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To: IronJack
They may have been "insignificant" in Mrs. Pastejar's history class, but to the rest of the world, they were the original Settlers

ROFL!
By the time the Mayflower pilgrims arrived in 1620, Spanish, Dutch and French business ventures had established settlements throughout the United States in what is now the Carolinas, Virginia, Florida, Georgia and New Mexico. They also had settlements in Canada. Ever heard of the Virginia Company or Hudson's Bay?

Pure bunk

The first Jewish immigrants to the United States were Sephardic Jews that were fleeing persecution by Portuguese rulers in Brazil, in 1654. There were over two thousand of them by 1656. The first Jewish congregation was established in the Dutch Colony of New Amsterdam. The Dutch had settlements in America before the Puritans arrived. They were Dutch Reformed and Deists who welcomed Jews and Atheists into their community. They provided the funds for the American Revolution and we would still be kissing the Royal Arse if not for them.

Yep, the Mayflower Compact was about business. And paste is made for eating

Some of those aboard the Mayflower were Protestant Separatists who had fled England to Holland to escape persecution from the Reformed Angelicans. The principals were men commissioned to further the business of the Virginia Company. It was a business venture with many investors. It was not part of their original intent to draft the Mayflower Compact and form a Christian colony under its terms. That happened when they were blown off course and could not land at the mouth of the Hudson. The Compact was drafted in an attempt to stop the constant bickering of the Puritans. They were whining landlubbers who were a pain in the butt to the seamen and trappers aboard the Mayflower. They were trying to get the Puritans to stop fighting with each other and form a colony that would be profitable to the investors. The Compact was a failure and the investors lost their money. The Mayflower Compact is a standard colonial loyalty oath to king and faith. Christianity was required, not optional.

we call him the Devil. Old Scratch. Lucifer. Prince of Darkness. His name is legion

Is he above or below the Easter Bunny in your pantheon of Demons and Gods?
.
288 posted on 08/13/2005 10:09:11 AM PDT by mugs99
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To: mugs99
Ever heard of the Virginia Company

You mean the London Virginia Company, the chartering company for the settlement at Jamestown? Yes. You mean the one that established the first ENGLISH settlement in North America? Yeah, I've heard of them. They arrived in 1607, some time before the Pilgrims at Plymouth. They were Anglican too. Church of England. You know, the one that didn't have any influence on American culture?

The Dutch East India Company laid claim to much of the Hudson Valley as early as 1609, but it wasn't until 1624 -- 14 years after Jamestown -- that the Dutch permanently settled in Manhattan. (And almost immediately began clashing with the English who were also expanding their interests in the New World). French colonies were concentrated mainly in the Northeast and North Central areas of the continent, as well as along the Gulf Coast. Neither played much of a role in the formation of the new country, since by then the French had been pushed back into Canada by the English, and the Gulf Coast region was not part of the original 13 colonies. Spain's minimal presence was limited almost exclusively to Florida and the Southwest, and once again, played little part in the formation of the new nation.

Maybe the Pilgrims are viewed as the archetypal settlers because they incorporate so many of the values that later became American.

They provided the funds for the American Revolution and we would still be kissing the Royal Arse if not for them.

Overheated speculation built on shadows and moonbeams.

The Mayflower Compact is a standard colonial loyalty oath to king and faith. Christianity was required, not optional.

Your self-serving misinterpretation of their motives notwithstanding, this says all that needs to be said. And it virtually destroys your myth of religious tolerance in the New World. Even a stopped clock is right ever so often.

Is he above or below the Easter Bunny in your pantheon of Demons and Gods?

1) The Easter Bunny is not a Christian symbol.

2) Christianity has no pantheon. It is monotheistic. Have one of the pro bono lawyers at your mental health clinic explain the Latin origins of pantheo- and monotheo-.

3) If anything, the Easter Bunny is a pagan symbol. A typically ridiculous (and vapid) pagan symbol. But certainly as deserving of your worship as a hollow tree or a frumious bandersnatch.

You believe in witches, fairies, warlocks, wizards, and hobgoblins, yet you're poking fun at Christian iconography??? The irony can't fail to escape even YOU.

And much of the demonic (and angelic, for that matter) hierarchy that has grown up around the Christian mythos comes from writers like Dante and Milton, not from apostolic or scriptural authority.

291 posted on 08/13/2005 11:48:18 AM PDT by IronJack
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