"Some people will believe anything."
And the lying left will say anything....
Posted on 11/27/2011 11:47:06 AM PST by Steelfish
these people never stop.
I have a remedy for ya’, Sherman...
“Go to Hell”
Any reservations the founding fathers had about religion can be summarized in two ways:
1) Europe had long been tormented by religious fights and religious persecutions. This resulted in things like national churches and official religions, and to a great extent, the birth of modern atheism with people who cynically professed religious freedom, but hated religion, such as Voltaire.
2) Nations and royalty had long used the idea that they were “founded by God”, that their nobles were nobles because they were the elect of God, so their actions and laws could not be challenged, because they had been “dictated by heaven”. To oppose them meant to oppose God.
And some of the early colonists were more than happy to keep doing things this way, but the founding fathers did not want these European vices.
While not opposing religion in the slightest, they decided that it was best that government neither sponsor a *unique* religion or sect, *nor* oppress anyone because of their religious beliefs.
All this does is eliminate just two things. No government official, elected or appointed, can favor or disfavor one religion, and its followers, in their job.
As far as the second part went, they wanted everyone to know that they, as representatives of the people, wrote the constitution, not heaven. Just men, so just men can also change it, modify it, or do whatever they want with it, without offending God or heaven.
Thus, no person has any more holiness or elite status than any other person, and thus any greater legitimacy in being a representative, than any other. In its day, this was very radical stuff, and it made the European nobility very nervous, and with good cause.
Because though it took a while, these ideas spread all over the place, and in 1848, most of Europe was caught up in revolutions seeking to displace the nobility. It was a heck of a year.
So the bottom line, what should be the acid test, for how government treats religion in the US is actually pretty clear, though many have sought to muddy it.
But it goes deeper than that, and is ingrained in our culture. Though the dictionary doesn’t make the distinction, the typical American has a good grasp on what the founding fathers meant, when they distinguish between “ethics” and “morality”.
An ethical person, simply put, is one who obeys the written law. The law written by other men. Americans like to elect ethical people whenever they can, because just being ethical is good enough to be a representative, despite one’s other views.
But when a politician claims to be “moral”, it creates a dilemma for citizens. Because morality is based on following the laws of heaven, which in turn is based on how those laws are taught in different religions, and even different sects of the same religion. So there is no clear understanding of what a “moral” person actually is to the public as a whole.
If asked, they might *assume* what morality represents, but based on their own understanding of morality. But someone else’s morality? No idea. Bill Clinton would be the first to suggest that he is a moral person.
Therefore, it’s just safer, from the point of view of the typical person, to support who they think is the ethical person over the moral person, all else being equal, which it seldom is.
On the other hand I no longer consider Federal Reserve Units to be money so they can remove it from them for all I care.
We can’t trust our government so God’s the only one left.
"Some people will believe anything."
And the lying left will say anything....
Shermer is free to hold fast to whatever idea or philosophy he chooses about the nature of liberty and its relationship the foundations of government. In America, however, the nation's founding documents are based on another idea, and it is that idea which brought about a revolutionary concept which has allowed for more liberty, opportunity, prosperity and plenty for individuals in a society than ever existed in the history of civilization.
"Our Constitution embodied a UNIQUE IDEA. Nothing like it had ever been done before. The power of the idea was in the recognition that people's rights are granted directly by the Creator - not by the state - and that the people, then, and only then, grant rights to government. The concept is so simple, yet so very fundamental and far-reaching.
|
CREATOR |
|
People |
|
Government
|
"America's founders embraced a previously unheard-of political philosophy which held that people are "...endowed BY THEIR CREATOR with certain unalienable rights.." This was the statement of guiding principle for the new nation, and, as such, had to be translated into a concrete charter for government. The Constitution of The United States of America became that charter.
"Other forms of government, past and present, rely on the state as the grantor of human rights. America's founders, however, believed that a government made up of imperfect people exercising power over other people should possess limited powers. Through their Constitution, they wished to "secure the blessings of liberty" for themselves and for posterity by limiting the powers of government. Through it, they delegated to government only those rights they wanted it to have, holding to themselves all powers not delegated by the Constitution. They even provided the means for controlling those powers they had granted to government.
"This was the unique American idea. Many problems we face today result from a departure from this basic concept. Gradually, other "ideas" have influenced legislation which has reversed the roles and given government greater and greater power over individuals. Early generations of Americans pledged their lives to the cause of individual freedom and limited government and warned, over and over again, that eternal vigilance would be required to preserve that freedom for posterity."
Footnote: Our Ageless Constitution, W. David Stedman &; La Vaughn G. Lewis, Editors (Asheboro, NC, W. David Stedman Associates, 1987) Part III: ISBN 0-937047-01-5
John,
Did you write the above?
And what ties all of those concepts together, Shermer? What concept gave birth to all of those concepts? What was the root of all of those freedoms? What was the inspiration of those who thought of them, the source they openly praised for giving them the courage to fight for them, and the perspective that allowed them to develop the very philosophy from which they were derived?
God.
“What is troubling — and should trouble any enlightened citizen of a modern nation such as ours — is the implication that in this age of science and technology, computers and cyberspace, and liberal democracies securing rights and freedoms for oppressed peoples all over the globe, that anyone could still hold to the belief that religion has a monopoly on morality and that the foundation of trust is based on engraving four words on brick and paper.”
Horse sh1t.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.