All I'm saying is that the world was very different in the 18th century. You always have to adapt to survive. That applies to the collective and the individual. If we hinge ourselves too much on what our founding fathers would think, we're going to fall behind.
Isn't there this thing called the 1st amendment that talks about freedom of religion? Did the founding fathers actually mean "freedom of being a Christian who must conform to society Christian norm"?
Pretty sure there was a big dissenting from the Catholic Church movement back then. I've done some good reading on this back in the day, but my mind is now mush. I don't the the founding fathers wanted this to be a Catholic Nation or anything close to that.
I never understood the obsession many americans have with the founding fathers. They lived many years age the world is completly different today (slaves for example).
I agree quite a bit with this statement. This is why its sad to see when people state the Constitution is out of date and we no longer live in the 18th century. The Constitution wasn't anything new or revolutionary. One of its main purposes was to keep power out of the hands of a select few people. It was certainly flawed and the founders knew it was flawed thus why we have the amendment process.
Why bother then reading Plato or studying history? I don't believe in fetishizing the Founding Fathers and am not what would be considered a Constitutional Originalist but I think it's a mistake to not try to understand the intent of those who wrote the Constitution. While yes the world is very different than what it was in 1789 if we consider the Constitution to be the guide for our government it is important to understand what those who wrote it meant. That doesn't mean we freeze it at a 19th C. interpretation as the Founders themselves were well aware that things would change and part of the genius of the Constitution was to leave a lot of room for interpretation. To say though that the thoughts of the Founders don't matter since it was a long time ago and they are dead is to pretty much make the Constitution a meaningless document since each generation could interpret things anyway they want without considering history.
The consequences of what they were doing was death, the ideas they were perusing hadn't been seen in 2000 years, the document they wrote is profound, it shows how reasonable men come together for the common good, the movement they started is the basis for the modern world. Sure the framers have been given mythological status when they were just human beings with faults, but the document is due it's reverence.
I say it was founded on Christianity. Many American settlers were Protestants, and nearly every American was Christian. They did allow for religious freedom, but that doesn't mean they didn't see themselves as a Christian nation.
No, he's resorting to that tired conservative mantra where "if you don't agree with me 100%, you're not a real American". You know, moronic-type stuff.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. ^this is the founding father's intent. the rest of the document is a bunch of compromises about how to achieve it.
Keep in mind though that in those times "Christian" was synonymous with "civilized" and in that sense all of the Founders considered themselves and the country as Christian. That though doesn't mean that they believed in the Bible as divine and the ideals of the Christian faith as being what they were enshrining into the Constitution, or even the Declaration of Independence. In fact based on the writings of Jefferson and Franklin it's clear that many of the Founders didn't see the Bible as being divine.
Christianity, albeit the most tolerant version in a long time, had a huge part of the founding of this country. Most of that influence was removed with the end of Articles of Confederation and adoption of the Constitution.
Where are the fundies? Here I'll do it: .. that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, implies omnipotence
There is a correct answer to this question, and given the current political climate I suppose it's somewhat comforting that 80% have picked it. But it should be 100%.
Doesn't matter Freedom is chaos Entropy always wins eventually There will be millions of religions And millions of the non-religious
