Quote:
Originally posted by ThetaPrincess24
It is said that 86% of Americans believe in God. Therefore I have a very hard time understanding why there is such a mess about having the 10 commandments on display or "In God We Trust" on our money and having God in the Pledge of Allegiance. Why don't we just tell the 14% to Sit Down and SHUT UP!!! Or go back to their country to live.
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Interesting. Since you are such an expert on how the founding fathers felt about these matters, why don't you tell us what Monroe had to say about allowing the opinion of the majority to fully override the rights of the minority?
The issue of religion among the founding fathers and early presidents is not as simplistic as this makes it out to be. Many of them were members of a church at one point in their life, but some left it or were only members for social reasons. Others, while belonging to a church, were freethinkers who did not agree with every teaching of their church. And, as pointed out, just because they were Christian does not in any way mean that they thought religion and the law should intermingle. The separation of church and state was written into the Constitution for a reason.
But hey, did you know . . .
-- that John Adams said, "This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it."?
-- that Ben Franklin said, "Lighthouses are more helpful then churches."?
-- that Thomas Jefferson said, "I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature" and "The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being of His Father, in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter."?
-- that James Madison said, "During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry, and persecution."?
and furthermore, did you know that if you wanted to kick every American who is NOT Christian out of the country, that list would include Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, Ernest Hemingway, Helen Keller (gotta love Helen Keller -- oh, wait, wasn't she a socialist too?), Frank Lloyd Wright, Mark Twain, Robert Frost, Susan B. Anthony, William Howard Taft, Susan B. Anthony, Thomas Paine -- and on a slightly less serious note, Marlon Brando, Katherine Hepburn, Bill Gates (heh), Kurt Vonnegut, and Rob's brother?
*Side note! I have no idea how accurate all of the above facts are, because half of them I just ganked off websites. But I can guarantee that they are more accurate than the facts in the original post in this thread, because that would not be hard.
I've also enjoyed reading everyone's repiles 
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