I was surfing the net and I found this shocking quote:
"The Bible is not my book and Christianity is not my religion. I could never give assent to the long complicated statements of Christian dogma."
"...Let us discard all this quibbling about this man and the other man--this race and that race and the other race being inferior, and therefore they must be placed in and inferior position...Let us discard all these things, and unite as one people throughout this land, until we shall once more stand up declaring that all men are created equal." Speech, Chicago, Illinois, July 10, 1858
--Abraham Lincoln
I found this quote on http://www.2think.org/quotes1.html and I find it quite sad since I have always viewed Abraham Lincoln as strong Christian man. Could this have been taken out of context? I pray this is so, otherwise I probably won't ever get to meet him in person (if you know what I mean).
CMDR Jose F. Rodriguez
Outpost 214, Potomac District
Yes, it was most likely taken out of context. I've seen it before. I did some research into it on the web, and couldn't find that particular quote, but I did find these that seem to contradict it.
http://www.nationalbible.org/atb/atbcomm05.htm
"I believe the Bible
is the best gift
God has ever given to men.
All the good from
the Savior of the world
is communicated
to us through this Book."
—Abraham Lincoln
http://www.baptistpillar.com/bd0474.htm
I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good
from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this book. I have
been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had no
where else to go. I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down
upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up
into Heaven and say there is no God.
Abraham Lincoln
There were others in that post. Mostly taken out of context. The links will givee you the address where they were found.
>JOHN ADAMS: Letters to F.A. Van Der Kamp 1809-1816. "How has it
>happened that millions of myths, fables, legends and tales have been
>blended with Jewish and Christian fables and myths and have made them the
>most bloody religion that has ever existed? Filled with the sordid and
>detestable purposes of superstition and fraud?"
>
http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/P/tj3/writings/brf/jeflxx.htm
>THOMAS JEFFERSON: Notes on Religion, passed in the Assembly of
>Virginia, in the Year, 1786. "Millions of innocent men, women and
>children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt,
>tortured, fined, and imprisoned. What has been the effect of this
>coercion? To make one-half the world fools and the other half hypocrites.
>To support roguery and error all over the earth."
>
http://www.jjnet.com/archives/documents/thomas.htm
http://worldpolicy.org/americas/religion/va-religiousfreedom.html
>THOMAS JEFFERSON: Letter to Thomas Whittemore, June 5, 1822:
>"Christian creeds and doctrines, the clergy's own fatal inventions,
>through all the ages has made of Christendom a slaughterhouse,
>and divided it into sects of inextinguishable hatred for one another."
>
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/Jef7Gri.html
http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/P/tj3/writings/brf/jeflxx.htm
http://www.worldpolicy.org/americas/religion/jefferson-religion.html
To (Unitarian) Rev. Whittemore, 5 June 1822 (HAW 7:245-6):
You ask my opinion on the items of doctrine in your catechism. I have never
permitted myself to meditate a specified creed. These formulas have been the
bane and ruin of the Christian church, its own fatal invention, which, through
so many ages, made of Christendom a slaughter-house, and at this day divides it
into casts of inextinguishable hatred to one another. Witness the present
internecine rage of all other sects against the Unitarians. The religions of
antiquity had no particular formulas of creed. Those of the modern world none,
except those of the religionists calling themselves Christians, and even among
these the Quakers have none. And hence, alone, the harmony, the quiet, the
brotherly affections, the exemplary and unschismatising society of the Friends,
and I hope the Unitarians, will follow their happy example. With these
sentiments of the mischiefs of creeds and confessions of faith, I am sure you
will excuse my not giving opinions on the items of any particular one…
>--
>"The bible is not my book, and Christianity is not my religion.
>I could never give assent to the long, complicated statements
>of Christian dogma."--Abraham Lincoln
>
http://www.nationalbible.org/atb/atbcomm05.htm
"I believe the Bible
is the best gift
God has ever given to men.
All the good from
the Savior of the world
is communicated
to us through this Book."
—Abraham Lincoln
http://www.baptistpillar.com/bd0474.htm
I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good
from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this book. I have
been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had no
where else to go. I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down
upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up
into Heaven and say there is no God.
Abraham Lincoln
>--
>"The purpose of separation of church and state is
>to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife
>that has soaked the soil of Europe with blood for
>centuries." - James Madison
>
http://members.aol.com/EndTheWall/madisonquote.htm
>--
>"The United States is in no sense founded upon
>the Christian doctrine." - George Washington,
>
http://www.nationalbible.org/atb/atbcomm02.htm
"It is impossible
to rightly govern
the world
without God and
the Bible."
—George Washington
