Perplexity
In America
Key Question:
Is America, a Christian Nation?!?!?
"In God We Trust" on our money was coined during the
Civil War in 1863. "...under God..." was added
to the
Pledge of Allegiance
during the Cold War in 1954, not to mention some legislative and
military chaplains and ceremonial days of thanksgiving.
Nevertheless,
American “Enlightenment
free thinker”
mentality precedents on diplomacy and constitutional thought has far
reaching ramifications that can adversely affect America
permanently. Consider the following perceptions, in the context of
The
Constitution of the United States of America, and religion.
Religion, at the time referred to
Christianity and nothing else. Islam and other
modern religions were not part of consideration of the Founders of
America.
The Constitution of the United
States of America:
The First Amendment sates: "Congress shall make
no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof ... "
Article VI states that
"no religious test
shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public
trust in the United States."
Perplexing
Perceptions
The word
Perplexity,
as used in the Bible, in reference to finding an answer to a
prevailing predicament or calamity, means, "No Way Out; Without Solutions;
Without Means; Without Resolution". If you have no reason to be
concerned about the direction America as a nation is going, here is one reason:
One man in position of authority can fail to think through what was
democratically defined and uses personal reasons and partisan
politics to harm America, unnecessarily unknowingly, be it
Patriotic Conservative, Leftist Liberal Progressive,
or simply Maverick [stupid] ought to be a matter of
concern to anyone who knows true liberty!!!
The Second President John Adams and the Treaty of Tripoli:
This most
striking Treaty was entered in by U.S. diplomat
Joel Barlow, an Enlightenment freethinker, and ratified by the U.S.
Senate in 1797. Article 11. It states: "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 tranquility [sic], of Mussulmen [Muslims]; and,
as the said States never have entered into any war, or act of
hostility against any Mahometan 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."
BAD.
George Washington in a letter: The letter was
to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island in 1790
wrote: "The citizens of the United States of America have a right to
applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an
enlarged and liberal policy -- a policy worthy of imitation.
All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of
citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it
were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the
exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily,
the
Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction,
to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who
live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens
in giving it on all occasions their effectual support ... May the
children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to
merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants -- while
every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and
there shall be none to make him afraid."
FAIR.
John Tyler, the tenth President, in an 1843 wrote a letter which
stated: "The United States have
adventured upon a great and noble experiment, which is believed to
have been hazarded in the absence of all previous precedent --
that of total separation of Church and State. No religious
establishment by law exists among us. The conscience is left
free from all restraint and each is permitted to worship his Maker
after his own judgment. The offices of the Government are open
alike to all. No tithes are levied to support an established
Hierarchy, nor is the fallible judgment of man set up as the sure
and infallible creed of faith.
The
Mohammedan, if he will to come among us would have the privilege
guaranteed to him by the constitution to worship according to the
Koran; and the East Indian might erect a shrine to Brahma, if it so
pleased him. Such is the spirit of
toleration inculcated by our political Institutions."
MISLEADING.
Mubarak
Hussein M. Obama, the forty forth President, on
April 6, 2009, in Turkey, explained: "One of the great strengths
of the United States is … we have a very large Christian population
-- we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish
nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of
citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values...Somehow,
somewhere along the way, faith stopped being used to bring us
together and started being used to drive us apart. It got
hijacked. Part of it is because of the so-called leaders of the
Christian Right, who've been all too eager to exploit
what divides us." Hmmmm,
I wonder about the Christian Liberal Left? I
guess the President did not think about Rev. Wright of the
President's spiritual nurturing Church, the United Church of
Christ! Had Obama said anywhere that because of a
large number of Muslims America is a Muslim Nation but not a
Christian nation with its very large Christian population?
He actually said,
"…one of the points I want to make is, is that if
you actually took the number of Muslim Americans,
we’d be one of the largest Muslim countries
in the world. And so there’s got to be a better dialogue
and a better understanding between the two peoples.”
He normally is an
individual who burns both sides of his candle at once!
WRONG.
John
McCain the Politician's preference stated thus: "But, no, I just have
to say in all candor that
since
this nation was founded primarily on Christian principles ...
personally, I prefer someone who I know has a solid grounding in my
faith. But that doesn't mean that I'm sure that someone who is
a Muslim would not make a good president. I don't say that we
would rule out under any circumstances someone of a different faith.
I just would -- I just feel that that's an important part of our
qualifications to lead."
MAVERICK.
Perplexity!
What Do You Think?
