Quotes by our Founding Christian Fathers
of the United States
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Dear God, save us from the people who believe in you." ~ unknown
''Under God''
Public prayer fanatics borrow page from enemy's script March 5, 2003 BY ROGER
EBERT
http://www.suntimes.com/output/eb-feature/cst-edt-ebert05.html
SUMMARY
The Bush administration has been dealt a setback in its campaign to allow prayer in our public schools. The
full 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has voted 15-9 to back the 2-1 vote by its earlier panel finding the
Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional because of the words ''under God.''
The pledge, written in 1892, had those words added to it in 1954, during the Eisenhower administration, and
I
remember a nun in our Catholic school telling us we had to say it because it was the law -- but it was
wrong,
because it violated the principle of separating church and state.
The court said nothing about pledging allegiance to the flag. It spoke only of the words ''under
God''--which amounted, the court said, to an endorsement of religion.
John Ashcroft, violates his oath of office daily by getting down on his knees in his government office every
morning and welcoming federal employees to join him in ''voluntary'' prayer on carpets paid
for by the taxpayers.
The words "In God We Trust" were not consistently
on all U.S. currency until 1956, during the McCarthy Hysteria.
The Treaty of Tripoli, passed by the U.S. Senate in 1797, read in part: "The government of the United
States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion." The treaty was written during the
Washington administration, and sent to the Senate during the Adams administration. It was read aloud to the
Senate, and each Senator received a printed copy. This was the 339th time that a recorded vote was required
by
the Senate, but only the third time a vote was unanimous (the next time was to honor George Washington).
There
is no record of any debate or dissension on the treaty. It was reprinted in full in three newspapers - two
in
Philadelphia, one in New York City. There is no record of public outcry or complaint in subsequent editions
of
the papers.
The United States of America was founded by radical secularists and atheists. Michigan State staffer John Bice points out that Jefferson actually scissored out the parts in the Bible that referred to angels and such. Bice wrote, "The Rev. Bird Wilson, an Episcopal minister and historian, lamented in an 1831 sermon, 'The founders of our nation were nearly all Infidels.'"
QUOTES BY THE The CHRISTIAN Founding Fathers
George Washington, 1st President (1789-1797)
"... the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian
religion ..."
Source: The "Treaty of Tripoli," negotiated and signed by the First President of the United
States,
on November 4, 1796
The Founding Fathers Were NOT Christians
"It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." and "I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature." ~ Thomas Jefferson
"The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter." --
"Christianity ... (has become) the most perverted system that ever shone on man. ... Rogueries, absurdities and untruths were perpetrated upon the teachings of Jesus by a large band of dupes and importers ..." -- Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President (1801-1809) Source: Six Historic Americans, by John E. Remsberg
"In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance
with the despot ..." -- Thomas Jefferson:
Source: Thomas Jefferson letter to Horatio G. Spafford, 1814. ME 14:119
James Madison, fourth president and father of the Constitution, was not religious in any
conventional sense. "Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble
enterprise."
"During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have
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."
"The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries." ~
"I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church." ~ Thomas Paine
"The Bible is not my book, and Christianity is not my religion. I could never give
assent to the long, complicated statements of Christian dogma."
"This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religions in it. -- John
Adams,
2nd President (1797-1801)
Source: A letter to Thomas Jefferson, May 15, 1817
Benjamin Franklin:
"I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in life I absented myself from Christian
assemblies."
Source: "Toward the Mystery"
Thomas Paine (1737-1809):
"I would not dare to so dishonor my Creator God by attaching His name to that book (the
Bible)."
The Age of Reason, Part 1, Section 5
Thomas Paine (1737-1809):
"The study of theology, as it stands in the Christian churches, is the study of nothing; it is founded
on nothing; it rests on no principles; it proceeds by no authority; it has no data; it can demonstrate
nothing; and it admits of no conclusion." From The Age of Reason