Knew you would! :)

Well, it also depends on what you mean by "America" and "founded."

The formation of the United States as a separate and independent political entity or the actual settlement and survival of the early colonies?

The influence of the Puritans in New England really was pretty darn important for a long time in US history, and Georgia's colonial success depended a lot on the Methodists.

And to be honest, even the Deism of the Revolutionary documents probably wouldn't have been possible without the contributions of the Judeo-Christian Western tradition. It's not like the Enlightenment happened in a cultural vacuum or under Confucianism or Islam.

I misspoke when I suggested that actual Puritans founded the whole of America. America was founded by many distinct groups, sects, organizations, corporations, and more. We're a great big ridiculous melting pot.

Nevertheless, I do not believe so many brothels were appearing that every township/county (and generally only those containing or that would one day contain a college or university) felt that anti-brothel laws were necessary but that instead of saying 'no brothels' they referred to it vaguely in terms of number of women in a household.

Given that this is a "stickied" thread regarding the brothel law, try and focus on that rather than the philosophical reasoning behind the founding of the country which is extremely loosely tied to local zoning laws. The only thing relevant about the influence of religion or whether many aspects of our society are too conservative is that these are probably the reasons (or perceptions) that lead to people believing in a stupid reason for the lack of Greek Housing.

Hey, you're the one who brought the Puritan influence up. ;)

But you're right in that in the 1800s, unless one was going to school in New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington or New Orleans, keeping brothels from being established near campuses probably wasn't high on any municipality's list of things to worry about. (And I'm doubting that they worried in New Orleans.)

Why isn't this dead yet like the law?:confused:

I came across this thread and found it interesting. Apparently this myth has been circulating for so long even LAWMAKERS don't even question it.

Here is an article from Wikipedia.com...where even the Tennessee Legislature had to address this very issue, on a law that evidently never existed to start with:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_...ate_University

Is it really a Myth
 

I know for a fact that in Detroit Mi, the law stands. There are no Sorority houses but there are several Frat houses. It is a law that is actually on the books here.

Can you actually cite to the ordinance? 'Cause otherwise, I'm not buying that it's "actually on the books."

I'm sure his brother's girlfriend's aunt's third cousin's husband's dog told him. So of course it's true. Disregard the rest of the thread and everyone else who ACTUALLY knows what they're talking about. The Brothel Law is absolutely true.:rolleyes:

BTW, MC - love the new sig.:)

I really don't care what you buy or don't. I know for certain that at the several universities in this city, none of them have houses that are inhabited.

I can assure you that the law exist

Too bad no one believes you. Your assurances don't mean squat.

Again, cite your source. Oh that's right, you can't.

Oh, my bad. I didn't stop to think that if no sororities in Detroit have houses, the reason can only be a brothel law. I have certainly been put in my place. :rolleyes:

Then it ought to be a simple matter for you to cite and/or quote the ordinance. But like OTW, I'm betting you can't.

My alma mater (Washington University in St. Louis) regularly fed this myth to incoming freshmen, but a Theta who graduated the year before I did debunked this myth to the Panhellenic community and revealed the real reason: an alumna had donated money to the university with the stipulation that while it was being used to build/maintain the building named in her memory, sororities could only have suites in her building and no residential houses. At that time the sororities discussed building houses but found there wasn't enough interest in our chapters to pursue it.

That's very interesting. SLU and UMSL believed the myth too, although I think UMSL helped debunk it by the creation of their new sorority houses in the past few years (although even they're not in the "city" so I'm sure it lives on).

tHE bROTHEL LAW
 

I just wanted to comment on this because I go to University of Nevada and our wack counterpart UNLV does still adhere to the brothel law. It is not a myth or a rumor. No sororities or frats have official houses because there is still a brothel law in nevada and UNLV and UNR are not in cities that allow brothels.