THUMP, THUMP....
Hopefully that will make some silly little guys run around in a fright.
"The Holy Bible is not only great but highly explosive literature."
THUMP! It is frightening, is it not, little ones?
"It works in strange ways and no living man can tell or know how that book in its journeyings through the world has started an individual soul 10,000 different places into a new life, a new belief, a new conception and a new faith."
(Stanley Baldwin (1867-1947), the British Prime
Minister during the periods 1923-24, 1924-29 and 1935-37
(America's God and Country. (2000) William J. Federer)
Fisher Ames (1758-1808), was a Congressman from Massachusetts in the First Session of the Congress of the United States when the Bill of Rights was formulated. It was Fisher Ames who,
on August 20,1789, suggested the wording of the First Amendment, which was adopted by the House:
"Congress shall make no law establishing religion, or to prevent the tree exercise thereof, or to infringe the rights of conscience."
Fisher Ames shared his beliefs concerning education:
"Should not the Bible regain the place it once held as a schoolbook? Its morals are pure, its examples are captivating and noble.... The reverence for the sacred book that is thus early impressed lasts long; and, probably, if not impressed in infancy, never takes firm hold of the mind....
In no Book is there so good English, so pure and so elegant, and by teaching all the same they will speak alike, and the Bible will justly remain the standard of language as well as of faith."
(Ib.)
In his Two Treatises of Government, 1690, [Locke] cited 80 references to the Bible in the first treatise and 22 references to the Bible in the second."
(Ib. :397)
"The Bible is one of the greatest blessings bestowed by God on the children of men. It has God for its author; salvation for its end, and truth without any mixture of its matter. It is all pure, all sincere; nothin too much; nothing wanting." --John Locke (Ib. :399)
"The Bible is worth all other books which have ever been printed."
--Patrick Henry (Ib. : 289)
James McHenry (1753-1816), one of the signers of the Constitution, a member of the Continental Congress, a state legislator, a soldier and the U.S. Secretary of War who established West Point, Fort McHenry was named after him. In 1813, he became the president of the first Bible society in Baltimore.
"Neither, in considering this subject, let it be overlooked, that public utility pleads most forcibly for the general distribution of the Holy Scriptures. The doctrine they preach, the obligations they impose, the punishment they threaten, the rewards they promise, the stamp and image of
divinity they bear, which produces a conviction of their truths, can alone secure to society, order and peace, and to our courts of justice and constitutions of government, purity, stability and usefulness.
In vain, without the Bible, we increase penal laws and draw intrenchments around our institutions. Bibles are strong intrenchments. Where they abound, men cannot pursue wicked courses, and at the same time enjoy quiet conscience."
(Ib. :443)
Gouverneur Morris (1752-1816), writer of the final draft of the Constitution of the United States, and head of the Committee on Style, was the originator of the phrase "We the people of the United States." He was 35 years old when he served as one of the members of the Continental Congress, and he spoke 173 times during the Constitutional debates (more than any other delegate).
He was the first U.S. Minister to France, a U.S. Senator and helped to write the New York Constitution. A graduate of King's College (Columbia University), he was a merchant, lawyer, planter, financier and pioneer promoter of the Erie Canal. When France was in the process
of establishing a new form of government, Gouverneur Morris offered to them his expertise in government formation by writing Observation on Government, Applicable to the Political State of France and Notes on the Form of a Constitution for France:
"Religion is the only solid basis of good morals; therefore education should teach the precepts of religion, and the duties of man toward God."
(Ib. :455)
"It is hard to make a choice of the most beautiful passage in a book which is so gemmed with beautiful passages as the Bible.... Who taught these ancient writers the simplicity of language, their felicity of expression, their pathos, and, above all, their faculty of sinking themselves entirely out of sight of the reader and making the narrative stand out alone and seem to tell itself? Shakespeare is always present when one reads his book; Macaulay is present when we follow the march of his stately sentences; but the Old Testament writers are hidden from view."
--Mark Twain (Ib. :593)
"America was founded by people who believed that God was their rock of safety. I recognize we must be cautious in claiming that God is on our side, but I think it's all right to keep asking
if we're on His side." January 25,1984, President Ronald Reagan
2 comments:
I take from your post on my blog that you would support formal pray in school? If that is the case, how do you justify what Jesus had to say on the matter?
"And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men." and "when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray"[Matthew 6:5-6].
"Congress shall make no law establishing religion, or to prevent the free exercise thereof, or to infringe the rights of conscience." I think that this statement clearly is interpreted as being one supporting seperation between church and state. Meaning, Congress shall make no law "establishing a religion." This means that there should be no law establishing a national religion. (Christian prayer in a government run school amounts to elements of a state run religion. A moment of silence would be a better thing to advocate then prayer in school). This famous statement also means correctly that the government must not make any law to prevent the free execise of any religion. Although I think that Jesus said it best:
Jesus also supported a seperation between church and state: "Jesus said, render unto Ceaser[the government]what is Ceaser's and render unto God what is God's" [Matthew 22:21].
As for mental illness, I was diagnosed by two different doctors with schizoaffective disorder which is a biological illness. In this condition the brain has a chemical imbalance that is treated with medication.
My post was about a balanced and accurate view of the Founder's philosophy, I do not recall saying anything about school prayer.
If the men who wrote the Constitution meant what you seem to think they meant then they would not have prayed in Congress and proposed religious icons for seals, etc., right after signing it.
It is doubtful that children pray to be seen of men and are all really proud about praying. Instead, they pray in a child-like way or not at all. Which is fine with me. At any rate, it is neither unconstitutional nor against the teachings of Jesus for a community to teach children to pray to God.
"Christian prayer in a government run school amounts to elements of a state run religion."
State schools need to be done away with in general. It is for just such reasons, because communities have less say in them and the federal government has too much influence. It is not as if the federal government knows the community's values and so on. Jefferson would be appalled and mystified as to how his writings could ever be so distorted by one distorted phrase.
I.e., there needs to be school choice in which the public schools are the public's schools instead of more totalitarian State run schools. They are establishing a federal religion, one of secular humanism. See the Humanist Manifesto for a summary of the religion.
"Jesus also supported a seperation between church and state...."
That is why it is ironic that some want to separate Christianity from government. The very notion of separation came from Protestant Christianity and the Founders based the notion on a religious rationale. It seems that in the end the notion of separation of church and state will be "separated" in favor of atheocracy, the typical atheistic totalitarianism of Leftism. E.g., making the Declaration of Independence "unconstitutional," etc.
If something containing the "elements" of Christian religion is unconstitutional then we come to the absurd position that the Constitution is "unconstitutional." Why? Do you know? It can easily be proven from the text.
As to the last, there is no such thing as mental illness. If you are actually correct then you are referring to a brain illness.
And those diagnoses are typically absurd. This can be proven. Unfortunately, it is very common for the Leftist mind to have been tampered with by psychologists in one way or another.
And then....the intolerance of it all!
Post a Comment