Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I can see this being a lively thread. And I have seen pretty much all the attempts to argue that the founding fathers were Christians who DID intend America to be based on Christianity as a religion (I would accept that they may have thought it was a good moral basis and of course they accepted that God was real and had made everything).
In the end I would conclude that America is not a nation founded on Christianity, but it is a nation Full of Christianity.
Who cares what the founding fathers intended, or what religion they practiced? Time moves on, and the people of today are not required to live as their ancestors did 250 years ago.
If we actually tried to be consistent and apply that as a standard, we end up with some absurd results:
America is a slave owning nation;
Ireland is a nation of absentee landlords and Irish tenant farmers;
South Africa is a sometimes English, sometimes Dutch colony with an independent Zulu nation;
The western part of America is a bunch of truly sovereign Indian nations;
Australia is a prison colony;
Germany is a collection of counties and city states ruled by nobility;
France is a nation that beheads its nobility in a reign of terror...
I think you can see the point. The world was very different 250 years ago, and by and large we do not feel obligated to live in that manner now, and would consider it to be a negative in many ways.
Are the (supreme) laws of that country based on the code of Hammurabi?
Actually, they are based on Roman Empire laws. Pretty much, entire modern legal system is deeply rooted in that. Being the baddest a.. in the world for thousand years, copied many times but never duplicated entirely, leaves lots of influence and heritage in followers.
Most states had their own official religion. No, the union wasn't a big Christian nation, but each state could decide for themselves, without the federal government dictating.
I can see this being a lively thread. And I have seen pretty much all the attempts to argue that the founding fathers were Christians who DID intend America to be based on Christianity as a religion (I would accept that they may have thought it was a good moral basis and of course they accepted that God was real and had made everything).
In the end I would conclude that America is not a nation founded on Christianity, but it is a nation Full of Christianity.
Now over to you lot.
Very well stated.
The hand wringing and radicalization and vehemence we see from a large portion of Christians in the USA is that they see their influence, overall (Trump notwithstanding) declining, and what is left are the fundamentalists in many cases.
They don't like the fact that society is changing. They don't like the fact that the face of America is changing, faster on the coasts, slower in the "fly over" States and the deep South. But changing it is.
They grasp for anything that substantiates their beliefs. Sady. One can have conservative perspectives fiscally, (I do) yet understand human rights extends to ALL humans, even if they do not look like me, or are sexually oriented like me, or even if they are not an atheist like me.
Most states had their own official religion. No, the union wasn't a big Christian nation, but each state could decide for themselves, without the federal government dictating.
"The 'establishment of religion' clause of the First Amendment means at least this: Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions or prefer one religion over another. Neither can force nor influence a person to go to or to remain away from church against his will or force him to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion."
Are the (supreme) laws of that country based on the code of Hammurabi?
Does it matter?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.