Posted on 02/11/2006 5:52:00 PM PST by gobucks
NEW YORK -- Nearly 450 Christian churches around the country plan to celebrate the 197th birthday of Charles Darwin on Sunday with programs and sermons intended to emphasize that his theory of biological evolution is compatible with faith and that Christians have no need to choose between religion and science. "It's to demonstrate, by Christian leaders and members of the clergy, that you don't have to make that choice. You can have both," said Michael Zimmerman, dean of College of Letters and Sciences at University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, who organized the event.
(snip) "Evolution Sunday" has drawn participation from a variety of denominational and non-denominational churches, including Methodist, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Unitarian, Congregationalist, United Church of Christ, Baptist and a host of community churches, including at least 16 congregations in Illinois.
The event grew out of Zimmerman's The Clergy Letter Project, another effort to dispel the perception among many Christians that faith and evolution are mutually exclusive.
..the project has drawn 10,000 Christian clerics to sign a letter that concludes, "We urge school board members to preserve the integrity of the science curriculum by affirming the teaching of the theory of evolution as a core component of human knowledge. We ask that science remain science and that religion remain religion, two very different, but complementary, forms of truth."
Zimmerman said the letter project and the Sunday event were designed to educate Americans about two things. "The first part was to demonstrate to the American public that the shrill fundamentalist voices that were demanding that people had to choose between religion and science were simply wrong," he said.
"The second part was to demonstrate that those fundamentalist leaders that keep standing up and shouting that you can't accept modern science were not speaking for the majority of Christian leaders in this country."
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
John Adams and John Hancock: John Adams: "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." --October 11, 1798 "I have examined all religions, as well as my narrow sphere, my straightened means, and my busy life, would allow; and the result is that the Bible is the best Book in the world. It contains more philosophy than all the libraries I have seen." December 25, 1813 letter to Thomas Jefferson "Without Religion this World would be Something not fit to be mentioned in polite Company, I mean Hell." [John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, April 19, 1817] | photographs of this letter: Page 2.... page 1.... page 3... page 4 Samuel Adams: | Portrait of Sam Adams | Powerpoint presentation on John, John Quincy, and Sam Adams John Quincy Adams: The Law given from Sinai [The Ten Commandments] was a civil and municipal as well as a moral and religious code. Elias Boudinot: | Portrait of Elias Boudinot Charles Carroll - signer of the Declaration of Independence | Portrait of Charles Carroll Benjamin Franklin: | Portrait of Ben Franklin In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for Divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered do we imagine we no longer need His assistance? [Constitutional Convention, Thursday June 28, 1787] In Benjamin Franklin's 1749 plan of education for public schools in Pennsylvania, he insisted that schools teach "the excellency of the Christian religion above all others, ancient or modern." In 1787 when Franklin helped found Benjamin Franklin University, it was dedicated as "a nursery of religion and learning, built on Christ, the Cornerstone." Alexander Hamilton: On July 12, 1804 at his death, Hamilton said, I have a tender reliance on the mercy of the Almighty, through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am a sinner. I look to Him for mercy; pray for me. "For my own part, I sincerely esteem it [the Constitution] a system which without the finger of God, never could have been suggested and agreed upon by such a diversity of interests." [1787 after the Constitutional Convention] "I have carefully examined the evidences of the Christian religion, and if I was sitting as a juror upon its authenticity I would unhesitatingly give my verdict in its favor. I can prove its truth as clearly as any proposition ever submitted to the mind of man." John Hancock: | Portrait of John Hancock Patrick Henry: | Portrait of Patrick Henry It cannot be emphasized too clearly and too often that this nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, 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. [May 1765 Speech to the House of Burgesses] The Bible is worth all other books which have ever been printed. John Jay: | Portrait of John Jay Whether our religion permits Christians to vote for infidel rulers is a question which merits more consideration than it seems yet to have generally received either from the clergy or the laity. It appears to me that what the prophet said to Jehoshaphat about his attachment to Ahab ["Shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord?" 2 Chronicles 19:2] affords a salutary lesson. [The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, 1794-1826, Henry P. Johnston, editor (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1893), Vol. IV, p.365] Thomas Jefferson: Of all the systems of morality, ancient or modern which have come under my observation, none appears to me so pure as that of Jesus. "I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus." God who gave us life gave us liberty. And 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 a gift from God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that His justice cannot sleep forever. (excerpts are inscribed on the walls of the Jefferson Memorial in the nations capital) [Source: Merrill . D. Peterson, ed., Jefferson Writings, (New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1984), Vol. IV, p. 289. From Jeffersons Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII, 1781.] Samuel Johnston: James Madison We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. Weve staked the future of all our political institutions upon our capacity
to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God. [1778 to the General Assembly of the State of Virginia] It is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity toward each other. A watchful eye must be kept on ourselves lest, while we are building ideal monuments of renown and bliss here, we neglect to have our names enrolled in the Annals of Heaven. [Letter by Madison to William Bradford [urging him to make sure of his own salvation] November 9, 1772] At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, James Madison proposed the plan to divide the central government into three branches. He discovered this model of government from the Perfect Governor, as he read Isaiah 33:22; James McHenry Signer of the Constitution | Portrait of James McHenry Jedediah Morse: | portrait of Jedediah Morse John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg | Statue of John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg Thomas Paine: Benjamin Rush: "Let the children who are sent to those schools be taught to read and write and above all, let both sexes be carefully instructed in the principles and obligations of the Christian religion. This is the most essential part of education Justice Joseph Story: Noah Webster: | Portrait of Noah Webster In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed...No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people. Let it be impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers just men who will rule in the fear of God [Exodus 18:21]. . . . If the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted . . . If our government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the Divine commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the laws. [Noah Webster, The History of the United States (New Haven: Durrie and Peck, 1832), pp. 336-337, 49] All the miseries and evils which 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. History. p. 339] The Bible was Americas basic textbook Farewell Address: The name of American, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion" ...and later: "...reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle..." | photo of Farewell address original manuscript
What students would learn in American schools above all is the religion of Jesus Christ. [speech to the Delaware Indian Chiefs May 12, 1779] "To the distinguished character of patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian" [May 2, 1778, at Valley Forge] During his inauguration, Washington took the oath as prescribed by the Constitution but added several religious components to that official ceremony. Before taking his oath of office, he summoned a Bible on which to take the oath, added the words So help me God! to the end of the oath, then leaned over and kissed the Bible. "Although guided by our excellent Constitution in the discharge of official duties, and actuated, through the whole course of my public life, solely by a wish to promote the best interests of our country; yet, without the beneficial interposition of the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, we could not have reached the distinguished situation which we have attained with such unprecedented rapidity. To HIM, therefore, should we bow with gratitude and reverence, and endeavor to merit a continuance of HIS special favors". [1797 letter to John Adams] James Wilson: | Portrait of James Wilson "Christianity is part of the common law" ________________________________________________________________________ Proposals for the seal of the United States of America On July 4, 1776, Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams "to bring in a device for a seal for the United States of America." Franklin's proposal adapted the biblical story of the parting of the Red Sea. Jefferson first recommended the "Children of Israel in the Wilderness, led by a Cloud by Day, and a Pillar of Fire by night. . . ." He then embraced Franklin's proposal and rewrote it Another popular proposal to the Great Seal of the United States was: The three branches of the U.S. Government: Judicial, Legislative, Executive Article 22 of the constitution of Delaware (1776) New York Spectator. August 23, 1831 New England Primer: | Photograph of The New England Primer reprint Site Map | Home |
Elsie ping
Wolf
How DARE you present FACTS!!!!
Note that I never disputed the religious beliefs of the Founders of this country.
You are right.
Thats easy, Adam and Eve werent the first human like
creatures. They were just the first ones that had awareness
of God. The Sons of God were the children of Adam and
Eve. The Daughters of Man were the children of the other
humans that had only animalistic minds and did not know
God. Then it is simple to see that the Nephilim were the
other proto-humans that existed in the Neolithic era.
//........//
"It's his interest in an earlier prehistoric revolution that spurs
Bar-Yosef's investigation of the Neolithic. Bar-Yosef believes it
was some type of technological revolution that gave Cro-Magnon
humans the upper hand over Neanderthals some 35,000 years
ago. It was at that time, after thousands of years of coexistence,
that Cro-Magnon began to multiply rapidly, expanding into a
Neanderthal-dominated Europe and into Asia. It is also at that
time that Neanderthals began to decline, eventually disappearing
entirely."
Uh... what CAUSED them to 'go extinct'?
We killed them.
"Though some believe the Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons interbred until the two populations were indistinguishable, Bar-Yosef thinks the warlike traits of people today give evidence of a different Neanderthal fate. Bar-Yosef thinks Neanderthals were either killed by Cro-Magnons with superior weapons or their populations were isolated by incoming Cro-Magnons and fragmented until, with lower reproductive rates, they died out.
Likewise...
If the government is used to eliminate opposing views in Science books or in any other manor gives a dictum to influence the teaching of Evolution, that is force.
That is not what is happening today. Today the accepted scientific
explanation for our origin is the Theory of Evolution first identified
and explained by Darwin. The actual debate has been over for a
few generations now. The body-of-knowledge, the courses, and
the textbooks were already written long ago but the recent legal
actions now are an attempt to stop teaching Science.
[Because some knuckle dragger cant accept that his Long-Great
Grandma might have been an ape? Go figure!]
That is the force of government.
We just had a holiday in honor of a man that proves these statements false.
See "Letters from the Birmingham Jail".
Dr. King conformed. He did not resist when he was taken to jail.
As a matter of fact, that is the main reason we honor him, because
he preached non-violence and therefore did not resist. If he had
immediately fought police officers to prevent being taken in to
custody he would have been killed. Our police officers wont let
you fight them. The point is, the government will not just say, oh
well, you committed a crime and then tried to run over our officers
with your car but your infraction wasnt so bad and you fought
hard so we will just let you go.
All government force is predicated on deadly force.
I hate to burst your bubble but church attendance is not declining.
I will celebrate Darwin Day by praying for his soul.
I hate to burst your's back, but that isn't what the Churches are saying.
ST LOUIS, Mo., Oct. 12 [2006] - Attendance at American churches is less than half of what we have believed in the past, according to Dave Olson, director of church planting for the Evangelical Covenant Church, and director of the American Church Research Project.
Olson addressed the Mission America Coalition annual conference on its closing day with groundbreaking new research about the state of the American church. Instead of relying on limited survey data which is then extrapolated to the entire population, Olson has worked for years to build a database of actual recorded attendance in over 300,000 churches across America. His vision was to present a much more accurate picture of what is really happening to the American church at both the national and local levels, and with information refined down to individual zip codes. "I'm not relying on what people say, I'm measuring their actual behavior," he told nearly 170 national church, ministry, and lay leaders gathered.
According to Olson's research, overall church attendance is virtually unchanged from 15 years ago, even though the United States population has grown by 52 million people - mostly unchurched. The northeast U.S. is the only region where the church is growing faster than the population, and no state has seen a net increase in the percentage of church attendance in the last five years. Even in the southern states, the traditional Bible Belt, the population is growing faster than the church.
About the Mission America Coalition
by Dr. Paul A. Cedar, Chairman/CEO
The Mission America Coalition (MAC) is an unprecedented Coalition of Christian leaders who have prayerfully come together to mobilize the Church for praying, caring and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in deed and word.
Since its inception, leaders from 81 denominations, over 350 ministries and dozens of ministry networks have been involved in the Coalition. MAC calls for active participation in The Great Commission of Jesus Christ to Therefore go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19) and our Lords Great Commandment to Love the Lord your God . . . and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37, 39).
Olson's data and presentation to the Mission American Coalition annual meeting will be available to access online as of Oct. 17 at: http://www.theamericanchurch.org/MA.htm
The Mission America Coalition is a network of national church leaders, representing denominations, ministries, and other key Christian leaders with a shared vision to collaborate in prayer, evangelism, and revival. Since its inception, leaders from 81 denominations, over 400 ministries and dozens of ministry networks have been involved in the Coalition. Mrs. Vonette Bright (Campus Crusade for Christ), Dr. Billy Graham (Billy Graham Evangelistic Association), and Dr. John Perkins (Christian Community Development Association) serve as honorary co-chairs.
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