[Jack Black]

I miss your point entirely. Washington and Hamilton were very much creatures of the Enlightenment. The US was set up as a Consitutional Republic not a Theocracy. Sure, they were deeply religous men. But they did a great deal to advance the concept that a political state can and should exist based on limited powers and the will of it's subjects. This is in sharp contrast with the older European tradition of Kings ruling based on the will of God. The West is, by and large, secular in it's organization and has been progressively so since the era of our revolution. Would you deny this? Where are the theocratic western nations. Vatican City comes to mind, but that's about it.

[=Intervention=]

You're right in that you missed his point entirely. Did you think Hamilton and Jefferson, by so advocating a state that would not dictate to men's souls (and thereby rob them of the freedom granted by God after the fall of man) were somehow advocating secularistic belief? Not hardly. Or do you claim that some forms of government are "divine" and others are "secular?" This seems almost as silly as saying rock music being made by Christians then becomes "Christian rock." No, it is still rock music, for that is the form. The spirit, the content, the lyrics, the effects, are the true distinction, not the form.

[ppaul]

This is in sharp contrast with the older European tradition of Kings ruling based on the will of God.

The Magna Carta and the Protestant Reformation changed all that. The roots of our nation's freedoms, steeped in the fundamental tenets of Christianity, are the underlying basis of our liberties. That is why the Aamerican War for Independence was not the "secularist" bloodbath like the French revolution.

[Constitutions Grandchild]

While they were fairly enlightened in their time, they never envisioned a country devoid of a moral compass. We were all just conceited enough to think nobody would want to live any other way but by self-determination, hard work and a respect for the Almighty. We just didn't want anybody shoving any particular rules about how we showed our respect to the Almighty down our throats. We "assumed" rightly or wrongly that folks could make up their own minds. In the meantime,they were not averse to making a buck. Everytime another heathen moved into the neighborhood, we just moved west a little further. Problem is, we're running out of space to hole up.