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Home | Society Religion The world will be a
safer place when people stop thinking of themselves as
"Christians, Muslims, Jews" etc. and istead
just consider themselves to all be humans. -- S. Hein Article on using punishment to get infants to be obedient to "God" Free Will and Choices - According to "God" From Frederick Douglas' autobiography Emotional Intelligence and the Bible "Be grateful to those who have hit you for they have reduced your karmic obstacles" - about 3,000 results Hugs and the Evangelical Church Campus Humor - Why "god" never received tenure at the university Vignettes - The mother at the Orlando hostel who thought kids misbehaved because of what they eat and said "Hell no" about the idea of her daughter trying marijuana A mini editorial on church vs state Quote on religion and romantic love Similarities Between the Muslim, Jewish and Christian Religions News Stories
Humor - Why God Never Got Tenure |
Dan Savage: We can learn to ignore the bullshit in the bible... Other EQI.org Topics: Emotional
Intelligence | Empathy Search EQI.org | Support EQI.org |
| Why I Dislike Religion - Lying to people, children -- In fact most people must be lying. Consider if there were just 5 religions, each with 20% of the population as followers. At best only one can be true, this means the other 80% are being lied to. There is no religion which has a majority of the world's population, so even if there were one religion that was teaching reality, all the others, ie, the majority would be lying to their followers. Let's say the Catholics had 49% of the world following their beliefs. And let's say everything they taught was true. Then the Buddhists, Protestants, Lutherans, Muslims etc, would represent 51% of the world and would all be wrong about their beliefs. In other words, the majority of the relgious teachers of the world would be lying to their followers. And even within the Catholic religion, not everyone believes the same thing. Some believe abortion is a sin, others don't. Some believe homosexuality is a sin, others don't. Some believe contraception is a sin, others don't. Now, either these things are a sin or they aren't. So someone is lying when they make declarations either way. Also, it is very unlikely that one religion is the "true" one. By true I mean, 100% of everything they teach is true. So if no religion is the "true" one, then all are false to some degree, and to some degree all are teaching lies to their followers. - Presenting things as true, as facts, which are really just beliefs. -- I have never seen a religious publication which says "These are the things we believe. We don't present them as fact. They are just are beliefs. They may be wrong. They are not based on scientific research. We suggest you question them and compare them to your own experience and that you use your own judgment." - Teaching children not to question - Bible very dysfunctional-- based on fear, force, jealousy, obedience, vengeance, conditional love, brutal violence, etc. Poor parenting models. Doesn't put responsibility on parents (story of drunken son who should be stoned to death) - Jewish people are told they are "chosen" that land was promised to them by "God." - My father was raised by the Catholics - they forced him to write with his right hand even though he was left-handed. - Some believe (for example Southern Baptists) that children are born sinners and that the Devil must be beaten out of them. - Most religious people I have met believe it is okay to hit your children. - Whole thing is based on rewards and punishment- but all after death where nothing can be verified. - Very unlikely the world will be united with one set of religious beliefs. More likely unity will come through science. - Beliefs are forced on children before their logic is developed enough to question things. Emotions are manipulated through the use of fear, hope, love, guilt, duty, sacrifice, obligation, etc. |
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| Respect
Religion? I don't respect any religion because none have earned my respect. S. Hein Note Buddhism comes close, but the way people practice, apply and interpret it it lessens my respect for it Here is one popular Buddhist quote from Buddhist websites "Be grateful to those who have hit you for they have reduced your karmic obstacles" - about 3,000 results |
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| Respect
for Women There are many ways which religion disrespects and subjegates women. Here is just one quote.
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| Rape
etc Deuteronomy 22 (New International Version) 13 If a man takes a wife and, after
sleeping with her, dislikes her 14 and slanders her and
gives her a bad name, saying, “I married this woman,
but when I approached her, I did not find proof of her
virginity,” 15 then the young woman’s father
and mother shall bring to the town elders at the gate
proof that she was a virgin. 16 Her father will say to
the elders, “I gave my daughter in marriage to this
man, but he dislikes her. 17 Now he has slandered her and
said, ‘I did not find your daughter to be a
virgin.’ But here is the proof of my daughter’s
virginity.” Then her parents shall display the cloth
before the elders of the town, 18 and the elders shall
take the man and punish him. 19 They shall fine him a
hundred shekels[b] of silver and give them to the young
woman’s father, because this man has given an
Israelite virgin a bad name. She shall continue to be his
wife; he must not divorce her as long as he lives. |
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| From Frederick Douglas'
autobiography (Douglas was a slave in the United States. In 1835 he escaped to freedom.) In August 1832 my master attended a Methodist camp meeting, and there experienced religion. I indulged a faint hope that his conversion would lead him to emancapate his slaves, or that at any rate if he did not do this it would make him more kind and humane. I was disappointed in both of these respects. If it had any effect on his character, it made him more cruel and hateful in all his ways, for I believe him to be a much worse man after his conversion than before. Prior to his conversion he relied upon his own depravity to shield and sustain him in his own savage barbarity. But after his conversion he found religious sanction and support for his slaveholding cruelty. He made the greatest pretentions to piety. His house was the house of prayer. He prayed morning, noon and night. He very soon distinguished himself among his bretheren and was soon made a class leader and exhorter. His activity in revivals was great, and he proved himself an instrument of the church in converting many souls. His house was the preacher's home. They used to take great pleasure in coming there, for while he starved us, he stuffed them. While I lived with my master in Saint Michaels, there was one young man, a Mister Wilson, who proposed to keep a sabbath school for the instruction of such slaves as might be disposed to learn to read the new testament. We met but three times when Mr. West and Mr. Fairbanks, both church leaders, with many others, came upon us with sticks, drove us off and forbad us to meet again. Thus ended our little sabbath school in the pious town of Saint Micheals. I have said my master found religious sanction for his cruelty. As an example, I will state one of many facts going to prove the charge. I have seen him tie up a lame young woman and whip her with the heavy cowskin upon her naked shoulders, causing her warm, red blood to drip. And in justification of the bloody deed, he would quote this passage of scripture: He that knoweth his master's will and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes. [then he was loaned out to Edward Covey to be "broken" like horse] Added to the natural good qualities of Mr. Covey, he was a professor of religion. A pious soul. A member and a class leader in the Methodist church. All of this added to his reputation as a "nigger breaker." Such was his disposition and success at deceiving, I do verily believe that he sometimes deceived himself into the solemn belief that he was a sincere worshipper of most high god. And this, too, at a time when he said to have been guilty of compelling his woman slave to commit the sin of adultery. [Later Douglas gets a new master and had this to say about him:] Another advantage I gained in my new master was he made no pretentions to or profession of religion. And this, in my opinion, was truly a great advantage. I assert most unhesitatingly that the religion of the south is a mere covering for the most horrid crimes; a justifier of the most appalling barbarity; a sanctifier of the most hateful fraud and a dark shelter under which the darkest, foulest, grossest and most infernal deeds of slaveholders find the strongest protection. Of all slaveholders I have ever met, religious slaveholders are the worst. I have always found them the meanest and basest, the most cruel and cowardly of all others. It was my unhappy lot not only to belong to religioius slaveholder, but to live in a community of such relgionists. Very near Mr. Freeland lived the reverend Daniel Wheaton. And in the same neighborhood lived the reverend Rigby Hopkins. These were members and ministers in the reformed Methodist church. Mr. Wheaton owned, among others, a woman slave. This woman's back for weeks was kept literally raw, made so by the lash of this merciless religious wretch. His maxim was, "Behave well or behave ill, it is the duty of a master, occassionally to whip a slave to remind him of his master's authority." Such was his theory and such was his practice. Mr. Hopkins was even worse than Mr. Wheaton. The peculiar feature of his slave management was that of whipping slaves in advance of deserving it. His plan was to whip for the smallest of offenses to prevent the commission of large ones. Mr. Hopkins could always find some excuse for whipping a slave. It would astonish one, unaccustomed to slaveholding life, to see what wonderful ease a slaveholder can find reasons for whipping a slave. A mere look, word or motion, a mistake, accident or want of power are matters for which a slave may be whipped at any time. Does a slave look dissatisfied? It is said he has the devil in him and it must be whipped out. Does he speak loudly when spoken to by his master? Then he is getting high-minded and should be taken down a buttonhole lower. Does he forget to pull off his hat at the approach of a white person? Then he is lacking in reverence and should be whipped for it. [note the word "reverence"] Does he ever venture to vindicate his conduct when censored for it? Then he is guilty of impudence, one of the greatest crimes of which a slave can be guilty. Mr. Hopkins could always find something of this sort to justify the use of the lash, and he seldom failed to embrace such opportunities. There was not a man in the whole county with whom the slaves would not prefer to live, rather than with this "reverend", Mr. Hopkins. And yet, there was not a man anywhere around who made higher professions of, or was more active in, religion. No where was there a man who prayed earlier, later, louder and longer than this same reverend slavedriver, Rigby Hopkins. -- See complete book |
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| "stop calling yourselves christians" Search About 6,220 results | |
| Blaise Pascal: Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction. |
| Prayers in the classified ads From the local paper in Campbellton, New Brunswick, Canada, classified section Sacred Heart of Jesus Prayer
Then it says:
I wonder why it is 6 times -- why not 5 or 7 -- who comes up with this stuff? There are a few other prayers like this. One says to say it nine times a day and by the eigth day your prayer will be granted and that "it has never been know to fail."! Another one kisses up to the "virgin" Mary before asking for something:
Then a few lines later it goes on:
I promise I am not making this up! This is in the July 22, 1999 paper p A17. I could believe it easier if it were from five hundred years ago, but in 1999? In a "modern" country like Canada? |
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| Sin vs Healthy
Living - What was called sin in the Old Testament was basically things which were believed to be unhealthy for the individual or the group. So when the relgionists say "The wages of sin is death " the are basically saying unhealthy living leads to death. But we have more information now about what is healthy and unhealthy than they did when the Bible was written. The Buddhists don't employ this concept of sin, by the way. |
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| Respect vs.
Religion I don't respect someone who doesn't respect me- when someone tells me what to do, they are not respecting me and my need for self-direction. When they tell me to believe things that are not reasonable, they are not respecting me and my intelligence. When they tell me to live like everyone else and do what everyone else does, they are not respecting me or my individuality. When they tell me how to feel, they are not respecting me and my innermost nature, that very part of me which is closest to what they would call "divine" or the soul. I don't respect the Christian system because it doesn't make sense. Too hard to believe. Appeals to base emotions, not to reason. Examples: Right from the beginning. Story of talking snake, Eve coming from Adam's rib, Tower of Babel, all the miracles, people who have never heard of Jesus are going to Hell; more important to give life to Christ than to live in a healthy way without hurting others; "God" needs so much obedience, glorification (Example - Stones in two buildings in Auckland say "For the Glory of God.") What do you tell a kid who asks intelligent questions about things that don't make sense? Kids don't respect unreasonable answers. - ie answers that don't make sense. They don't respect people who give then answers like, "You just have to have faith" or "God works in mysterious ways," While we are losing their respect, we are at the same time teaching them not to try to figure things out - to just accept unreasonable things. Religion and Individuality Religious teachings do not allow for individuality. Everyone is supposed to believe the same thing, do the same things, to feel the same ways. What would Jesus do? (Christians wear these little bracelets that have the letters WWJD) You are guessing. He might have changed his ideas if he were to come back. Most people do change their ideas over time. And times change. Things change in importance. So values must change accordingly. Also, you are not Jesus. You have different needs, different talents, different feelings, different information, different knowledge, different opportunities, different threats. What would he do about celluar telephones and beepers, for example? Would he watch TV? Would he buy a car with air conditioning? Religion - not open to change. - Condemed Galileo, among others. Generally fights science at every step. Baptizing Most kids are baptised in Australia, I was told, but it is more of a tradition. The elderly Christians at Bundanoon told me it was just to promise to raise the child under the teachings of Christ "until it was old enough to make up its own mind." This is like teaching it English for 14 years, they saying, okay now you can choose which language you want to speak. (But telling them that any other language will cause them to live in "hell" forever after they die.) Also, what does it mean "according to the teachings of Jesus." - What were these teachings? Honor thy mother and father or leave them? Jesus encouraged people to leave their parents to follow him. Is this healthy for the children? And who decides what the teachings were? Are we to read the Bible and decide for ourselves or let someone else tell us? Belief Systems - - Some belief systems work better for some children. One doesn't fit everyone. - Some are healthier than others. - Some work better in different times in history. Importance of belief systems - To serve God (how do you do that?) or to survive? Is killing an abortion doctor serving God? Are all religions equally good for the survival of the species? How can we evaluate religions? Is the goal to serve "God" or to survive? If it is to serve "God" then how does one do this? How does one go about deciding how to do this? By reading the bible (or Koran etc) or by following someone else who claims to know how it is done? Why do we even bother to tell children they must wear helmets if we don't concern ourselves with what gets forced inside their heads? Religion and Spirituality (This is what I wrote in 1998 about my ideas for a Monetssori school) The school will expose children to a variety of belief systems so they will understand other points of view. These will include Atheism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity, Hinduism, Humanism, Islam, Judaism, Scientific Pantheism and Taoism. However, children will be encouraged to think for themselves and to use science and reason when evaluating belief systems. Where Maria Montessori and others talk about the spirit and the soul, we will focus on more objective and less controversial subjects such as genetics, emotions, energy creation and the survival instinct or possibly the "life force." In place of the "mind, body and spirit", we will speak of the intellectual brain, the emotional brain and the physical body. We will emphasize a belief in the natural, not the supernatural. We will teach children that they have only one life, and thus we will encourage them to make the most of it. Like Dr. Montessori, we have a reverence for nature. We will help children feel awe as they discover the vast mysteries of nature. We will teach that all living things are in some way connected and that the world is a one unified living system of unlimited interdependencies. We will teach that answers to humanity's problems will come from unity, not division. We will teach that all humans share common feelings and that it is through our feelings that we form the strongest connections. We will teach that beliefs often divide us, while emotions unite us. A mini editorial on church vs. state. We will never solve the world's problems until we abolish unhealthy, dysfunctional religions; until we stop allowing dysfunctional religious beliefs to be taught to children. How could any leader not see this? How could any intelligent person who has given it any thought not see the damage religion does? Governments, if they are to be of any good at all, must defend children from destructive belief systems. The US government makes such a big deal out of separation of church and state. But that is a huge mistake. It was a step in the right direction to separate them, but not to then take a "hands off" policy towards religious beliefs of all sorts. Instead, we must move beyond a separation to an active intervention into the church system by the state. Churches can not be freely allowed to warp the minds of vulnerable children as their brain connections are being wired for life. If a government is going to act as a trustee for future generations, it absolutely must involve itself in the activities of the churches. It must monitor them, regulate their activities. Regulate what they teach. It can't allow them to teach blatant lies as truths. It can't allow them to emotionally manipulate and abuse children. If you love kids, hate religion. or If you love kids, then fight religion or If you want to help children, fight religion. What good is a government if it doesn't protect us from our own neighbors? We need more protection from religion than we ever did from the Soviet Union. On the deepest level Christianity has always been a fierce opponent of romantic love. The pursuit of one's value, the exercise of one's judgment in the conduct of one's life, and the enjoyment of sexual pleasure all are acts of self-assertion entailed in the choice and experience of a romantic relationship. All were condemned by Christianity.
(see book excerpts for more of Branden's thoughts on the Christian religion) -- In 2007 in Sudan a British English teacher was accused of insulting Islam because she and her class named a teddy bear Muhammed. My comment is this. What if we asked her class of 7 year olds if they believe she should be punished for what she did? The answer, of course, we can be sure, would be a resounding "NO!" This is another example of how children give better answers to many questions than adults. I have writen before how I used to ask children in South American if they thought Jesus would ever hit a child. They quickly say "no". I have asked, "Do you think Jesus would wear a tie? Again they quickly say "no". WIthout elaborating now, I hope this helps a few people see the wisdom of children, the beauty of their natural instincts and the damage which is done to so many when they are not given the opportunity to think for themselves, but instead damaged by dysfunctional teachings. S.Hein -- Free Will and Choices - According to "God"
Here is another nonstampcollector video - found on the Richard Dawkins website |
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| Dhaka, Feb 5 (ANI): The plight of a 14-year-old
Bangladeshi girl, who was whipped to death by a village
body for allegedly having an illicit relationship with
her married cousin, has outraged her family who are now
demanding strict action against the executers of the
barbaric act. Hena Akhter was whipped after the shalish, a village body consisting of local elders, had ordered that she should receive 101 lashes last week for allegedly having an illicit relationship with her cousin and neighbour, Mahbub, The Guardian reports. The case took shape when Hena had gone out to use the bathroom when she accidentally met Mahbub, who put something on her mouth to stop her from crying out before raping her in Shariyatpur on January 31. The assault had left her almost unconscious, unable to walk or talk. When her family complained to the shalish, they raised doubts on her character. After Mahbub’s wife, Shilpi, complained that he had been secretly meeting Hena, village elders found both cousins guilty and ordered that Hena be given 101 lashes, and Mahbub 201. After the punishment was carried out, Hena was taken to hospital, and six days later, she was pronounced dead. |
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| God is very needy Try these Google searches "god is very needy" "god is very emotionally needy" "god is emotioinally needy" The Christian/Jewish/Muslim god is insecure, jealous, possessive, controlling, vengeful, violent. So this all tells me he is very emotionally needy. |
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| Similarities Between the Muslim,
Jewish and Christian Religions Something I learned very late in life was how these three religions are nearly identical in their dysfunctional beliefs. I also learned they are all part of what are called the "Abrahamic Religions." They all are based on using rewards and punihsment to try to modify and control human behavior. They all use the reward of Heaven and the punishment of Hell, for example. When in Malaysia, a country with a wide range of religions, I spoke to a man who called himself a Hindu. We started talking about religion and he said that Christians and Jews were "just the same" to him. While this might not be exactly true, it is close enough for me. Sort of like Repbublicans and Democrats in the USA. |
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http://www.biblicalnonsense.com/chapter9.html
Frogs
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and say to him, 'This is what the LORD says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. 2 If you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs. 3 The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs. 4 The frogs will go up on you and your people and all your officials.' "
Piercings
Exodus 21:2
"If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything. 3 If he comes alone, he is to go free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him. 4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free.
5 "But if the servant declares, 'I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,' 6 then his master must take him before the judges. [a] He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.
--
Deuteronomy 15:17 Then thou shalt take an awl, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever.
Respect for Daughters
Exodus 21:7 "If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as menservants do. 8 If she does not please the master who has selected her for himself, [b] he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, because he has broken faith with her. 9 If he selects her for his son, he must grant her the rights of a daughter. 10 If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing and marital rights. 11 If he does not provide her with these three things, she is to go free, without any payment of money.
Valid Reasons for Killing Your Son or Daughter
Exodus 21:17 "Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.
Slaves
Exodus 21
20 "If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished, 21 but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property
Respect for Women
Exodus 22:16 "If a man seduces a virgin who is not pledged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the bride-price, and she shall be his wife. 17 If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he must still pay the bride-price for virgins.
Guidance on how to Treat Non-Jews
Exodus 22:21 "Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt.
16/2/2012
KUALA LUMPUR (Xinhua) - Malaysian authorities have extradited
Saudi journalist Mohamma
d who was detained in Malaysia after being accused of insulting
Islam in Saudi Arabia, police told Xinhua on Sunday.
Home Minister Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said in a statement on
Sunday that Kashgari, also known as Hamza Kashgari, would be
repatriated under a bilateral arrangement between Malaysian and
Saudi Arabia and any charges against him would be under the
latter 's discretion.
"Malaysia has a long-standing arrangement by which
individuals wanted by one country are extradited when detained by
the other and Mohammad Najeeb A. Kashgari will be repatriated
under this arrangement," Hishammuuddin said.
"The nature of charges against the individual in this case
are a matter of the Saudi Arabian authorities,"he added.
Police sources later told Xinhua that the 23-year-old newspaper
columnist was already extradited to Saudi Arabia.
Sources however, could not confirm the date of the extradition.
Kashgari was arrested at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport
on Thursday at the request of Saudi Arabian authorities after the
columnist posted what were deemed blasphemous remarks on the
website against Prophet Muhammad during the latter's birthday
commemoration last week.
The journalist with Al-Bilad newspaper in Jeddah posted a series
of tweets of imaginary conversations with the Prophet, doubting
the Prophet's identity.
"On your birthday, I will say that I have loved the rebel in
you, that you have always been a source of inspiration to me, and
that I do not like the halos of divinity around you. I shall not
pray for you,"said one of his tweets quoted by the Daily
Beast magazine.
Thousands of scholars, students and online users infuriated by
the man's "open sacrilege" had filed lawsuits against
him and urged authorities to prosecute him.
Blasphemy is a crime punishable by execution under Saudi Arabia
's Islamic sharia law.
Rights activists in Malaysia had asked the Malaysian government
not to deport Kashgari for fear that he would be sentenced to
death.
The journalist was said to have landed in Malaysia en route to
seek asylum in New Zealand.
--
| started 5:55 6:07 AM 17/2/2012 6:09 AM 17/2/2012 i thought he stopped.... but he didnt he is imposing his needs on me. a baby is crying. a dog is barking. 6:15 AM 17/2/2012 has he stopped? still dark out 1:28 PM 17/2/2012 he starts again 1:32 PM 17/2/2012 did he stop? 1:37 PM 17/2/2012 he stopped for five minutes now he started again 1:43 PM 17/2/2012 now he is babbling, not
singing |
VI. Children, obey your parents in the Lord; for this is 2 right. "Honor thy father and mother;" which is the first 3 commandment with a promise ; " that it may be well with thee, and thou mayst live long on the earth." J 4 And, ye fathers, stir not up the anger of your children, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
6 Bond-servants, obey your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as 6 serving Christ; not with eye-service as men-pleasers, but as bond-servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the 7 heart; doing service with good will, as to the Lord, and 8 not to men ; knowing that whatever good each one shall
Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before. Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe; forward into battle see his banners go! Refrain: Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before. 2. At the sign of triumph Satan's host doth flee; on then, Christian soldiers, on to victory! Hell's foundations quiver at the shout of praise; brothers, lift your voices, loud your anthems raise. (Refrain) 3. Like a mighty army moves the church of God; brothers, we are treading where the saints have trod. We are not divided, all one body we, one in hope and doctrine, one in charity. (Refrain) 4. Crowns and thrones may perish, kingdoms rise and wane, but the church of Jesus constant will remain. Gates of hell can never gainst that church prevail; we have Christ's own promise, and that cannot fail. (Refrain) 5. Onward then, ye people, join our happy throng, blend with ours your voices in the triumph song. Glory, laud, and honor unto Christ the King, this through countless ages men and angels sing. (Refrain) |
--
The New Testament uses a number of military metaphors in
discussing Christianity, especially in the Pauline epistles.
http://messenger2.cjcmp.org/foundingfathers.html
read later.....
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Related Articles:
Jeffersonian Democracy
Ignored American History
America’s Founding Fathers Regarding Religion
If we consider the words written by the Founding Fathers
regarding religion, we find that most of them were men of faith
in the Deity, in the "Creator," in "Nature's
God," and in "Divine Providence."
They used such generic religious terms and purposely did not use
words specific to one religion, because they understood that a
nation cannot have freedom of religion unless government is
neutral regarding religion and shows no favoritism.
That is why Thomas Jefferson wrote the following:
“Where the preamble declares, that coercion is a departure
from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment
was proposed by inserting ‘Jesus Christ,’ so that it
would read ‘A departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the
holy author of our religion," the insertion was rejected by
the great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend,
within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the
Christian and Muslim, the Hindu and Infidel of every
denomination.” -Thomas Jefferson, Autobiography, in
reference to his Virginia Act for Religious Freedom
Furthermore, as you will see in more quotes below, while most of
the Founding Fathers greatly admired and honored the actual
message of Jesus of Nazareth and preceding prophets, they were
highly critical of certain Christian doctrines as presented in
the official Christian Canon (Bible).
The Founding Fathers were men of “The Enlightenment,”
and they rejected Theocracy and were highly critical of the
Theocrats who, in the name of Christianity, had caused the Dark
Ages, the Crusades, the Inquisition, and all the
"religious" military industrial imperialism that had
plagued the world for centuries. And they were just as critical
of the Theocrats in their day — such as those in England and
in New England (in America) who used the same man-made doctrine
of preeminence and superiority to justify themselves in their
quest for theocratic political power.
That, in fact, is why the Founding Fathers wrote Article 6 and
the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which stipulate
that there shall be no religious test or requirement for office,
and that "there shall be no law respecting an establishment
of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,"
which, as Thomas Jefferson wrote, was intended "to build a
wall of separation between church and state."
In fact, most of the Founding Fathers were Deists who believed in
the Deity, but without superstition, and with healthy skepticism
regarding religious doctrines and dogma based on supernatural
claims. They clearly advocated religious pluralism, equality and
freedom, and they clearly despised and wanted to guard against
the distortion and abuse of religion by Theocrats who sought
political rulership in the name of religion.
In other words, the Founding Fathers not only wanted to establish
freedom from the monarchial religious military industrial empire
of the theocratic King of England (the Head of the Church of
England). They also wanted to establish freedom from the
theocratic political ideology of the Calvinists and and Puritans
and other theocratic clergy in America.
That is why on the Supreme Court building, the South Wall Frieze
includes figures of lawgivers from the ancient world and includes
Menes, Hammurabi, Moses, Solomon, Lycurgus, Solon, Draco,
Confucius, and Augustus. The North Wall Frieze shows lawgivers
from the Middle Ages on and includes representations of
Justinian, Muhammad, Charlemagne, John of England, Louis IX of
France, Hugo Grotius, Sir William Blackstone, John Marshall, and
Napoleon. And Muhammad was included in the court's pantheon of 18
prominent lawgivers of history to recognize him, among many other
lawgivers, as an important figure in the history of law.
Despite the facts, and despite the truth, "fundamentalist
Christians" on the "religious right" in America
distort the intent of the Founding Fathers, and simply ignore the
full context of what the Founding Fathers actually said, wrote,
and intended.
If we consider the actual words of the Founding Fathers, it
becomes very clear that the political agenda of the
"Fundamentalist Christian Religious Right" in America
today is not at all compatible with the fundamental ideals of the
Founding Fathers, nor is it compatible with the teachings of
Jesus of Nazareth, or with the obligations of truly democratic
government or true servants of God.
Quotes from the Founding Fathers On Religion
"We have abundant reason to rejoice that in this Land the
light of truth and reason has triumphed over the power of bigotry
and superstition ... In this enlightened Age and in this Land of
equal liberty it is our boast, that a man's religious tenets will
not forfeit the protection of the Laws, nor deprive him of the
right of attaining and holding the highest Offices that are known
in the United States." -- George Washington (letter to the
members of the New Church in Baltimore, January 27, 1793
"I am persuaded, you will permit me to observe that the path
of true piety is so plain as to require but little political
direction. To this consideration we ought to ascribe the absence
of any regulation, respecting religion, from the Magna-Charta of
our country." -- George Washington, responding to a group of
clergymen who complained that the Constitution lacked mention of
Jesus Christ,
"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies
solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none
other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers
of government reach actions only, and not opinions, 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 and State." – Thomas Jefferson
“Where the preamble declares, that coercion is a departure
from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment
was proposed by inserting ‘Jesus Christ,’ so that it
would read ‘A departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the
holy author of our religion,;" the insertion was rejected by
the great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend,
within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the
Christian and [Muslim], the Hindu and Infidel of every
denomination.” -Thomas Jefferson, Autobiography, in
reference to the Virginia Act for Religious Freedom
"Strongly guarded as is the separation between Religion and
Government in the Constitution of the United States, the danger
of encroachment by [Religious] Bodies, may be illustrated by
precedents already furnished in history." – James
Madison
"The clergy, by getting themselves established by law and
ingrafted into the machine of government, have been a very
formidable engine against the civil and religious rights of
man." – Thomas Jefferson
"Religious controversies always produce more acrimony and
irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other
cause. Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind,
those which are caused by the difference of sentiments in
religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and
ought most to be depreciated. I was in hopes that the enlightened
and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at
least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far
that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to
such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society." –
George Washington
"I wish Christianity were more productive of good works ...
I mean real good works ... not holy-day keeping, sermon-hearing
... or making long prayers, filled with flatteries and
compliments despised by wise men, and much less capable of
pleasing the Deity." – Benjamin Franklin
"The question before the human race is, whether the God of
Nature shall govern the world by his own laws, or whether priests
and kings shall rule it by fictitious [doctrine claiming]
miracles?" – John Adams
"If we look back into history for the character of the
present sects in Christianity, we shall find few that have not in
their turns been persecutors, and complainers of persecution. The
primitive Christians thought persecution extremely wrong in the
Pagans, but practiced it on one another. The first Protestants of
the Church of England blamed persecution in the Roman Church, but
practiced it upon the Puritans. The Puritans found it wrong in
the Bishops of the Church of England, but fell into the same
practice themselves in New England [in America]."–
Benjamin Franklin, in an essay on "Toleration"
"Experience witnesses that ecclesiastical establishments,
instead of maintaining the purity and efficacy of religion, have
had a contrary operation. 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." – James Madison
"Religious establishments tend to great ignorance and
corruption, all of which facilitate the execution of mischievous
projects." "Religious bondage shackles and debilitates
the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise, every expanded
prospect." – James Madison
"Soon after I had published the pamphlet, ‘Common
Sense’ [on Feb. 14, 1776] in America, I saw the exceeding
probability that a revolution in the system of government would
be followed by a revolution in the system of religion."
– Thomas Paine
"When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself;
and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care
to support it so that its professors are obliged to call for help
of the civil power, it is a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad
one." – Benjamin Franklin
"The whole history of these books [the Gospels] is so
defective and doubtful that it seems vain to attempt minute
enquiry into it: and such tricks have been played with their
text, and with the texts of other books relating to them, that we
have a right, from that cause, to entertain much doubt what parts
of them are genuine. In the New Testament there is internal
evidence that parts of it have proceeded from an extraordinary
man; and that other parts are of the fabric of very inferior
minds. It is as easy to separate those parts, as to pick out
diamonds from dunghills." --- Thomas Jefferson, letter to
John Adams, January 24, 1814
"Among the sayings and discourses imputed to Jesus by his
biographers, I find many passages of fine imagination, correct
morality, and of the most lovely benevolence; and others again of
so much ignorance, so much absurdity, so much untruth,
charlatanism, and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that
such contradictions should have proceeded from the same
being." – Thomas Jefferson
"But a short time elapsed after the death of [Jesus] the
great reformer of the Jewish religion, before his principles were
departed from by those who professed to be his special servants,
and perverted into an engine for enslaving mankind, and
aggrandizing their oppressors in Church and State." ---
Thomas Jefferson
"Among the sayings and discourses imputed to [Jesus] by his
biographers, I find many passages of fine imagination, correct
morality, and of the most lovely benevolence; and others, again,
of so much ignorance, so much absurdity, so much untruth,
charlatanism and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that
such contradictions should have proceeded from the same being. I
separate, therefore, the gold from the [refuse]; restore him to
the former, and leave the latter to the stupidity of some, the
roguery of others of his disciples. Of this band of dupes and
imposters, Paul was the first corruptor of the doctrines of
Jesus." --- Thomas Jefferson (See "The Jefferson
Bible," which is his edited version of the New Testament,
removing the "corruptions.")
"The truth is, that the greatest enemies of the doctrine of
Jesus are those calling themselves [preachers], who have
perverted them ... without any foundation in his genuine words.
And the day will come, when the mystical generation [birth] of
Jesus, by the Supreme Being as his father, in the womb of a
virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation [birth]
of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter." – Thomas Jefferson
"What influence, in fact, have religious establishments had
on society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a
spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the civil authority; on many
instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political
tyranny; in no instance have they been the guardians of the
liberties of the people. Rulers who wish to subvert the public
liberty may have found an established clergy convenient
auxiliaries. A just government, instituted to secure and
perpetuate it, needs them not." – James Madison
"Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but
it is always the strongly-marked feature of all law-religions, or
religions established by law. Take away the law-establishment,
and every religion re-assumes its original benignity."
– Thomas Paine
"They [the clergy] believe that any portion of power
confided to me, will be exerted in opposition to their schemes.
And they believe rightly; for I have sworn upon the altar of god,
eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of
man. But this is all they have to fear from me." –
Thomas Jefferson
"Across the ages, clergy have been interested not in truth
but only in wealth and power; when rational people have had
difficulty swallowing their impious heresies, then the clergy
have, with the help of the state, forced them down their
throats." – Thomas Jefferson
"In every country and in every age, the [clergyman] has been
hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot,
abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own."
– Thomas Jefferson
"History, I believe, furnishes no example of a clergy-ridden
people maintaining a free civil government." – Thomas
Jefferson
"The artificial structures [the clergy] have built on the
purest of all moral systems, for the purpose of deriving from it
money and power, revolts those who think for themselves, and who
read in that system only what is really there." –
Thomas Jefferson
"As I understand the Christian religion, it was, and is, a
revelation. But how has it happened that millions of fables,
tales, legends, have been blended with both Jewish and Christian
revelation that have made them the most bloody religion that ever
existed?" – John Adams
"The government of the United States of America is not in
any sense founded on the Christian Religion." –
Declaration of the U.S. Congress in 1797
"My earlier views of the unsoundness of the Christian scheme
of salvation and the human origin of the scriptures, have become
clearer and stronger with advancing years..." – Abraham
Lincoln, 1862 (Note: Lincoln believed in God, and in the
teachings of Jesus around the Golden Rule, but like Thomas
Jefferson, Lincoln was not in agreement with the theocratic
dogmatism of those who used religion for political purposes.)
* * * * *
Considering all those words and many others too numerous to quote
here, it becomes very clear that the political agenda of the
modern "Religious Right," which claims to be Christian,
is simply misguided and wrong not only with respect to
government, but with respect to their religion. They betray the
ideals of both.
Remember, the theocratic dogmatism of the Protestant Church of
England necessitated the initial American Revolution. Therefore,
even though the Protestant Reformation in Europe put an end to
the Dark Ages of oppressive theocratic rule by the military
imperialist Roman Church many centuries ago, it did not
sufficiently reform Christianity.
In other words, to have real religious freedom, all religions
must be respected as equal in the realm of government. And
Theocracy, in any form, is not really based on true religion.
Thomas Jefferson's Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom
recognized that. It was greatly admired not only in America. In
fact, Jefferson's Bill was reproduced in France three years
before their Revolution and convinced the French that separation
of church and state was a great idea.
When Jefferson’s Bill became U.S. Law in 1786, in part
thanks to James Madison's advocacy, it was welcomed as innovative
because it fostered the ideals of freedom of conscience and the
neutrality of the state. It abolished tithes collected by
Anglican clergy. It freed public employees from having to take
religious oaths of allegiance (as Article 6 of the Constitution
did too). It established natural rights and freed people from
“tyrannical" theocratic rule, and it intended to put an
end to the kind of theocratic political military industrial
imperialistic ideology that had plagued the world since the
fourth century.
Jefferson’s Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom declared
that "our civil rights have no dependance on our religious
opinions,” and it concluded that “no man shall be
compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or
ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested,
or burdened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on
account of his religious opinions or belief.”
In 1947 the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with Jefferson, and it
still defends Article 6 and the establishment clause of the First
Amendment as establishing a "wall of separation between
church and state" and the idea of state neutrality in
matters of religion.
Let us settle this issue now, once and for all, to stop and
prevent hypocrites from being able to fight for and gain
political power in the name or their religion.
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