Subject: Are we really "1 nation under God? |
Bible Note: I hope this is the last one. :) First an interesting tidbit: The words, "under God," did not appear in the Pledge of Allegiance until 1954, when Congress, under McCarthyism, inserted them. Likewise, "In God We Trust" was absent from paper currency before 1956. It appeared on some coins earlier, as did other sundry phrases, such as "Mind Your Business." The original U.S. motto, chosen by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson, is E Pluribus Unum ("Of Many, One"), celebrating plurality, not theocracy. Now for the rest a piece on Abe Lincoln.: At times religious wording was written into Lincoln's speeches, but such public soothes were brought at the insistance of White House staff members. In 1843, after he lost a campaign for Congress, he wrote to his supporters: "It was everywhere contended that no Christian ought to vote for me because I belonged to no church, and was suspected of being a Deist." When Lincoln was first considered for the presidential nomination, Logan Hay wrote to his nephew, the future Secretary of State John Hay: "Candor compels me to say that Mr. Lincoln could hardly be termed a devout believer in the authenticity of the Bible (but this is for your ears only)." Interviewer Opie Read once asked Lincoln about his conception of God, to which he replied: "The same as my conception of nature." Asked what he meant by that, he said: "That it is impossible for either to be personal." His former law partner, William Herndon, said of him after his assassination: "[Mr. Lincoln] never mentioned the name of Jesus, except to scorn and detest the idea of a miraculous conception. He did write a little work on infidelity in 1835-6, and never recanted. He was an out-and-out infidel, and about that there is no mistake." He also said that Lincoln "assimilated into his own being" the heretical book Age of Reason by Thomas Paine. Lincoln's first law partner, John T. Stuart, said of him: "He was an avowed and open infidel, and sometimes bordered on atheism. He went further against Christian beliefs and doctrines and principles than any man I have ever heard." Supreme Court Justice David Davis: "He [Lincoln] had no faith, in the Christian sense of the term- he had faith in laws, principles, causes and effects." "The Bible is not my book, nor Christianity my profession." -Abraham Lincoln, quoted by Joseph Lewis And a few more quotes from founding fathers. "Experience witnesseth that ecclesiastical establishments, instead of maintaining the purity and efficacy of religion, have had a contrary operation. During almost fifteen centuries hasthe legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolencein the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both,superstition, bigotry and persecution." - "A Memorial and Remonstrance", 1785 . James Madison "God is an essence that we know nothing of. Until this awful blasphemy is got rid of, there will never be any liberal science in the world." John Adams Hope this enlightens you to read more. Christian groups and institutions tend to criticize what is taught in public schools, but then for some odd reason, most of us believe it. Don't you find that odd? |