinions that then
prevailed among the people called Gentiles, or Mythologists,
and it was those people only that believed it. The Jews
who had kept strictly to the belief of one God, and no
more, and who had always rejected the heathen mythology,
never credited the story.
It is curious to observe how the theory of what is called
the Christian church sprung out of the tail of the heathen
mythology. A direct incorporation took place in the first
instance, by making the reputed founder to be celestially
begotten. The trinity of gods that then followed was no
other than a reduction of the former plurality, which was
about twenty or thirty thousand: the statue of Mary
succeeded the statue of Diana of Ephesus; the deification
of heroes changed into the canonization of saints; the
Mythologists had gods for everything; the Christian
Mythologists had saints for everything; the church became
as crowded with one, as the Pantheon had been with the
other, and Rome was the place of both. The Christian
theory is little else than the idolatry of the ancient
Mythologists, accommodated to the purposes of power and
revenue; and it yet remains to reason and philosophy to
abolish the amphibious fraud.
Nothing that is here said can apply, even with the most
distant disrespect, to the real character of Jesus Christ.
He was a virtuous and an amiable man. The morality that
he preached and practised was of the most benevolent kind;
and though similar systems of morality had been preached
by Confucius, and by some of the Greek philosophers, many
years before; by the Quakers since; and by many good men
in all ages, it has not been exceeded by any.
Jesus Christ wrote no account of himself, of his birth,
parentage, or any thing else; not a line of what is called
the New Testament is of his own writing. The history of
him is altogether the work of other people; and as to the
account given of his resurrection and ascension, it was
the necessary counterpart to the story of his birth. His
historians having brought him into the world in a
supernatural manner, were obliged to take him out again
in the same manner, or the first part of the story must
have fallen to the ground.
Krell
That sentiment lasted well into the 19th Century. In 1892,
as part of the decision of Church of the Holy Trinity v.
United States, the Supreme Court said: "Our laws and our
institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody
the teachings of The Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible
<snip>
MJ:
Another misleading quotation (and NOT from a Founder OR
the Founding period).
Unfortunately, the analysis of the case that accompanies
it amounts to little more than a manipulation of the
language of the opinion to distort the actual meaning of
the case, its relevant facts and its stated rule of law.
The facts of Holy Trinity concerned the application of an
Act of Congress titled "An act to prohibit the importation
and migration of foreigners and aliens under contract or
agreement to perform labor in the Unites States, its
Territories and the District of Columbia." Holy Trinity
Church, a church located in the city of New York, contracted
with a minister in England to perform services as rector
and pastor at its church. At issue in the case was whether
or not the church's action violated the Act which prohibited
"any person, company, partnership, or corporation ... to
assist or encourage the importation or migration of any
alien ... under contract or agreement ... to perform labor
or service of any kind in the United States."
The holding of Holy Trinity was based on an interpretation
of the purpose of the Act. The Court concluded that the
purpose of the Act was to prohibit the importation of
foreign unskilled persons to perform manual labor and manual
services. A christian minister, the Court reasoned, is a
'toiler of the brain', not a manual laborer; Holy Trinity
Church, therefore, was found not to have violated the Act
when it secured a contract for the holy man's employment.
The Court says the title of the Act implies its meaning,
that only the importation of 'laborers' will be restricted.
The Court then turns to the legislative history, debates,
and comments of the Congressmen involved in drafting the
Act to conclude that the Act was designed to regulate the
domestic unskilled, labor market.
Whether or not America was a Christian Nation was not
even at issue in Holy Trinity. The actual dispute or
controversy the Court had to decide had nothing at all
to do with religion. The parties in Holy Trinity did
not question whether the Immigration Act's purpose was
'for or against religion' generally or specifically.
Krell
The Myth of Modern-Day Pluralism
"America was not founded by religionists nor on
any religion, but on the gospel of Jesus
Christ." --Patrick Henry
In a truly pluralistic society, many diverse beliefs
and values can be embraced amongst a civilization
holding to certain common, fundamental values. Sadly,
however, our modern-day society has strayed far from
the pluralism espoused by the founding fathers.
MJ:
You previously stated this Nation was founded upon
Christianity and God of the Bible and the FIRM belief
within these ideals as espoused by the Founders.
NOW you are stating they supported pluralism.
[BTW, quoting yet ANOTHER unverified, potentially
'invented' statement AND by an anti-Federalist as well]
I, for one, am confused.
Note Dr. Sowell is NOT a Founder of this nation.
Krell
The framers of our Constitution would likely be
disturbed if they saw our present day "interpretation"
of their words and expressions. The Constitution, in
the eyes of its authors, was designed to perpetuate
a Christian order, not to promote its demise.
A 'Christian Order'?
The legitimate powers of government extend to
such acts only as are injurious to others. But
it does me no injury for my neighbor to say
there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither
picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.
-- Thomas Jefferson
Notes on the State of Virginia
And I have no doubt that every new example
will succeed, as every past one has done, in
showing that religion & Govt will both exist
in greater purity, the less they are mixed
together.
-- James Madison
letter to Edward Livingston,
July 10, 1822
Government being, among other purposes, instituted
to protect the consciences of men from oppression,
it is certainly the duty of Rulers, not only to
abstain from it themselves, but according to their
stations, to prevent it in others.
-- George Washington
letter to the Religious Society
called the Quakers
September 28, 1789
The United States of America have exhibited,
perhaps, the first example of governments erected
on the simple principles of nature; and if men are
now sufficiently enlightened to disabuse themselves
of artifice, imposture, hypocrisy, and superstition,
they will consider this event as an era in their
history. Although the detail of the formation of
the American governments is at present little known
or regarded either in Europe or in America, it may
hereafter become an object of curiosity. It will
never be pretended that any persons employed in that
service had interviews with the gods, or were in any
degree under the influence of Heaven, more than those
at work upon ships or houses, or laboring in merchandise
or agriculture; it will forever be acknowledged that
these governments were contrived merely by the use
of reason and the senses....
-- John Adams
_A Defence of the Constitutions of
Government of the United States of
America_ [1787-1788]
What leads legislators into this error, is confounding
sins and crimes together -- making no difference
between moral evil and state rebellion: not considering
that a man may be infected with moral evil, and yet be
guilty of no crime, punishable by law. If a man worships
one God, three Gods, twenty Gods, or no God -- if he
pays adoration one day in a week, seven days or no
day -- wherein does he injure the life, liberty or
property of another? Let any or all these actions be
supposed to be religious evils of an enormous size, yet
they are not crimes to be punished by laws of state,
which extend no further, in justice, than to punish
the man who works ill to his neighbor.
-- John Leland (Jack Nipps)
The Yankee Spy, 1794
Krell
Conclusion
"To destroy a people, you must first sever their
roots" --Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Americans as a whole, have lost touch with their
roots. Few have any interest at all as to how this
country came to be. And those who do are often
satisfied with the explanation given in a class,
or by reading a book, or by watching a documentary.
This lethargy of Americans towards their heritage is
a danger to our society, for it makes us vulnerable
to anyone who wishes to rewrite history to their
liking. Slowly and methodically, the courses of entire
civilizations can be changed by those who wish to
manipulate opinion, values, and history.
MJ:
Simply pointing to YOUR paper serves as a case in point.
Krell
America cannot afford to allow its roots to be severed.
We must understand our roots lest we risk losing touch
with the principles and realities that have made this
country what it is today. ... The responsibility rests
on our shoulders, and ours alone--our forefathers ensured
us of that by creating the system of government we now
possess.
MJ:
The absence of an educated electorate has done much to damage
this once FREE nation.
May I recommend researching PRIMARY source information rather
than relying upon those revisionists you chide throughout your
work. You might also look at the Enlightenment, individual
rights and Natural Law.
Regard$,
--MJ
Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which
weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her
seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion.
Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because,
if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason
than that of blindfolded fear.
-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr, Aug. 10, 1787
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