tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6358737.post-74395508574939822212008-01-13T15:53:00.000-08:002008-01-13T15:53:00.000-08:002008-01-13T15:53:00.000-08:00PC - to handle this in historical chronological order:<BR/><BR/>1)Bringing the Crusade-era notion of Christendom into this is pointless -- different era, different notion of 'citizenship', 'the state', 'religion', etc. Apples and oranges.<BR/><BR/>2) King James' name is on the Bible b/c he comissioned an unprecedented <BR/>English translation based on the work of a large panel of scholars. The thing about it being a 'truer' translation than the latin Bible is half true and half 17th century English anti-Catholic propoganda. What James' scholars cut and left in and what words they chose to trnaslate into what other words is a complex story. But my point was mainly that many Americans who claim to be Christians barely understand that Jesus didn't speak 17th century English, but Aramaic.<BR/><BR/>3)This country wasn't 'physically found[ed?]' by Christians -- there were lots of people here when the Europeans got here. And the 'physically' part is a particularly dangerous lie, since non-Christian Africans were enslaved to do most of the building and agricultural work (that is, the laying of the ACTUAL and ECONOMIC foundations of this country). So the 'foundations' of this country are 'heathen' every bit as much as 'Christian'.<BR/><BR/>4)Even among the early colonists and the "founding fathers", there was more religious diversity than most Americans understand. For one, the colonists themselves -- from the English Civil War escapees down to the framers of the constitution -- had a wide variety of religious views, some of which (freethought, Unitarianism, Deism)<BR/>are only nominally or not at all Christian. More importantly, whatever their own views, they INTENTIONALLY WROTE THE CONSTITUTION TO BAR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A STATE RELIGION. So my contention that the US is a country where the majority of the population is Christian, but the government is not christian is not just semantics, but a vital constitutional principle...<BR/><BR/>Oh, and I hardly the thing about Bush claiming God said it was ok to bomb (from http://www.thenation.com/doc/20040503/scheer0420)<BR/><BR/>Asked by [Bob] Woodward, an assistant managing editor at the Washington Post, if he had ever consulted the former president [Bush 41] before ordering the invasion of Iraq, Bush replied that "he is the wrong father to appeal to in terms of strength; there is a higher father that I appeal to." <BR/><BR/>And he appealed to that father, and went ahead and bombed. Like I said, FAKE Christian.<BR/><BR/>http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1007-03.htmSaladinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04837554769802794747noreply@blogger.com