Monday, August 29, 2011

The United States is NOT a Christian Nation!

by Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy

Whenever any court of any type restricts, bans or opposes religious intrusions into governmental affairs, an army of fundies --like cockroaches -- are sure to crawl out of the woodwork. Just as predictably, an army of politcians will ooze out --like sweet stuff --upon a public stage to court them.

Predictably, this circle of jerks --consisting as it does of the deluded on the one hand and the gaggle of oportunists/politcians on the other hand --will denounce the decision(s) and declare that it is against the 'wishes and intents' of the nation's "founding fathers".

The most obvious examples have to do with separation of church and state which should be a settled issue on the side of 'separation'. Propagandists throughout the right wing would have it otherwise. They try to re-write history everyday. If we are not vigilant, one day, they will succeed in creating and imposing upon us a theocracy when, in fact, the founders had decried 'theocracy' and deliberately created a secular state.

An alarming, perhaps a growing, number throughout the right wing will tell you with a straight face that the United States was founded upon the 'Christian' religion and that the founders were themselves 'Christians'. Neither statement is true. The U.S. is not a Christian nation nor was it intended to be. The founders themselves were not Christian, some where 'deists', others espoused no religion whatsoever. To sum up: our founders were not Christians and certainly did not believe in a literal interpretation of the bible.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, nor prohibiting the free execise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of people peacably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
First Amendment, U.S. Constitution [emphasis above is mine, EC]
One wonders what it is about 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion' that is not understood by the American 'right wing'.
Now be it known, That I John Adams, President of the United States of America, having seen and considered the said Treaty do, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, accept, ratify, and confirm the same, and every clause and article thereof. And to the End that the said Treaty may be observed, and performed with good Faith on the part of the United States, I have ordered the premises to be made public; And I do hereby enjoin and require all persons bearing office civil or military within the United States, and all other citizens or inhabitants thereof, faithfully to observe and fulfill the said Treaty and every clause and article thereof.
--John Adams, Treaty of Tripoli
The organized, concerted right wing effort to tear down the 'wall of separation' between church and state is a repugnant revision of our history that must not be tolerated.

Thomas Jefferson is not, by definition, a 'founder'; nevertheless, he drafted the Declaration of Independence and shared with those who later made up the Constitutional Convention, the view that the United States was --in no way --'founded upon the Christian religion'.

The United States is NOT a 'Christian' nation.
I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.

--Thomas Jefferson, Danbury Letter
We will never be free to relax with respect to this issue. The American right wing, extremists and religious fanatics have a subversive agenda. Unless they are constantly opposed or stopped, they will stop at nothing to effect their agenda. They have already proven that they are willing to change the meaning and legal significance of 'precedent' upon which is based the legal and philsophical underpinnings of Western Civilization.
Clarence Thomas is articulating the view that precedent doesn't count... I think that if Bush were to appoint people who believe that precedent doesn't count, you would really see a carnage of the laws passed by the New Deal courts.... I think that this...new Court is perfectly capable of reaching back and substantially reversing and eroding the decisions of the Supreme Court in the late 1930s. And that, to me, is a great danger.

--Martin Garbus
It is not claimed in the preamble to the Constitution that God ordained our Constitution! No external lawgiver is cited! Nor is the Constitution based --as Gary Bauer had said --on the Ten Commandments. The Constitution never mentions the Ten Commandments. The Constitution is not based on the Talmud, nor the Upanishads, nor the Bhagavad-Gita, nor the Koran!

Fundamentalists of any religious persuasion should read the Constitution from the first letter to the last period. They should be required to count the number of times the word "God" is used!

NOT ONCE!

Count the number of times the word "Christian" is used!

NOT ONCE!

Count the number of times that the name of any religion is named or even referenced!

NOT ONCE!

That is the case because the Constitution is a secular document creating a secular, humanist nation --A FREE REPUBLIC --and until it is overthrown by GOP/wing nuts/Religious fanatics in a coup d'etat, it will remain so!

Five ideologues have proven themselves contemptuous of both the rule of law and a basic principle underlying our founding: the separation of church and state! The constitutional subversives are Chief Justice John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, Samuel A. Alito and Sandra Day O'Connor. None of them can be trusted to be faithful stewards of our heritage, our Constitution, indeed, our very freedoms as they are guaranteed to us in that document. Some examples:
In 1993, William Osburne was convicted of kidnapping, assaulting and raping a woman in Anchorage, Alaska. He spent the next 14 years of his life behind bars. Osburne insists that he is innocent, the State of Alaska has in its possession DNA evidence which will once and for all prove his guilt or innocence, and Osburne has offered to pay for DNA testing out of his own pocket. Allowing Osburne to prove—or disprove–his claim of innocence will cost Alaska literally nothing.

--Ian Millhiser, Think Progress, In 5-4 Decision, Conservative Supreme Court Denies DNA Evidence To Potentially Innocent Man
Yet another example among scores:
Today, a Supreme Court majority ruled against women by siding with the country's largest employment discriminator, saying Wal-Mart, essentially, is too big to sue. The brave women, led by Betty Dukes, who stood up to Wal-Mart at great personal sacrifice, are told simply they're on their own.

"With this decision, the Supreme Court has assisted Wal-Mart in its efforts to systematically dole out promotions and pay raises on the basis of sex. The law calls that illegal discrimination, but this Court has turned its back on the more than million women who only sought simple justice," said NOW President Terry O'Neill. "The women of Wal-Mart deserve respect and fair treatment, and we will continue to stand up for their rights."

In 2002, NOW declared Wal-Mart a "Merchant of Shame" as part of its Women-Friendly Workplace Campaign. NOW chapters have led countless community demonstrations at Wal-Mart stores around the country to educate shoppers about Wal-Mart's exploitation of its women employees.

Today, NOW demands an immediate legislative response to help the women of Wal-Mart. We call on Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would provide more effective remedies to victims of sex-based wage discrimination. This bill passed in the House in January 2009, but ultimately was defeated in the Senate.

"The gap between women's and men's pay is still sizeable, which is why it's so important to get this legislation passed," stated O'Neill. "We will continue supporting the efforts of Senators Mikulski, Cantwell, Gillibrand, Klobuchar, Stabenow and others to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act and hold accountable those who stand in the way of this sensible remedial bill."

A legislative remedy is only part of the solution, however. NOW also calls on Wal-Mart to end its unconscionable resistance to employees' efforts to form unions and bargain collectively over pay, benefits and other conditions of employment. Research demonstrates that unionized women workers earn better wages and have better benefits than their non-union counterparts. In fact, women in unions earn 11.2 percent more or $2.00 more per hour than non-union women workers. And the gender wage gap is smaller in unionized workplaces.

--Political Affairs, In 5-4 decision, conservative Supreme Court justices dismiss Wal-Mart lawsuit
These 'justices' and the American right wing which supports them wish to undo the work of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, George Mason and every founder whose signature is to be found at the bottom of what has been called the most magnificant document to have issued from the mind of humankind: the U.S. Constitution.

17 comments:

yellowdoggranny said...

well....duh!..but try and tell that to them Republican Christians..buttroys.

Unknown said...

I often tell them and they never listen! But --their numbers are dwindling. They are already dinosaurs and know it.

Anonymous said...

The 9/11 truth is out on the internet
This is the truth: The WTC was destroyed by 3 underground thermo-nuclear explosions. They were detonated by the US government which used this as an excuse to lead the US and its allies into invading Afghanistan and Iraq. All these wars and deaths were based on a lie.

Goebbels: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”

Will you help to tell the truth to the world?
http://www.mathaba.net/news/?x=625926

http://www.911-truth.net/
Be sure to watch the 26 part video there.
#4 is on the built-in nuclear demolition scheme of the WTC
http://www.911-truth.net/911_WTC_nuclear_demolition_Dimitri_Khalezov_part04.mp4
#14 in on Building 7, which collapsed even though no plane hit it.
http://www.911-truth.net/911_WTC_nuclear_demolition_Dimitri_Khalezov_part14.mp4
#24/25 is on the chronic radiation sickness of the WTC responders
http://www.911-truth.net/911_WTC_nuclear_demolition_Dimitri_Khalezov_part24.mp4
http://www.911-truth.net/911_WTC_nuclear_demolition_Dimitri_Khalezov_part25.mp4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNh1Isb20tw&feature=player_embedded

http://careandwashingofthebrain.blogspot.com/2011/05/911-comparing-building-implosions.html

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/07/11/inside-job-more-proof-of-911-duplicity/

Declassified: Massive Israeli manipulation of US media exposed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kureFeGmoDI

Video proving that no planes hit the WTC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xlj1mVD2-HM

Some of the 9/11 victims are NOT dead, here's one
http://letsrollforums.com/barbara-olson-9-11-t20525.html?amp
http://beforeitsnews.com/story/270/128/9-11_crash_victim_Barbara_Olson_arrested_in_Europe.html

Missile hitting the Pentagon
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/08/29/911-video-of-missile-hitting-pentagon-leaked/

Unknown said...

I found this comment re: this article in my email:

The founders of this nation called upon God as Providence and Supreme Judge and were Christians by vast majority. Now, you ppl who think you can argue and debate politically -- better prepare yourselves for DIVINE WRATH. You don't GET A VOT3E nor an OPINION when GOD TAKES HIS FIST AND SMASHES YOU TO NOTHING. Coming soon.

That's the kind of screwed-up, evil, psychotic and psychopathic mentality that makes intelligent discourse in the U.S. impossible.

The founders --in fact --were Deists and/or atheists and, in terms of literacy, all were better educated, more widely read than almost every modern politician of either party chosen at random. James Madison --who literally wrote the Constitution --is a case in point. Thomas Jefferson, not a founder but the author of the famous Danbury letter, is another case in point.

In other words, for telling the truth about the U.S. Constitution --which even the signers said was a secular document --I am threatened with hell-fire. My response is: if you believe so strongly in HELL ---then go there as quickly as you can.

Religious bigots will --of course --all go to the hell of their own making but they are sadly mistaken if they should try to intimidate me. I grew with that kind of garbage. My advice to them: get a life! It's the only one you're gonna have.

Anonymous said...

"...when GOD TAKES HIS FIST AND SMASHES YOU TO NOTHING" - wing-nuts


Nevertheless... remember what George C. said: 'But he loves you'


Of course you are correct...it will never end Len, you hit that one on the nail, they will just keep coming, because if you think about it for a moment...it's about all they have, they are unable for what ever reason to step out even one inch from their world view in order to experience the life on this planet and universe from any other perspective...sad situation, sad indeed. I hope you are correct in stating their dwindling numbers, one thing I have noticed is that their power and numbers are usually associated with stressful times, and after a surge of the idiocy they evoke, eventually most people back away from the extremist. I particularly liked your description of the politicians and opportunists you described with regards to these 'religious' flare-ups...spot on!


benmerc

Unknown said...

Benmerc,

Great to see ya again, my friend. Thanks for your comments. It's probably true in general that 'extremists' and charlatans of all stripes seem to crawl out of the woodwork in stressful times. Rome, in its last days, was full of kooks, cults, demagogues, assholes and, like the U.S., robber barons who often seized for delinquent taxes, small farms owned by Legionaries who had been sent off to fight in the Middle East, Dacia, et al.

Anonymous said...

Always come back to the 'Cowboy'...
Good to read a dose of reality now and then in this crazy world...speaking of crazy, look at all the hoopla over the wing-nut round-up this evening...just amazing these people are even taken seriously, and we are paying their fucking salaries to boot...on that sorry note, wish I was in some cool high country sitting by a fire listening to coyotes. Keep on the truth Len..

benmerc

Unknown said...

benmerc said...

...wish I was in some cool high country sitting by a fire listening to coyotes. Keep on the truth Len..

Great to see ya, again, mon ami!

And --rest assured --I will keep on tellin' it like it is.

Phoenix Justice said...

It should be noted that Sandra Day O'Connor is no longer on the Supreme Court and has been on the Supreme Court for quite some time. I think you meant to mention Justice Kennedy perchance?

E.A. Blair said...

Actually, the second paragraph of article VII does mention the Christian deity, but only in a very oblique (and non-religious) manner:

"Done in convention by the unanimous consent of the states present the seventeenth day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven and of the independence of the United States of America the twelfth."

This can hardly be interpreted as an endorsement.

Unknown said...

Eric said...

Actually, the second paragraph of article VII does mention the Christian deity, but only in a very oblique (and non-religious) manner:

That is hardly a reference to a religious deity. 'Lords' can be persons and, in any case, it is nothing more than a common figure of speech and does not, in any way, address the 'source' of U.S. sovereignty or authority, nor is its use --as a common expression --required by law.

Anonymous said...

Love it! Absolutely beautiful.
Thomas Paine had a lot to say on the subject also. But Jefferson pretty much sums it up.

Keep up the good work.

Amerikagualg

John Myste said...

"And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter" (April 11, 1823). ~ Thomas Jefferson

"I have recently been examining all the known superstitions of the world, and do not find in our particular superstition (Christianity) one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology." ~ Thomas Jefferson

"In the affairs of the world, men are saved not by faith, but by the lack of it." ~ Benjamin Franklin

"Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half of the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we call it the word of a demon than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind. ~ Thomas Paine

Yet this is trash that the Church imposes upon the world as the Word of God; this is the collection of lies and contradictions called the Holy Bible! This is the rubbish called Revealed Religion! ~ Thomas Paine

The Christian system of religion is an outrage on common sense. ~ Thomas Paine

Unknown said...

Phoenix Justice said...

It should be noted that Sandra Day O'Connor is no longer on the Supreme Court and has been on the Supreme Court for quite some time.

I included past members of the court for having gotten us TO this point. I should have been more clear and should have made the point that my list --though it is incomplete --included justices whose opinions have blurred the 'wall of separation' between church and state. O'Connor is among the justices having written 'opinions' for what I consider to be the WRONG SIDE.

Marc McDonald said...

Good piece, Len.

What's even more sickening to me is that most "Christians" in the U.S. have no f*cking clue what Christ actually said.

Christ was a socialist, peace-loving man who preached compassion and forgiveness. In Mark 10:21, Christ told a wealthy man that if he didn't sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor, he would not enter heaven. That's one of those Bible verses you never hear the wingnuts mention.

James 5:1-4 is another Bible passage the wingnuts never mention:

"Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty."

---James 5:1-4, The Bible, New International Version.

Unknown said...

Marc McDonald said...

Christ was a socialist, peace-loving man who preached compassion and forgiveness. In Mark 10:21, Christ told a wealthy man that if he didn't sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor, he would not enter heaven. That's one of those Bible verses you never hear the wingnuts mention.

Marc, great to see your comments again, mi amigo...

You are absolutely correct! Someone (I do not recall the author at the moment) wrote of a '...certain blindness' among our species. You have targeted and struck the nature of the 'Christian blind-spot'. Having grown up in the Baptist Church, I left it when it was clear to me that most went to church for the reinforcement of pre-conceived notions and prejudices. They believe what they want to believe and they want to believe whatever it is that makes them feel good about themselves.

Your quote of James: 4 1-4 is, likewise, right on target. I am not against the reading of the bible; for a critical reader, it can be a source of great insight. Alas --modern fundies, bigots, wingnuts, and/or fanatics will cite the Bible for all the worst, wrong, and, in some cases, absolutely DISHONEST reasons.

Unknown said...

NOTICE to fanatics spamming this thread! Knock it off for your own sake. You merely confirm what I have said about your sick mentality. You PRESUME to tell others what to do, what to think, how to think and what to feel.

CLUE: NO ONE ASKED YOU!

And --NO you are NOT appointed by God! I strongly suggest that rather than spam my blog, you get serious psychological help!