Yep, the Founders were Christian. And they were also quite clear. For get the 1st Amendment. Read what they said in the Original: Article 6, Clause 3 "The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." Now, I want to repeat this, because the Founders seem to be very clear. "BUT NO RELIGIOUS TEST SHALL EVER BE REQUIRED AS A QUALIFICATION TO ANY OFFICE OR PUBLIC TRUST UNDER THE UNITED STATES." I believe in original intent (or as Jack Rakove has proven so well original intents, as every had their own indidivudlal minds). I believe that a religious test for a teacher, a politician or whatever is DEAD BANG WRONG. And I think the Founders would agree with me. Had they known the level to which religious tests would have been used to gun after teachers, etc. I have no doubt they'd have expanded the defintion. ______________________________________________ FREE Personalized Email at Mail.com Sign up at http://www.mail.com?sr=mc.mk.mcm.tag001From: The Extremist <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
At 01:26 AM 1/14/00 , you wrote:
It matters not a whit what our CURRENCY (which really has no more value than
the paper it's printed on) says...our CONSTITUTION and BILL OF RIGHTS states
that the government shall make no laws establishing a religion, NOR
PROHIBITING THE FREE EXERCISE THEREOF...
Therefore, these PUBLIC officials representing the public school system have
absolutely no right to dismiss this teacher because she is a Wiccan...
And what justification do YOU offer for her being fired? Do you also feel
that teachers who are Buddhists, Taoists, Hindus, should be fired too,
because
they worship a different diety (or set of dieties) than you do?
Your cavalier attitude toward the Constitution of the United States and the
Bill of Rights is frightening, not to mention sickening...
June
Our country was founded on Christianity not Wiccan, Hinduism, etc. The founders were the sons and grandsons of over a hundred years of colonial Christian tradition. From the Charter to Sir Walter Raleigh circa. 1584, through The First Virginia Charter (1606), The Second Virginia Charter (1609), The Third Virginia Charter (1612), The Mayflower Compact (1620), The Charter Of Massachusetts Bay (1629), to the Declaration of Independence (1776), it is plain that the American People were Christians and our forms of government were founded in the bedrock of Christian Principles. It is because of the liberty that Christian principles secure that people of other faiths have been able to freely worship in a manner they choose.
No one who reads the founding documents of this country can honestly say that this nation was founded on any religion other than Christianity. Go read them for yourselves before you flame me out of ignorance:
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/6627/xushistdoc.html
While the "bubblegum" Wiccans consider themselves a legitimate religion and the Constitution affords them protection, in the matters concerning the teaching of our children, the parents have a right to demand a more traditional standard for teachers. The Wiccan religion is foreign to traditional American standards and many of their beliefs undermine the moral and societal bonds that keep a free nation free. It is a slave religion based in ignorance, fear, and wishful thinking.
On a personal note, I live 15 miles from Scotland High School, the school that canned the witch, and I can tell you the people of this area do not want witches teaching their kids.
Were we founded on Christian Principles?
What did the signers of our most important Document, the Declaration of Independence say?
"We have this day restored the Sovereign to Whom all men ought to be
obedient. He reigns in heaven, and from the rising to the setting of the
sun, let His Kingdom come."
"First of all, I . . . rely upon the merits of Jesus Christ for a
pardon of all my sins.
-Samuel Adams(Father of the American Revolution), at the signing of the
Declaration of Independence.
I am constrained to express my adoration of . . . the Author of my
existence . . . [for] His forgiving mercy revealed to the world
through Jesus Christ, through whom I hope for never ending happiness
in a future state.
-Robert Treat Paine, Signer of the Declaration
I think it proper here not only to subscribe to . . . doctrines of the
Christian religion . . . but also, in the bowels of a father's
affection, to exhort and charge them [my children] that the fear of
God is the beginning of wisdom, that the way of life held up in the
Christian system is calculated for the most complete happiness.
-Richard Stockton, Signer of the Declaration
On the mercy of my Redeemer I rely for salvation and on His merits;
not on the works I have done in obedience to His precepts. [11]
-Charles Carroll, Signer of the Declaration
My only hope of salvation is in the infinite, transcendent love of God
manifested to the world by the death of His Son upon the Cross.
Nothing but His blood will wash away my sins. I rely exclusively upon
it. Come, Lord Jesus! Come quickly!
-Benjamin Rush, Signer of the Declaration
I believe that there is one only living and true God, existing in
three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the same in
substance, equal in power and glory. That the Scriptures of the old
and new testaments are a revelation from God and a complete rule to
direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him. [15]
-Roger Sherman, Signer of both the Declaration and the Constitution
I shall now entreat . . . you in the most earnest manner to believe in
Jesus Christ, for "there is no salvation in any other" [Acts 4:12]. .
.. . [I]f you are not clothed with the spotless robe of His
righteousness, you must forever perish.
-John Witherspoon, Signer of the Declaration
How about some other famous American founders:
I resign my soul into the hands of the Almighty who gave it in humble
hopes of his mercy through our Savior Jesus Christ.
-Gabriel Duvall, U.S. Supreme Court Justice; selected as delegate to
Constitutional Convention
This is all the inheritance I can give to my dear family. The religion
of Christ can give them one which will make them rich indeed.
-Patrick Henry
I render sincere and humble thanks for His manifold and unmerited
blessings, and especially for our redemption and salvation by his
beloved Son. . . . Blessed be his holy name.
-John Jay, Original Chief-Justice U.S. Supreme Court
Now to the triune God, The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be
ascribed all honor and dominion, forevermore ; Amen.
-Gunning Bedford, Signer of the Constitution
[D]on't forget to be a Christian. I have said much to you on this head
and I hope an indelible impression is made. [10]
-Jacob Broom, Signer of the Constitution (to his son)
You have been instructed from your childhood in the knowledge of your
lost state by nature ; the absolute necessity of a change of heart,
and an entire renovation of soul to the image of Jesus Christ ; of
salvation thro' His meritorious righteousness only ; and the
indispensable necessity of personal holiness without which no man
shall see the Lord.
-Elias Boudinot, Revolutionary Officer and President of the
Continental Congress (to his daughter)
You do well to learn . . . above all the religion of Jesus Christ.
-George Washington
I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of
Jesus Christ.
-Thomas Jefferson
I think the Christian religion is a Divine institution; and I pray to
God that I may never forget the precepts of His religion or suffer the
appearance of an inconsistency in my principles and practice.
-James Iredell, U.S. Supreme Court Justice under President George
Washington
"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It
is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
-John Adams
"A patriot without religion, in my estimation, is as great a paradox as an
honest man without the fear of God. Is it possible that he whom no moral
obligations bind, can have any real Good Will towards Men? Can he be a
patriot who, by an openly vicious conduct, is undermining the very bonds of
Society? ...The Scriptures tell us righteousness exalteth a Nation."
- Abigail Adams, wife of 2nd President and founding father, John Adams
Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and
embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that
it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent our
civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian."
-United States Supreme Court 1892, Church of the Holy Trinity v.
United States
"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great
nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on
religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ! For this very reason
peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity and
freedom of worship here."
-Patrick Henry
"Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it
is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian
nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers."
-John Jay, first Supreme Court Justice
"Those people who will not be governed by God will be ruled by
tyrants."
- William Penn
"O most glorious God, in Jesus Christ, let me live according to those
holy rules which Thou has this day prescribed in Thy holy
word...Direct me to the true object, Jesus Christ the way, the truth
and the life. Bless, O Lord, all the people of this land."
- George Washington 1752
"Neither...let it be overlooked, that public utility pleads most
forcibly for the general distribution of the Holy Scriptures."
--James McHenry, a member of the Continental Congress, a state
legislator, a soldier, and a signer of the Constitution...as well as
the president of the first Bible Society in Baltimore.
"Amongst other strange things said of me, I hear it is said by the
deists that I am one of their number; and, indeed, that some good
people think I am no Christian. This thought gives me much more pain
than the appellation of Tory; because I think religion of infinitely
higher importance than politics; and I find much cause to reproach
myself that I have lived so long and have given no decided and public
proofs of my being a Christian. But, indeed, my dear child, this is a
character which I prize far above all this world has, or can boast."
-Patrick Henry
This is genuine Christianity, and to this we owe our free
constitutions of government.
-Noah Webster
"Rights come from GOD not the state. You have rights antecedent to any
earthly governments rights that can not be repealed or restrained by
human laws. Rights derived from the great legislator: God."
- John Adams
Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is impossible that a nation of
infidels or idolaters should be a nation of free men. It is when a
people forget God that tyrants forge their chains.
- Patrick Henry
"...the smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that
disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself
has ordained."
-George Washington - First US President
"The moral principles and precepts contained in the Scripture ought to
form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws. All the
miseries and evil men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice,
oppression, slavery, and war, proceed from their despising or
neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible."
- Noah Webster
"Our ancestors established their system of government on morality and
religious sentiment. Moral habits, they believed, cannot safely be
entrusted on any other foundation than religious principle, not any
government secure which is not supported by moral habits.... Whatever
makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens."
- Daniel Webster
"I have little doubt that the whole country will soon be rallied to
the unity of our Creator, and, I hope, to the pure doctrines of Jesus
also." "I shall need, too, the favor of that Being in whose hands we
are, who led our forefathers, as Israel of old, from their native land
and planted them in this country."
-Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the US, chosen to write the
Declaration of Independence
"The rights essential to happiness.... We claim them from a higher
source - from the King of kings and Lord of all the earth."
- John Dickinson; signed the Constitution and a member of the
Continental Congress
Sorry People, no Wiccans, no Hindus, just Christians, it's History. It is indelibly embedded in the annuls of American history. The founders did it for their posterity..... that's us.
You can be grateful and thank your ancestors or you can crap on them. It's your choice.
---------------
Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the
Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a voyage to
plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these
presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of
another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body
Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of
the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and
frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and
Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and
convenient for the General good of the Colony; unto which we promise
all due submission and obedience.
-Mayflower Compact, 1620
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