E Rocc: "Thomas Jefferson, speaking of Virginia's Act of Religious Freedom: '...an amendment was proposed by inserting the words, ‘Jesus Christ...the holy author of our religion,’ which was rejected ‘By a great majority in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and the Mohammedan, the Hindoo and the Infidel of every denomination.’ -- As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Musselmen; and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries." -Treaty with Tripol signed in 1976, proclaimed in 1797."
Our government wasn't founded on "the Christian religion", it was founded on the biblical worldview wherein our Framers merely recognized the self-evident (absolute) truths that man's rights and freedoms come from his Creator ( God ). They set the Constitution into place to guard those moral truths. The Constitution stands between us and our elected/appointed government officials effectively protecting us from them. (See my profile page).
Also see some of the comments in this thread, one of which I'm copying below:
[snip]
"Jefferson's letter is just that, a letter. He was not involved in the constitutional convention, and had nothing to do with the Bill of Rights -- being in France on both occasions. His letter was written 14 years after the Bill of Rights were adopted. And several of the states ratifying the Bill of Rights actually had official state religions. I am not obviously not arguing for a return to that, but the point is that if today's "separation of church and state" viewpoint existed back then, the Bill of Rights never would have been ratified by the states, including the states that had official religions. And a few days after writing this letter, Jefferson went to the House of Representatives for morning prayer, as he did frequently as president. But this is, nonetheless, a fascinating link.
6 posted on 06/22/2005 5:41:23 PM EDT by holdonnow
He prayed not as President, but as Thomas Jefferson, private citizen. While President, he refused to issue official proclamations calling for days of prayer and thanksgiving.
FYI, Madison actually supported with Jefferson a bill to punish Sabbath breakers in Virginia (the same day they pushed the bill for religious liberty!)
And the official Congressional Record shows Madison saying the First Amendment was only intended to prohibit a national religion that people would be forced to observe.